I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4738 

To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Administrator 

of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to establish 

a constituent-driven program to provide a digital information platform 

capable of efficiently integrating coastal data with decision-support tools, 

training, and best practices and to support collection of priority coastal 

geospatial data to inform and improve local, State, regional, and Federal 

capacities to manage the coastal region, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2016 

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER (for himself and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the 

Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration, to establish a constituent-driven program 

to provide a digital information platform capable of efficiently integrating coastal data with decision-support 

tools, training, and best practices and to support collection of priority coastal geospatial data to inform and 

improve local, State, regional, and Federal capacities to 

manage the coastal region, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Coast Act of 

3 2016’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) The Digital Coast is a model approach for 

7 effective Federal partnerships with State and local 

8 government, nongovernmental organizations, and the 

9 private sector. 

10 (2) Access to current, accurate, uniform, and 

11 standards-based geospatial information, tools, and 

12 training to characterize the United States coastal re13 gion is critical for public safety and for the environ14 ment, infrastructure, and economy of the United 

15 States. 

16 (3) More than half of all people of the United 

17 States (153,000,000) currently live on or near a 

18 coast and an additional 12,000,000 are expected in 

19 the next decade. 

20 (4) Coastal counties in the United States aver21 age 300 persons per square mile, compared with the 

22 national average of 98. 

23 (5) On a typical day, more than 1,540 permits 

24 for construction of single-family homes are issued in 

25 coastal counties, combined with other commercial, 


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1 retail, and institutional construction to support this 

2 population. 

3 (6) Over half of the economic productivity of 

4 the United States is located within coastal regions. 

5 (7) Highly accurate, high-resolution remote 

6 sensing and other geospatial data play an increas7 ingly important role in decisionmaking and manage8 ment of the coastal zone and economy, including 

9 for— 

10 (A) flood and coastal storm surge pre11 diction; 

12 (B) hazard risk and vulnerability assess13 ment; 

14 (C) emergency response and recovery plan15 ning; 

16 (D) community resilience to longer range 

17 coastal change; 

18 (E) local planning and permitting; 

19 (F) habitat and ecosystem health assess20 ments; and 

21 (G) landscape change detection. 

22 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 

24 (1) COASTAL REGION.—The term ‘‘coastal re25 gion’’ means the area of United States waters exVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Mar 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4738.IH H4738

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1 tending inland from the shoreline to include coastal 

2 watersheds and seaward to the territorial sea. 

3 (2) COASTAL STATE.—The term ‘‘coastal 

4 State’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘coastal 

5 state’’ in section 304 of the Coastal Zone Manage6 ment Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1453). 

7 (3) FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COM8 MITTEE.—The term ‘‘Federal Geographic Data 

9 Committee’’ means the interagency committee that 

10 promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, 

11 and dissemination of geospatial data on a national 

12 basis. 

13 (4) REMOTE SENSING AND OTHER

14 GEOSPATIAL.—The term ‘‘remote sensing and other 

15 geospatial’’ means collecting, storing, retrieving, or 

16 disseminating graphical or digital data depicting 

17 natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, 

18 or boundaries of the Earth and any information re19 lated thereto, including surveys, maps, charts, sat20 ellite and airborne remote sensing data, images, 

21 LiDAR, and services performed by professionals 

22 such as surveyors, photogrammetrists, hydrog23 raphers, geodesists, cartographers, and other such 

24 services. 


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1 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Ad3 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos4 pheric Administration. 

5 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIGITAL COAST. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

8 a program for the provision of an enabling platform 

9 that integrates geospatial data, decision-support 

10 tools, training, and best practices to address coastal 

11 management issues and needs. Under the program, 

12 the Secretary shall strive to enhance resilient com13 munities, ecosystem values, and coastal economic 

14 growth and development by helping communities ad15 dress their issues, needs, and challenges through 

16 cost-effective and participatory solutions. 

17 (2) DESIGNATION.—The program established 

18 under paragraph (1) shall be known as the ‘‘Digital 

19 Coast’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘pro20 gram’’). 

21 (b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the 

22 program, the Secretary shall ensure that the program pro23 vides data integration, tool development, training, docu24 mentation, dissemination, and archive by— 


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1 (1) making data and resulting integrated prod2 ucts developed under this section readily accessible 

3 via the Digital Coast Internet website of the Na4 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 

5 GeoPlatform.gov and data.gov Internet websites, and 

6 such other information distribution technologies as 

7 the Secretary considers appropriate; 

8 (2) developing decision-support tools that use 

9 and display resulting integrated data and provide 

10 training on use of such tools; 

11 (3) documenting such data to Federal Geo12 graphic Data Committee standards; and 

13 (4) archiving all raw data acquired under this 

14 Act at the appropriate National Oceanic and Atmos15 pheric Administration data center or such other 

16 Federal data center as the Secretary considers ap17 propriate. 

18 (c) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall coordinate 

19 the activities carried out under the program to optimize 

20 data collection, sharing and integration, and to minimize 

21 duplication by— 

22 (1) consulting with coastal managers and deci23 sionmakers concerning coastal issues, and sharing 

24 information and best practices, as the Secretary con25 siders appropriate, with— 


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1 (A) coastal States; 

2 (B) local governments; and 

3 (C) representatives of academia, the pri4 vate sector, and nongovernmental organizations; 

5 (2) consulting with other Federal agencies, in6 cluding interagency committees, on relevant Federal 

7 activities, including activities carried out under the 

8 Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act (33 

9 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Coastal Zone Management 

10 Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.), the Integrated 

11 Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 

12 (33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), and the Hydrographic 

13 Services Improvement Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 892 

14 et seq.); 

15 (3) participating, pursuant to section 216 of the 

16 E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–347; 

17 44 U.S.C. 3501 note), in the establishment of such 

18 standards and common protocols as the Secretary 

19 considers necessary to assure the interoperability of 

20 remote sensing and other geospatial data with all 

21 users of such information within— 

22 (A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

23 Administration; 

24 (B) other Federal agencies; 

25 (C) State and local government; and 


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1 (D) the private sector; and 

2 (4) coordinating with, seeking assistance and 

3 cooperation of, and providing liaison to the Federal 

4 Geographic Data Committee pursuant to Office of 

5 Management and Budget Circular A–16 and Execu6 tive Order 12906 of April 14, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 

7 17671), as amended by Executive Order 13286 of 

8 March 5, 2003 (68 Fed. Reg. 10619). 

9 (d) FILLING NEEDS AND GAPS.—In carrying out the 

10 program, the Secretary shall— 

11 (1) maximize the use of remote sensing and 

12 other geospatial data collection activities conducted 

13 for other purposes and under other authorities; 

14 (2) focus on filling data needs and gaps for 

15 coastal management issues, including with respect to 

16 areas that, as of the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act, were underserved by coastal data and the areas 

18 of the Arctic that are under the jurisdiction of the 

19 United States; 

20 (3) pursuant to the Ocean and Coastal Map21 ping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), sup22 port continue improvement in existing efforts to co23 ordinate the acquisition and integration of key data 

24 sets needed for coastal management and other pur25 poses, including— 


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1 (A) coastal elevation data; 

2 (B) land use and land cover data; 

3 (C) socioeconomic and human use data; 

4 (D) critical infrastructure data; 

5 (E) structures data; 

6 (F) living resources and habitat data; 

7 (G) cadastral data; and 

8 (H) aerial imagery; and 

9 (4) integrate the priority supporting data set 

10 forth under paragraph (3) with other available data 

11 for the benefit of the broadest measure of coastal re12 source management constituents and applications. 

13 (e) FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program, 

15 the Secretary— 

16 (A) may enter into financial agreements to 

17 carry out the program, including— 

18 (i) support to non-Federal entities 

19 that participate in implementing the pro20 gram; 

21 (ii) grants, cooperative agreements, 

22 interagency agreements, contracts, or any 

23 other agreement on a reimbursable or non24 reimbursable basis, with other Federal, 


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1 tribal, State, and local governmental and 

2 nongovernmental entities; and 

3 (iii) registration fees in support of 

4 training, workshops, and conferences that 

5 advance the purposes of the program; and 

6 (B) shall enter into such contracts with 

7 private sector entities for such products and 

8 services as the Secretary determines may be 

9 necessary to collect, process, and provide re10 mote sensing and other geospatial data and 

11 products for purposes of the program. 

12 (2) SURVEY AND MAPPING.—Contracts entered 

13 into under paragraph (1)(B) shall be considered 

14 ‘‘surveying and mapping’’ services as such term is 

15 used in and as such contracts are awarded by the 

16 Secretary in accordance with the selection proce17 dures in chapter 11 of title 40, United States Code. 

18 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such sums 

20 as may be necessary to carry out the program in each of 

21 fiscal years 2017 through 2021. 

Æ 


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