I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8627 

To express the sense of Congress that the Chesapeake Bay Office of the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall be the primary 

representative of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

in the Chesapeake Bay, to require the Secretary of the Commerce, 

acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to provide grants supporting research on the conservation, restoration, or management of oysters in estuarine ecosystems, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 20, 2020 

Mr. BROWN of Maryland introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To express the sense of Congress that the Chesapeake Bay 

Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall be the primary representative of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the 

Chesapeake Bay, to require the Secretary of the Commerce, acting through the Administrator of the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to provide 

grants supporting research on the conservation, restoration, or management of oysters in estuarine ecosystems, 

and for other purposes. 


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

3 SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that the Chesapeake Bay 

5 Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis6 tration shall be the primary representative of the National 

7 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Chesa8 peake Bay. 

9 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR RECOVERING OYSTERS. 

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall es11 tablish a grant program (in this section referred to as the 

12 ‘‘Program’’) under which the Administrator shall award 

13 grants to eligible entities for the purpose of conducting 

14 research on the conservation, restoration, or management 

15 of oysters in estuarine ecosystems. 

16 (b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

17 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 

18 Administrator an application at such time, in such man19 ner, and containing such information as the Administrator 

20 may require. 

21 (c) ALLOCATION OF GRANT FUNDS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 

23 award a grant under the Program to eligible entities 

24 that submit an application under subsection (b). 

25 (2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 subparagraph (B), the total amount of Federal 

3 funding received under the Program by an eligi4 ble entity may not exceed 85 percent of the 

5 total cost of the research project for which the 

6 funding was awarded. For the purposes of this 

7 subparagraph, the non-Federal share of project 

8 costs may be provided by in-kind contributions 

9 and other noncash support. 

10 (B) WAIVER.—The Administrator may 

11 waive all or part of the requirement in subpara12 graph (A) if the Administrator determines that 

13 no reasonable means are available through 

14 which an eligible entity applying for a grant 

15 under this section can meet such requirement 

16 and the probable benefit of such research 

17 project outweighs the public interest in such re18 quirement. 

19 (3) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—The Adminis20 trator shall ensure, to the maximum extent prac21 ticable, that grant funding under this section is ap22 portioned according to the historic baseline oyster 

23 population of each estuary of the United States. 

24 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi25 nitions apply: 


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1 (1) ACADEMIC COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘aca2 demic community’’ means faculty, researchers, pro3 fessors, and representatives of State-accredited col4 leges and universities. 

5 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis6 trator’’ means the Secretary of Commerce acting 

7 through the Administrator of the National Oceanic 

8 and Atmospheric Administration. 

9 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti10 ty’’ means a member of the academic community, 

11 the seafood industry, a relevant nonprofit organiza12 tion, or a relevant State agency, that is proposing or 

13 conducting a research project on the conservation, 

14 restoration, or management of oysters in an estua15 rine ecosystem developed through consultation with 

16 a member of the academic community, a member of 

17 the seafood industry, a relevant nonprofit organiza18 tion, or a relevant State agency. 

19 (4) HISTORIC BASELINE.—The term ‘‘historic 

20 baseline’’ means the estimated population of oysters 

21 in an estuary in 1850. 

22 (5) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

23 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization de24 scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 


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1 Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 

2 501(a) of such Code. 

3 (6) SEAFOOD INDUSTRY.—The term ‘‘seafood 

4 industry’’ means shellfish growers, shellfish har5 vesters, commercial fishermen, and recreational fish6 ermen. 

7 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

9 $6,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2025 

10 to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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