I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2189 

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 

APRIL 9, 2019 

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) 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’’. 

3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

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

6 effective Federal partnerships with State and local 

7 government, nongovernmental organizations, and the 

8 private sector. 

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

10 standards-based geospatial information, tools, and 

11 training to characterize the United States coastal re12 gion is critical for public safety and for the environ13 ment, infrastructure, and economy of the United 

14 States. 

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

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

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

18 the next decade. 

19 (4) Coastal counties in the United States aver20 age 300 persons per square mile, compared with the 

21 national average of 98. 

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

23 for construction of single-family homes are issued in 

24 coastal counties, combined with other commercial, 

25 retail, and institutional construction to support this 

26 population. 


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1 (6) Over half of the economic productivity of 

2 the United States is located within coastal regions. 

3 (7) Highly accurate, high-resolution remote 

4 sensing and other geospatial data play an increas5 ingly important role in decision making and manage6 ment of the coastal zone and economy, including 

7 for— 

8 (A) flood and coastal storm surge pre9 diction; 

10 (B) hazard risk and vulnerability assess11 ment; 

12 (C) emergency response and recovery plan13 ning; 

14 (D) community resilience to longer range 

15 coastal change; 

16 (E) local planning and permitting; 

17 (F) habitat and ecosystem health assess18 ments; and 

19 (G) landscape change detection. 

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) COASTAL REGION.—The term ‘‘coastal re23 gion’’ means the area of United States waters ex24 tending inland from the shoreline to include coastal 

25 watersheds and seaward to the territorial sea. 


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

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

3 state’’ in section 304 of the Coastal Zone Manage4 ment Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1453). 

5 (3) FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COM6 MITTEE.—The term ‘‘Federal Geographic Data 

7 Committee’’ means the interagency committee that 

8 promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, 

9 and dissemination of geospatial data on a national 

10 basis. 

11 (4) REMOTE SENSING AND OTHER

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

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

14 disseminating graphical or digital data depicting 

15 natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, 

16 or boundaries of the Earth and any information re17 lated thereto, including surveys, maps, charts, sat18 ellite and airborne remote sensing data, images, 

19 LiDAR, and services performed by professionals 

20 such as surveyors, photogrammetrists, hydrog21 raphers, geodesists, cartographers, and other such 

22 services. 

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

24 the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the AdVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Apr 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2189.IH H2189

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1 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos2 pheric Administration. 

3 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIGITAL COAST. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

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

6 a program for the provision of an enabling platform 

7 that integrates geospatial data, decision-support 

8 tools, training, and best practices to address coastal 

9 management issues and needs. Under the program, 

10 the Secretary shall strive to enhance resilient com11 munities, ecosystem values, and coastal economic 

12 growth and development by helping communities ad13 dress their issues, needs, and challenges through 

14 cost-effective and participatory solutions. 

15 (2) DESIGNATION.—The program established 

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

17 Coast’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘pro18 gram’’). 

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

20 program, the Secretary shall ensure that the program pro21 vides data integration, tool development, training, docu22 mentation, dissemination, and archiving by— 

23 (1) making data and resulting integrated prod24 ucts developed under this section readily accessible 

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1 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 

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

3 such other information distribution technologies as 

4 the Secretary considers appropriate; 

5 (2) developing decision-support tools that use 

6 and display resulting integrated data and provide 

7 training on use of such tools; 

8 (3) documenting such data to Federal Geo9 graphic Data Committee standards; and 

10 (4) archiving all raw data acquired under this 

11 Act at the appropriate National Oceanic and Atmos12 pheric Administration data center or such other 

13 Federal data center as the Secretary considers ap14 propriate. 

15 (c) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall coordinate 

16 the activities carried out under the program to optimize 

17 data collection, sharing and integration, and to minimize 

18 duplication by— 

19 (1) consulting with coastal managers and deci20 sion makers concerning coastal issues, and sharing 

21 information and best practices, as the Secretary con22 siders appropriate, with— 

23 (A) coastal States; 

24 (B) local governments; and 


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1 (C) representatives of academia, the pri2 vate sector, and nongovernmental organizations; 

3 (2) consulting with other Federal agencies, in4 cluding interagency committees, on relevant Federal 

5 activities, including activities carried out under the 

6 Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act (33 

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

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

9 Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 

10 (33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), and the Hydrographic 

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

12 et seq.); 

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

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

15 44 U.S.C. 3501 note), in the establishment of such 

16 standards and common protocols as the Secretary 

17 considers necessary to assure the interoperability of 

18 remote sensing and other geospatial data with all 

19 users of such information within— 

20 (A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

21 Administration; 

22 (B) other Federal agencies; 

23 (C) State and local government; and 

24 (D) the private sector; 


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1 (4) coordinating with, seeking assistance and 

2 cooperation of, and providing liaison to the Federal 

3 Geographic Data Committee pursuant to Office of 

4 Management and Budget Circular A–16 and Execu5 tive Order 12906 of April 11, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 

6 17671), as amended by Executive Order 13286 of 

7 February 28, 2003 (68 Fed. Reg. 10619); and 

8 (5) developing and maintaining a best practices 

9 document that sets out the best practices used by 

10 the Secretary in carrying out the program and pro11 viding such document to the United States Geologi12 cal Survey, the Corps of Engineers, and other rel13 evant Federal agencies. 

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

15 program, the Secretary shall— 

16 (1) maximize the use of remote sensing and 

17 other geospatial data collection activities conducted 

18 for other purposes and under other authorities; 

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

20 coastal management issues, including with respect to 

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

22 Act, were underserved by coastal data and the areas 

23 of the Arctic that are under the jurisdiction of the 

24 United States; 


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1 (3) pursuant to the Ocean and Coastal Map2 ping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), sup3 port continue improvement in existing efforts to co4 ordinate the acquisition and integration of key data 

5 sets needed for coastal management and other pur6 poses, including— 

7 (A) coastal elevation data; 

8 (B) land use and land cover data; 

9 (C) socioeconomic and human use data; 

10 (D) critical infrastructure data; 

11 (E) structures data; 

12 (F) living resources and habitat data; 

13 (G) cadastral data; and 

14 (H) aerial imagery; and 

15 (4) integrate the priority supporting data set 

16 forth under paragraph (3) with other available data 

17 for the benefit of the broadest measure of coastal re18 source management constituents and applications. 

19 (e) FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS.— 

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

21 the Secretary— 

22 (A) may enter into financial agreements to 

23 carry out the program, including— 


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1 (i) support to non-Federal entities 

2 that participate in implementing the pro3 gram; and 

4 (ii) grants, cooperative agreements, 

5 interagency agreements, contracts, or any 

6 other agreement on a reimbursable or non7 reimbursable basis, with other Federal, 

8 tribal, State, and local governmental and 

9 nongovernmental entities; and 

10 (B) may, to the maximum extent prac11 ticable, enter into such contracts with private 

12 sector entities for such products and services as 

13 the Secretary determines may be necessary to 

14 collect, process, and provide remote sensing and 

15 other geospatial data and products for purposes 

16 of the program. 

17 (2) FEES.— 

18 (A) ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION.—The 

19 Secretary may assess and collect fees for the 

20 conduct of any training, workshop, or con21 ference that advances the purposes of the pro22 gram. 

23 (B) AMOUNTS.—The amount of a fee 

24 under this paragraph may not exceed the sum 

25 of costs incurred, or expected to be incurred, by 


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1 the Secretary as a direct result of the conduct 

2 of the training, workshop, or conference, includ3 ing for subsistence expenses incidental to the 

4 training, workshop, or conference, as applicable. 

5 (C) USE OF FEES.—Amounts collected by 

6 the Secretary in the form of fees under this 

7 paragraph may be used to pay for— 

8 (i) the costs incurred for conducting 

9 an activity described in subparagraph (A); 

10 or 

11 (ii) the expenses described in subpara12 graph (B). 

13 (3) SURVEY AND MAPPING.—Contracts entered 

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

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

16 used in and as such contracts are awarded by the 

17 Secretary in accordance with the selection proce18 dures in chapter 11 of title 40, United States Code. 

19 (f) OCEAN ECONOMY.—The Secretary may establish 

20 publically available tools that track ocean and Great Lakes 

21 economy data for each coastal State. 

22 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $4,000,000 


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1 for each fiscal year 2020 through 2024 to carry out the 

2 program. 

Æ 


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