I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6215 

To authorize the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program to develop 

a coordinated and comprehensive Federal coastal mapping effort for 

the Nation’s coastal zone to include all coastal State and territorial 

waters of the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program to develop a coordinated and comprehensive Federal coastal mapping effort for the Nation’s coastal zone 

to include all coastal State and territorial waters of the 

United States, 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 ‘‘Digital Coast Act of 

5 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) more than half of all people of the United 

2 States, 153 million people, currently live on or near 

3 a coast and an additional 12 million are expected in 

4 the next decade; 

5 (2) coastal counties in the United States aver6 age 300 persons per square mile, compared with the 

7 national average of 98; 

8 (3) on a typical day, more than 1,540 permits 

9 for construction of single-family homes are issued in 

10 coastal counties, combined with other commercial, 

11 retail, and institutional construction to support this 

12 population; 

13 (4) much of the 95,000 miles of United States 

14 shoreline does not have current, accurate maps and 

15 geospatial information; 

16 (5) the lack of current and accurate remote 

17 sensing and geospatial data on United States coasts, 

18 harbors, and ports results in an environmental, in19 frastructure, economic, and homeland security vul20 nerability for the Nation; 

21 (6) the Federal Government can and should 

22 play an important role in the development and dem23 onstration of innovative remote sensing and other 

24 geospatial techniques to improve the management of 

25 the coast of the United States, comprehensive emerVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:55 Sep 25, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6215.IH H6215

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1 gency preparedness and response in the event of a 

2 tsunami, storm surges, and oil spills as well as for 

3 homeland security; 

4 (7) highly accurate, high resolution remote 

5 sensing and other geospatial data, including ele6 vation data, play an important role in management 

7 of the coastal zone, including flood prediction capa8 bilities; risk, vulnerability, and hazard assessments; 

9 emergency response plans; permitting and zoning de10 cisionmaking; and landscape change detection; as 

11 well as port security and other homeland security 

12 applications; 

13 (8) the full range of applications of remote 

14 sensing and other forms of geospatial information to 

15 meet national requirements has not been adequately 

16 explored or exploited; and 

17 (9) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad18 ministration, in coordination with other agencies, 

19 can play a unique role in demonstrating how com20 mercial remote sensing and other private sector 

21 geospatial capabilities can be applied to assist State, 

22 local, regional, and tribal agencies in emergency pre23 paredness, emergency response, homeland security, 

24 infrastructure management, environmental decision25 making, and other applications in such areas as agVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:55 Sep 25, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6215.IH H6215

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1 riculture, weather forecasting, and forest manage2 ment. 

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act— 

5 (1) the term ‘‘digital coast’’ means a con6 stituent-driven effort led by the National Oceanic 

7 and Atmospheric Administration to provide an ena8 bling platform that integrates geospatial data, deci9 sion support tools, training, and case studies to ad10 dress coastal and emergency management issues; 

11 (2) the term ‘‘remote sensing and other 

12 geospatial’’ mean collecting, storing, retrieving, or 

13 disseminating graphical or digital data depicting 

14 natural or man-made physical features, phenomena, 

15 or boundaries of the Earth and any information re16 lated thereto, including surveys, maps, charts, sat17 ellite and airborne remote sensing data, images, and 

18 services performed by professionals such as sur19 veyors, photogrammetrists, hydrographers, geode20 sists, cartographers, and other such services; 

21 (3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

22 of Commerce, acting through the Director of the 

23 Coastal Services Center of the National Oceanic and 

24 Atmospheric Administration; and 

25 (4) the term ‘‘State’’— 


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1 (A) means a State of the United States in, 

2 or bordering on, the Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic 

3 Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mex4 ico, Long Island Sound, or one or more of the 

5 Great Lakes; and 

6 (B) includes Puerto Rico, the United 

7 States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Common8 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 

9 Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, Amer10 ican Samoa, and any portion of a State that is 

11 located within 100 kilometers of the Atlantic or 

12 Pacific Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of 

13 Mexico, or the Great Lakes. 

14 SEC. 4. COASTAL SERVICES CENTERS. 

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary may establish 

16 coastal services centers as may be needed to facilitate 

17 products and services to address the needs of local, State, 

18 and regional entities involved with coastal and ocean deci19 sionmaking including those State coastal management and 

20 research reserves benefitting from this Act. 

21 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the coastal services 

22 centers shall be to— 

23 (1) support the environmental, social, and eco24 nomic well being of the coast by linking people, in25 formation, and technology; 


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1 (2) collaborate with various branches of the Na2 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

3 other Federal agencies, and nongovernmental enti4 ties to bring data, information, services, and tools to 

5 the Nation’s coastal and ocean decisionmakers; and 

6 (3) identify and address region-specific needs 

7 and increase capabilities to address them at the 

8 local, State, and regional levels. 

9 (c) FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS.—To carry out the re10 sponsibilities of this Act, including to provide program 

11 support to non-Federal entities that participate in imple12 menting this Act, the Secretary may enter into financial 

13 agreements including, but not limited to, grants, coopera14 tive agreements, interagency agreements, and contracts 

15 with other Federal, tribal, State and local governmental 

16 and nongovernmental entities. 

17 SEC. 5. REMOTE SENSING AND OTHER GEOSPATIAL DATA 

18 LAYERS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The projects carried out by the 

20 Secretary pursuant to section 4 shall collect and integrate 

21 other available coastal data with— 

22 (1) shallow bathymetric data; 

23 (2) airborne elevation data; 

24 (3) large-scale land use and land cover maps; 


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1 (4) benthic habitat and aquatic vegetation map2 ping; 

3 (5) parcel data; 

4 (6) planimetric data; and 

5 (7) socioeconomic and human use data. 

6 (b) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall coordinate 

7 the activities carried out pursuant to this Act to maximize 

8 data sharing and integration and minimize duplication 

9 by— 

10 (1) coordinating activities when appropriate, 

11 with— 

12 (A) other Federal efforts, including the 

13 Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act 

14 (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Coastal Zone 

15 Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et 

16 seq.), and the Integrated Coastal and Ocean 

17 Observation System Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 

18 3601 et seq.); 

19 (B) coastal States and United States terri20 tories; 

21 (C) local governments; and 

22 (D) representatives of nongovernmental en23 tities; 

24 (2) participating, pursuant to section 216 of 

25 Public Law 107–347 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note), in the 


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1 establishment of such standards and common proto2 cols as are necessary to assure the interoperability 

3 of remote sensing and other geospatial data with all 

4 users of such information within— 

5 (A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

6 Administration; 

7 (B) other Federal agencies; 

8 (C) State and local government; and 

9 (D) the private sector; 

10 (3) coordinating with, seeking assistance and 

11 cooperation of, and providing liaison to the Federal 

12 Geographic Data Committee pursuant to Office of 

13 Management and Budget Circular A–16 and Execu14 tive Order No. 12906; and 

15 (4) providing for the utilization of contracts 

16 with the private sector, to the maximum extent prac17 ticable, to provide such products and services as are 

18 necessary to collect remote sensing and other 

19 geospatial data; which contracts shall be considered 

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

21 used and as such contracts are awarded in accord22 ance with the selection procedures in chapter 11 of 

23 title 40, United States Code. 


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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec3 retary $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 

4 through 2016 to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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