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Union Calendar No. 237 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3541 

[Report No. 116–294] 

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 

NOVEMBER 15, 2019 

Additional sponsors: Mr. SABLAN, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. 

VAN DREW, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, and Mr. KIM

NOVEMBER 15, 2019 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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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. 


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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. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Preparedness Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CLIMATE CHANGE PREPAREDNESS IN THE COAST7 AL ZONE. 

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

9 Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.) is amended by add10 ing at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PREPAREDNESS AND

12 RESPONSE PROGRAM

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

14 establish, consistent with the national policies set forth in 

15 section 303, a coastal climate change adaptation prepared16 ness and response program to— 

17 ‘‘(1) provide assistance to coastal States to vol18 untarily develop coastal climate change adaptation 

19 plans, pursuant to approved management programs 

20 approved under section 306, to minimize contribu21 tions to climate change and to prepare for and re22 duce the negative consequences that may result from 

23 climate change in the coastal zone; and 

24 ‘‘(2) provide financial and technical assistance 

25 and training to enable coastal States to implement 


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1 plans developed pursuant to this section through 

2 coastal States’ enforceable policies. 

3 ‘‘(b) COASTAL CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

4 PLANNING AND PREPAREDNESS GRANTS.— 

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

6 the availability of appropriations, may make a grant 

7 to any coastal State for the purpose of developing 

8 climate change adaptation plans pursuant to guide9 lines issued by the Secretary under paragraph (8). 

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

11 grant under this subsection shall include the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(A) Identification of public facilities and 

14 public services, working waterfronts, coastal re15 sources of national significance, coastal waters, 

16 energy facilities, or other land and water uses 

17 located in the coastal zone that are likely to be 

18 impacted by climate change. 

19 ‘‘(B) Adaptive management strategies for 

20 land use to respond or adapt to changing envi21 ronmental conditions, including strategies to 

22 protect biodiversity, protect water quality, and 

23 establish habitat buffer zones, migration cor24 ridors, and climate refugia. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Adaptive management strategies for 

2 ocean-based ecosystems and resources, includ3 ing strategies to plan for and respond to geo4 graphic or temporal shifts in marine resources, 

5 to create protected areas that will provide cli6 mate refugia, and to maintain and restore 

7 ocean ecosystem function. 

8 ‘‘(D) Requirements to initiate and main9 tain long-term monitoring of environmental 

10 change to assess coastal zone adaptation and to 

11 adjust when necessary adaptive management 

12 strategies and new planning guidelines to attain 

13 the policies under section 303. 

14 ‘‘(E) Other information considered nec15 essary by the Secretary to identify the full 

16 range of climate change impacts affecting coast17 al communities. 

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

19 Plans developed with a grant under this subsection 

20 shall be consistent with State hazard mitigation 

21 plans and natural disaster response and recovery 

22 programs developed under State or Federal law. 

23 ‘‘(4) ALLOCATION.—Grants under this sub24 section shall be available only to coastal States with 

25 management programs approved by the Secretary 


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1 under section 306 and shall be allocated among such 

2 coastal States in a manner consistent with regula3 tions promulgated pursuant to section 306(c). 

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

5 under this subsection, the Secretary may give pri6 ority to any coastal State that has received grant 

7 funding to develop program changes pursuant to 

8 paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (5), (6), (7), and (8) of sec9 tion 309(a). 

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

11 may provide technical assistance to a coastal State 

12 consistent with section 310 to ensure the timely de13 velopment of plans supported by grants awarded 

14 under this subsection. 

15 ‘‘(7) FEDERAL APPROVAL.—In order to be eligi16 ble for a grant under subsection (c), a coastal State 

17 must have its plan developed under this subsection 

18 approved by the Secretary. 

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

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

21 consultation with the coastal States, shall issue 

22 guidelines for the implementation of the grant pro23 gram established under this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(c) COASTAL CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

25 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 


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

2 the availability of appropriations, may make grants 

3 to any coastal State that has a climate change adap4 tation plan approved under subsection (b)(7), in 

5 order to support projects that implement strategies 

6 contained within such plans. 

7 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec8 retary, within 90 days after approval of the first 

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

10 in the Federal Register requirements regarding ap11 plications, allocations, eligible activities, and all 

12 terms and conditions for grants awarded under this 

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

14 than 50 percent, of the funds appropriated in any 

15 fiscal year for grants under this subsection shall be 

16 awarded through a merit-based competitive process. 

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

18 may award grants to coastal States to implement 

19 projects in the coastal zone to address stress factors 

20 in order to improve coastal climate change adapta21 tion, including the following: 

22 ‘‘(A) Activities to address physical disturb23 ances within the coastal zone, especially activi24 ties related to public facilities and public serv25 ices, tourism, sedimentation, ocean acidification, 


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1 and other factors negatively impacting coastal 

2 waters. 

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

4 disease organisms and invasive species. 

5 ‘‘(C) Activities to address the loss, deg6 radation, or fragmentation of wildlife habitat 

7 through projects to establish or protect marine 

8 and terrestrial habitat buffers, wildlife refugia, 

9 other wildlife refuges, or networks thereof, pres10 ervation of migratory wildlife corridors and 

11 other transition zones, and restoration of fish 

12 and wildlife habitat. 

13 ‘‘(D) Projects to reduce, mitigate, or other14 wise address likely impacts caused by natural 

15 hazards in the coastal zone, including sea level 

16 rise, coastal inundation, storm water manage17 ment, coastal erosion and subsidence, severe 

18 weather events such as cyclonic storms, 

19 tsunamis and other seismic threats, and fluc20 tuating Great Lakes water levels. The Secretary 

21 shall give priority to projects that utilize green 

22 infrastructure solutions. 

23 ‘‘(E) Projects to adapt existing infrastruc24 ture, including enhancements to both built and 

25 natural environments. 


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1 ‘‘(F) Provision of technical training and 

2 assistance to local coastal policy makers to in3 crease awareness of science, management, and 

4 technology information related to climate 

5 change and adaptation strategies. 

6 ‘‘(4) PROMOTION AND USE OF NATIONAL ESTU7 ARINE RESEARCH RESERVES.—The Secretary shall 

8 promote and encourage the use of National Estua9 rine Research Reserves as sites for pilot or dem10 onstration projects carried out with grants awarded 

11 under this section.’’. 

12 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

13 318(a) of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 

14 U.S.C. 1464(a)) is amended— 

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

16 end of paragraph (1); 

17 (2) by striking the period at the end of para18 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

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

21 as are necessary.’’. 

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

23 shall be construed to require any coastal State to amend 

24 or modify its approved management program pursuant to 

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


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1 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1455(e)) or to extend the enforceable 

2 policies of a coastal State beyond the coastal zone as iden3 tified in the coastal State’s approved management pro4 gram. 


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kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 237 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3541 

[Report No. 116–294] 

A BILL 

To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 

purposes. paredness and response program, and for other tablish a coastal climate change adaptation pre1972 to require the Secretary of Commerce to esNOVEMBER 15, 2019 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS