I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4314 

To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to require the Secretary 

of Commerce to establish a coastal climate change adaptation planning 

and response program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2012 

Mrs. CAPPS (for herself, Mr. FARR, Mr. KEATING, Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. 

CHRISTENSEN, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. PIERLUISI, 

Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. LEE of California, and Mr. 

FALEOMAVAEGA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to 

require the Secretary of Commerce to establish a coastal 

climate change adaptation planning and response program, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coastal State Climate 

5 Change Planning Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE COASTAL 

2 ZONE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Coastal Zone Management 

4 Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.) is amended by add5 ing at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PLANNING

7 ‘‘SEC. 320. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

8 establish consistent with the national policies set forth in 

9 section 303 a coastal climate change adaptation planning 

10 and response program to— 

11 ‘‘(1) provide assistance to coastal states to vol12 untarily develop coastal climate change adaptation 

13 plans pursuant to approved management programs 

14 approved under section 306, to minimize contribu15 tions to climate change and to prepare for and re16 duce the negative consequences that may result from 

17 climate change in the coastal zone; and 

18 ‘‘(2) provide financial and technical assistance 

19 and training to enable coastal states to implement 

20 plans developed pursuant to this section through 

21 coastal states’ enforceable policies. 

22 ‘‘(b) GUIDELINES.—Within 180 days after the date 

23 of enactment of this section, the Secretary, in consultation 

24 with the coastal states, shall issue guidelines for the imple25 mentation of the grant program established under sub26 section (c). 


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1 ‘‘(c) CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PLANNING

2 GRANTS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, subject to 

4 the availability of appropriations, may make a grant 

5 to any coastal state for the purpose of developing cli6 mate change adaptation plans pursuant to guidelines 

7 issued by the Secretary under subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(2) PLAN CONTENT.—A plan developed with a 

9 grant under this section shall include the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) Identification of public facilities and 

11 public services, working waterfronts, coastal re12 sources of national significance, coastal waters, 

13 energy facilities, or other land and water uses 

14 located in the coastal zone that are likely to be 

15 impacted by climate change. 

16 ‘‘(B) Adaptive management strategies for 

17 land use to respond or adapt to changing envi18 ronmental conditions, including strategies to 

19 protect biodiversity, protect water quality, and 

20 establish habitat buffer zones, migration cor21 ridors, and climate refugia. 

22 ‘‘(C) Requirements to initiate and main23 tain long-term monitoring of environmental 

24 change to assess coastal zone adaptation and to 

25 adjust when necessary adaptive management 


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1 strategies and new planning guidelines to attain 

2 the policies under section 303. 

3 ‘‘(D) Other information considered nec4 essary by the Secretary to identify the full 

5 range of climate change impacts affecting coast6 al communities. 

7 ‘‘(3) STATE HAZARD MITIGATION PLANS.— 

8 Plans developed with a grant under this section shall 

9 be consistent with State hazard mitigation plans and 

10 natural disaster response and recovery programs de11 veloped under State or Federal law. 

12 ‘‘(4) ALLOCATION.—Grants under this section 

13 shall be available only to coastal states with manage14 ment programs approved by the Secretary under sec15 tion 306 and shall be allocated among such coastal 

16 states in a manner consistent with regulations pro17 mulgated pursuant to section 306(c). 

18 ‘‘(5) PRIORITY.—In the awarding of grants 

19 under this subsection the Secretary may give priority 

20 to any coastal state that has received grant funding 

21 to develop program changes pursuant to paragraphs 

22 (1), (2), (3), (5), (6), (7), and (8) of section 309(a). 

23 ‘‘(6) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

24 may provide technical assistance to a coastal state 

25 consistent with section 310 to ensure the timely deVerDate Mar 15 2010 20:21 Apr 05, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4314.IH H4314

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1 velopment of plans supported by grants awarded 

2 under this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(7) FEDERAL APPROVAL.—In order to be eligi4 ble for a grant under subsection (d), a coastal state 

5 must have its plan developed under this section ap6 proved by the Secretary. 

7 ‘‘(d) COASTAL ADAPTATION PROJECT GRANTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, subject to 

9 the availability of appropriations, may make grants 

10 to any coastal state that has a climate change adap11 tation plan approved under subsection (c)(7), in 

12 order to support projects that implement strategies 

13 contained within such plans. 

14 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec15 retary within 90 days after approval of the first plan 

16 approved under subsection (c)(7), shall publish in 

17 the Federal Register requirements regarding appli18 cations, allocations, eligible activities, and all terms 

19 and conditions for grants awarded under this sub20 section. No less than 30 percent, and no more than 

21 50 percent, of the funds appropriated in any fiscal 

22 year for grants under this subsection shall be award23 ed through a merit-based competitive process. 

24 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary 

25 may award grants to coastal states to implement 


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1 projects in the coastal zone to address stress factors 

2 in order to improve coastal climate change adapta3 tion, including the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) Activities to address physical disturb5 ances within the coastal zone, especially activi6 ties related to public facilities and public serv7 ices, tourism, sedimentation, ocean acidification, 

8 and other factors negatively impacting coastal 

9 waters, and fisheries-associated habitat destruc10 tion or alteration. 

11 ‘‘(B) Monitoring, control, or eradication of 

12 disease organisms and invasive species. 

13 ‘‘(C) Activities to address the loss, deg14 radation, or fragmentation of wildlife habitat 

15 through projects to establish or protect marine 

16 and terrestrial habitat buffers, wildlife refugia, 

17 other wildlife refuges, or networks thereof, pres18 ervation of migratory wildlife corridors and 

19 other transition zones, and restoration of fish 

20 and wildlife habitat. 

21 ‘‘(D) Implementation of projects to reduce, 

22 mitigate, or otherwise address likely impacts 

23 caused by natural hazards in the coastal zone, 

24 including sea level rise, coastal inundation, 

25 coastal erosion and subsidence, severe weather 


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1 events such as cyclonic storms, tsunamis and 

2 other seismic threats, and fluctuating Great 

3 Lakes water levels. 

4 ‘‘(E) Provide technical training and assist5 ance to local coastal policy makers to increase 

6 awareness of science, management, and tech7 nology information related to climate change 

8 and adaptation strategies. 

9 ‘‘(4) PROMOTION AND USE OF NATIONAL ESTU10 ARINE RESEARCH RESERVES.—The Secretary shall 

11 promote and encourage the use of National Estua12 rine Research Reserves as sites for pilot or dem13 onstration projects carried out with grants awarded 

14 under this section.’’. 

15 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

16 318(a) of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 

17 U.S.C. 1464) is further amended by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

18 the semicolon at the end of paragraph (1), by striking the 

19 period at the end of paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘; and’’, 

20 and by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(3) for grants under section 320(c) and (d), 

22 such sums as are necessary.’’. 

23 (c) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—Nothing in this section 

24 shall be construed to require any coastal state to amend 

25 or modify its approved management program pursuant to 


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1 section 306(e) of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 

2 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1455(e)), or to extend the enforceable 

3 policies of a coastal state beyond the coastal zone as iden4 tified in the coastal state’s approved management pro5 gram. 

Æ 


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