Digital Coast Act of 2016

Summary: Digital Coast Act of 2016 This bill authorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management to establish a Digital Coast program for the sharing of digital information to help coastal communities better prepare for storms, plan for long-term coastal resilience, and manage coastal resources. The program launches the next phase of development at NOAA for the use of coastal mapping. In order for coastal communities to effectively use coastal mapping to solve coastal problems there must be coordination and information sharing among federal, state, local, and private participants in each coastal area. NOAA's Office for Coastal Management should optimize the development and use of coastal mapping data by:  integrating the data to make it readily accessible via the internet, developing visualization and predictive tools that makes the data easier to find and use, providing training on how to decipher and use the data to make accurate decisions,  making sure the data meets federal standards, and archiving the data at the NOAA data center.  In addition, the Digital Coast program requires NOAA's Office for Coastal Management to prioritize the collection of coastal mapping data in critical coastal areas, and support existing efforts to improve the acquisition of the key data sets necessary for coastal communities to effectively solve coastal problems.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Digital Coast Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Digital Coast is a model approach for effective 
        Federal partnerships with State and local government, 
        nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector.
            (2) Access to current, accurate, uniform, and standards-
        based geospatial information, tools, and training to 
        characterize the United States coastal region is critical for 
        public safety and for the environment, infrastructure, and 
        economy of the United States.
            (3) More than half of all people of the United States 
        (153,000,000) currently live on or near a coast and an 
        additional 12,000,000 are expected in the next decade.
            (4) Coastal counties in the United States average 300 
        persons per square mile, compared with the national average of 
        98.
            (5) On a typical day, more than 1,540 permits for 
        construction of single-family homes are issued in coastal 
        counties, combined with other commercial, retail, and 
        institutional construction to support this population.
            (6) Over half of the economic productivity of the United 
        States is located within coastal regions.
            (7) Highly accurate, high-resolution remote sensing and 
        other geospatial data play an increasingly important role in 
        decisionmaking and management of the coastal zone and economy, 
        including for--
                    (A) flood and coastal storm surge prediction;
                    (B) hazard risk and vulnerability assessment;
                    (C) emergency response and recovery planning;
                    (D) community resilience to longer range coastal 
                change;
                    (E) local planning and permitting;
                    (F) habitat and ecosystem health assessments; and
                    (G) landscape change detection.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Coastal region.--The term ``coastal region'' means the 
        area of United States waters extending inland from the 
        shoreline to include coastal watersheds and seaward to the 
        territorial sea.
            (2) Coastal state.--The term ``coastal State'' has the 
        meaning given the term ``coastal state'' in section 304 of the 
        Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1453).
            (3) Federal geographic data committee.--The term ``Federal 
        Geographic Data Committee'' means the interagency committee 
        that promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and 
        dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis.
            (4) Remote sensing and other geospatial.--The term ``remote 
        sensing and other geospatial'' means collecting, storing, 
        retrieving, or disseminating graphical or digital data 
        depicting natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, or 
        boundaries of the Earth and any information related thereto, 
        including surveys, maps, charts, satellite and airborne remote 
        sensing data, images, LiDAR, and services performed by 
        professionals such as surveyors, photogrammetrists, 
        hydrographers, geodesists, cartographers, and other such 
        services.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Commerce, acting through the Administrator of the National 
        Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIGITAL COAST.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a program 
        for the provision of an enabling platform that integrates 
        geospatial data, decision-support tools, training, and best 
        practices to address coastal management issues and needs. Under 
        the program, the Secretary shall strive to enhance resilient 
        communities, ecosystem values, and coastal economic growth and 
        development by helping communities address their issues, needs, 
        and challenges through cost-effective and participatory 
        solutions.
            (2) Designation.--The program established under paragraph 
        (1) shall be known as the ``Digital Coast'' (in this section 
        referred to as the ``program'').
    (b) Program Requirements.--In carrying out the program, the 
Secretary shall ensure that the program provides data integration, tool 
development, training, documentation, dissemination, and archive by--
            (1) making data and resulting integrated products developed 
        under this section readily accessible via the Digital Coast 
        Internet website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
        Administration, the GeoPlatform.gov and data.gov Internet 
        websites, and such other information distribution technologies 
        as the Secretary considers appropriate;
            (2) developing decision-support tools that use and display 
        resulting integrated data and provide training on use of such 
        tools;
            (3) documenting such data to Federal Geographic Data 
        Committee standards; and
            (4) archiving all raw data acquired under this Act at the 
        appropriate National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
        data center or such other Federal data center as the Secretary 
        considers appropriate.
    (c) Coordination.--The Secretary shall coordinate the activities 
carried out under the program to optimize data collection, sharing and 
integration, and to minimize duplication by--
            (1) consulting with coastal managers and decisionmakers 
        concerning coastal issues, and sharing information and best 
        practices, as the Secretary considers appropriate, with--
                    (A) coastal States;
                    (B) local governments; and
                    (C) representatives of academia, the private 
                sector, and nongovernmental organizations;
            (2) consulting with other Federal agencies, including 
        interagency committees, on relevant Federal activities, 
        including activities carried out under the Ocean and Coastal 
        Mapping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Coastal 
        Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.), the 
        Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 (33 
        U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), and the Hydrographic Services Improvement 
        Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 892 et seq.);
            (3) participating, pursuant to section 216 of the E-
        Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347; 44 U.S.C. 3501 
        note), in the establishment of such standards and common 
        protocols as the Secretary considers necessary to assure the 
        interoperability of remote sensing and other geospatial data 
        with all users of such information within--
                    (A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Administration;
                    (B) other Federal agencies;
                    (C) State and local government; and
                    (D) the private sector; and
            (4) coordinating with, seeking assistance and cooperation 
        of, and providing liaison to the Federal Geographic Data 
        Committee pursuant to Office of Management and Budget Circular 
        A-16 and Executive Order 12906 of April 14, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 
        17671), as amended by Executive Order 13286 of March 5, 2003 
        (68 Fed. Reg. 10619).
    (d) Filling Needs and Gaps.--In carrying out the program, the 
Secretary shall--
            (1) maximize the use of remote sensing and other geospatial 
        data collection activities conducted for other purposes and 
        under other authorities;
            (2) focus on filling data needs and gaps for coastal 
        management issues, including with respect to areas that, as of 
        the date of the enactment of this Act, were underserved by 
        coastal data and the areas of the Arctic that are under the 
        jurisdiction of the United States;
            (3) pursuant to the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration 
        Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), support continue improvement in 
        existing efforts to coordinate the acquisition and integration 
        of key data sets needed for coastal management and other 
        purposes, including--
                    (A) coastal elevation data;
                    (B) land use and land cover data;
                    (C) socioeconomic and human use data;
                    (D) critical infrastructure data;
                    (E) structures data;
                    (F) living resources and habitat data;
                    (G) cadastral data; and
                    (H) aerial imagery; and
            (4) integrate the priority supporting data set forth under 
        paragraph (3) with other available data for the benefit of the 
        broadest measure of coastal resource management constituents 
        and applications.
    (e) Financial Agreements and Contracts.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out the program, the 
        Secretary--
                    (A) may enter into financial agreements to carry 
                out the program, including--
                            (i) support to non-Federal entities that 
                        participate in implementing the program;
                            (ii) grants, cooperative agreements, 
                        interagency agreements, contracts, or any other 
                        agreement on a reimbursable or non-reimbursable 
                        basis, with other Federal, tribal, State, and 
                        local governmental and nongovernmental 
                        entities; and
                            (iii) registration fees in support of 
                        training, workshops, and conferences that 
                        advance the purposes of the program; and
                    (B) shall enter into such contracts with private 
                sector entities for such products and services as the 
                Secretary determines may be necessary to collect, 
                process, and provide remote sensing and other 
                geospatial data and products for purposes of the 
                program.
            (2) Survey and mapping.--Contracts entered into under 
        paragraph (1)(B) shall be considered ``surveying and mapping'' 
        services as such term is used in and as such contracts are 
        awarded by the Secretary in accordance with the selection 
        procedures in chapter 11 of title 40, United States Code.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary such sums as may be necessary to carry 
out the program in each of fiscal years 2017 through 2021.