I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3541 

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

of Commerce to establish a coastal climate change adaptation preparedness and response program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Mr. CARBAJAL (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr. ROONEY of Florida) 

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 preparedness 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 Preparedness Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CLIMATE CHANGE PREPAREDNESS IN THE COAST2 AL 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 PREPAREDNESS AND

7 RESPONSE PROGRAM

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

9 establish, consistent with the national policies set forth in 

10 section 303, a coastal climate change adaptation prepared11 ness and response program to— 

12 ‘‘(1) provide assistance to coastal States to vol13 untarily develop coastal climate change adaptation 

14 plans, pursuant to approved management programs 

15 approved under section 306, to minimize contribu16 tions to climate change and to prepare for and re17 duce the negative consequences that may result from 

18 climate change in the coastal zone; and 

19 ‘‘(2) provide financial and technical assistance 

20 and training to enable coastal States to implement 

21 plans developed pursuant to this section through 

22 coastal States’ enforceable policies. 

23 ‘‘(b) COASTAL CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

24 PLANNING AND PREPAREDNESS GRANTS.— 

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

26 the availability of appropriations, may make a grant 


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1 to any coastal State for the purpose of developing 

2 climate change adaptation plans pursuant to guide3 lines issued by the Secretary under paragraph (8). 

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

5 grant under this subsection shall include the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(A) Identification of public facilities and 

8 public services, working waterfronts, coastal re9 sources of national significance, coastal waters, 

10 energy facilities, or other land and water uses 

11 located in the coastal zone that are likely to be 

12 impacted by climate change. 

13 ‘‘(B) Adaptive management strategies for 

14 land use to respond or adapt to changing envi15 ronmental conditions, including strategies to 

16 protect biodiversity, protect water quality, and 

17 establish habitat buffer zones, migration cor18 ridors, and climate refugia. 

19 ‘‘(C) Adaptive management strategies for 

20 ocean-based ecosystems and resources, includ21 ing strategies to plan for and respond to geo22 graphic or temporal shifts in marine resources, 

23 to create protected areas that will provide cli24 mate refugia, and to maintain and restore 

25 ocean ecosystem function. 


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1 ‘‘(D) Requirements to initiate and main2 tain long-term monitoring of environmental 

3 change to assess coastal zone adaptation and to 

4 adjust when necessary adaptive management 

5 strategies and new planning guidelines to attain 

6 the policies under section 303. 

7 ‘‘(E) Other information considered nec8 essary by the Secretary to identify the full 

9 range of climate change impacts affecting coast10 al communities. 

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

12 Plans developed with a grant under this subsection 

13 shall be consistent with State hazard mitigation 

14 plans and natural disaster response and recovery 

15 programs developed under State or Federal law. 

16 ‘‘(4) ALLOCATION.—Grants under this sub17 section shall be available only to coastal States with 

18 management programs approved by the Secretary 

19 under section 306 and shall be allocated among such 

20 coastal States in a manner consistent with regula21 tions promulgated pursuant to section 306(c). 

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

23 under this subsection, the Secretary may give pri24 ority to any coastal State that has received grant 

25 funding to develop program changes pursuant to 


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1 paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (5), (6), (7), and (8) of sec2 tion 309(a). 

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

4 may provide technical assistance to a coastal State 

5 consistent with section 310 to ensure the timely de6 velopment of plans supported by grants awarded 

7 under this subsection. 

8 ‘‘(7) FEDERAL APPROVAL.—In order to be eligi9 ble for a grant under subsection (c), a coastal State 

10 must have its plan developed under this subsection 

11 approved by the Secretary. 

12 ‘‘(8) GUIDELINES.—Within 180 days after the 

13 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary, in 

14 consultation with the coastal States, shall issue 

15 guidelines for the implementation of the grant pro16 gram established under this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(c) COASTAL CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

18 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 

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

20 the availability of appropriations, may make grants 

21 to any coastal State that has a climate change adap22 tation plan approved under subsection (b)(7), in 

23 order to support projects that implement strategies 

24 contained within such plans. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec2 retary, within 90 days after approval of the first 

3 plan approved under subsection (b)(7), shall publish 

4 in the Federal Register requirements regarding ap5 plications, allocations, eligible activities, and all 

6 terms and conditions for grants awarded under this 

7 subsection. No less than 30 percent, and no more 

8 than 50 percent, of the funds appropriated in any 

9 fiscal year for grants under this subsection shall be 

10 awarded through a merit-based competitive process. 

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

12 may award grants to coastal States to implement 

13 projects in the coastal zone to address stress factors 

14 in order to improve coastal climate change adapta15 tion, including the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) Activities to address physical disturb17 ances within the coastal zone, especially activi18 ties related to public facilities and public serv19 ices, tourism, sedimentation, ocean acidification, 

20 and other factors negatively impacting coastal 

21 waters. 

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

23 disease organisms and invasive species. 

24 ‘‘(C) Activities to address the loss, deg25 radation, or fragmentation of wildlife habitat 


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1 through projects to establish or protect marine 

2 and terrestrial habitat buffers, wildlife refugia, 

3 other wildlife refuges, or networks thereof, pres4 ervation of migratory wildlife corridors and 

5 other transition zones, and restoration of fish 

6 and wildlife habitat. 

7 ‘‘(D) Projects to reduce, mitigate, or other8 wise address likely impacts caused by natural 

9 hazards in the coastal zone, including sea level 

10 rise, coastal inundation, storm water manage11 ment, coastal erosion and subsidence, severe 

12 weather events such as cyclonic storms, 

13 tsunamis and other seismic threats, and fluc14 tuating Great Lakes water levels. The Secretary 

15 shall give priority to projects that utilize green 

16 infrastructure solutions. 

17 ‘‘(E) Projects to adapt existing infrastruc18 ture, including enhancements to both built and 

19 natural environments. 

20 ‘‘(F) Provision of technical training and 

21 assistance to local coastal policy makers to in22 crease awareness of science, management, and 

23 technology information related to climate 

24 change and adaptation strategies. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PROMOTION AND USE OF NATIONAL ESTU2 ARINE RESEARCH RESERVES.—The Secretary shall 

3 promote and encourage the use of National Estua4 rine Research Reserves as sites for pilot or dem5 onstration projects carried out with grants awarded 

6 under this section.’’. 

7 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

8 318(a) of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 

9 U.S.C. 1464(a)) is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the 

11 end of paragraph (1); 

12 (2) by striking the period at the end of para13 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(3) for grants under section 320, such sums 

16 as are necessary.’’. 

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

18 shall be construed to require any coastal State to amend 

19 or modify its approved management program pursuant to 

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

21 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1455(e)) or to extend the enforceable 

22 policies of a coastal State beyond the coastal zone as iden23 tified in the coastal State’s approved management pro24 gram. 

Æ 


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