I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1382 

To authorize the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, to establish a constituent-driven program 

that collects priority coastal geospatial data and supports an information 

platform capable of efficiently integrating coastal data with decision 

support tools, training, and best practices to inform and improve local, 

State, regional, and Federal capacities to manage the coastal region. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 21, 2013 

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 authorize the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to establish a constituent-driven program that collects priority 

coastal geospatial data and supports an information platform capable of efficiently integrating coastal data with 

decision support tools, training, and best practices to 

inform and improve local, State, regional, and Federal 

capacities to manage the coastal region. 

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 2013’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the lack of current, accurate, uniform, and 

7 standards-based geospatial information to charac8 terize the United States coastal region presents a 

9 significant liability to adequately manage and main10 tain the Nation’s— 

11 (A) environment; 

12 (B) infrastructure; 

13 (C) economy; and 

14 (D) public safety and homeland security; 

15 (2) more than half of all people of the United 

16 States (153 million) currently live on or near a coast 

17 and an additional 12 million are expected in the next 

18 decade; 

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

21 national average of 98; 

22 (4) 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 (5) over half of the Nation’s economic produc2 tivity is located within coastal regions; 

3 (6) highly accurate, high-resolution remote 

4 sensing and other geospatial data play an important 

5 role in management of the coastal zone and econ6 omy, including for flood and coastal storm surge 

7 prediction; hazard risk and vulnerability assessment; 

8 emergency response and recovery planning; commu9 nity resilience to longer range climate change im10 pacts; permitting and zoning decisionmaking; habitat 

11 and ecosystem health assessments; and landscape 

12 change detection; and 

13 (7) the Digital Coast is a model approach in ef14 fective Federal partnerships with local and State 

15 government, nongovernmental organizations, and the 

16 private sector. 

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

18 In this Act: 

19 (1) The term ‘‘Digital Coast’’ means a con20 stituent-driven effort led by the Secretary to provide 

21 an enabling platform that integrates geospatial data, 

22 decision support tools, training, and best practices to 

23 address coastal and emergency management issues 

24 and needs. The Digital Coast strives to sustain and 

25 enhance coastal economies and ecosystem services by 


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1 helping communities address their issues, needs, and 

2 challenges through cost-effective and participatory 

3 solutions. 

4 (2) The term ‘‘remote sensing and other 

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

6 disseminating graphical or digital data depicting 

7 natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, 

8 or boundaries of the Earth and any information re9 lated thereto, including surveys, maps, charts, sat10 ellite and airborne remote sensing data, images, 

11 lidar, and services performed by professionals such 

12 as surveyors, photogrammetrists, hydrographers, ge13 odesists, cartographers, and other such services. 

14 (3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

15 of Commerce, acting through the Administrator of 

16 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra17 tion. 

18 (4) The term ‘‘State’’— 

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

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

21 Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mex22 ico, Long Island Sound, or one or more of the 

23 Great Lakes; and 

24 (B) includes Puerto Rico, the United 

25 States Virgin Islands, Guam, the CommonVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:18 Mar 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1382.IH H1382

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1 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 

2 Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, Amer3 ican Samoa, and any portion of a State that is 

4 located within 100 kilometers of the Atlantic or 

5 Pacific Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of 

6 Mexico, or the Great Lakes. 

7 (5) The term ‘‘coastal region’’ means the area 

8 of United States waters extending inland from the 

9 shoreline to include coastal watersheds and seaward 

10 to the territorial sea. 

11 (6) The term ‘‘Federal Geographic Data Com12 mittee’’ means the interagency committee that pro13 motes the coordinated development, use, sharing, 

14 and dissemination of geospatial data on a national 

15 basis. 

16 SEC. 4. BUILDING THE DIGITAL COAST. 

17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION.— 

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

19 and implement the Digital Coast to collect the fol20 lowing priority supporting data and integrate such 

21 data with other available data for the benefit of the 

22 broadest measure of coastal resource management 

23 constituents and applications: 

24 (A) Coastal elevation data. 

25 (B) Land use and land cover data. 


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1 (C) Benthic habitat and submerged aquat2 ic vegetation data. 

3 (D) Parcels data. 

4 (E) Planimetric data. 

5 (F) Socioeconomic and human use data. 

6 (2) FOCUS ON FILLING NEEDS AND GAPS.—In 

7 implementing this section, the Secretary shall— 

8 (A) recognize that remote sensing and 

9 other geospatial data acquisition for naviga10 tional and positioning purposes is carried out 

11 through other authorities and programs; and 

12 (B) focus on filling data needs and gaps 

13 for critical coastal management issues. 

14 (b) DATA INTEGRATION, TOOL DEVELOPMENT, 

15 TRAINING, DOCUMENTATION, DISSEMINATION, AND AR16 CHIVE.—The Secretary shall— 

17 (1) make data and resulting integrated prod18 ucts developed under this section readily accessible 

19 via the Digital Coast and other related Internet 

20 technologies; 

21 (2) develop decision support tools that use and 

22 display resulting integrated data and provide train23 ing on use of such tools; 

24 (3) document such data to Federal Geographic 

25 Data Committee standards; and 


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1 (4) archive all raw data acquired under this Act 

2 at the appropriate National Oceanic and Atmos3 pheric Administration data center or other appro4 priate Federal data center. 

5 (c) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall coordinate 

6 the activities carried out pursuant to this Act to maximize 

7 data sharing and integration and minimize duplication 

8 by— 

9 (1) coordinating activities, when appropriate, 

10 with— 

11 (A) other Federal efforts, including efforts 

12 under the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integra13 tion Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Coastal 

14 Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 

15 1451 et seq.), and the Integrated Coastal and 

16 Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 (33 

17 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.); 

18 (B) coastal States and United States terri19 tories; 

20 (C) local governments; and 

21 (D) representatives of nongovernmental en22 tities; 

23 (2) participating, pursuant to section 216 of 

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

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1 cols as are necessary to assure the interoperability 

2 of remote sensing and other geospatial data with all 

3 users of such information within— 

4 (A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

5 Administration; 

6 (B) other Federal agencies; 

7 (C) State and local government; and 

8 (D) the private sector; 

9 (3) coordinating with, seeking assistance and 

10 cooperation of, and providing liaison to the Federal 

11 Geographic Data Committee pursuant to Office of 

12 Management and Budget Circular A–16 and Execu13 tive Order No. 12906; and 

14 (4) providing for the utilization of contracts 

15 with the private sector, to the maximum extent prac16 ticable, to provide such products and services as are 

17 necessary to collect remote sensing and other 

18 geospatial data; which contracts shall be considered 

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

20 used and as such contracts are awarded at the dis21 cretion of the Secretary in accordance with the selec22 tion procedures in chapter 11 of title 40, United 

23 States Code. 


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1 SEC. 5. COASTAL SERVICES CENTERS. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish, 

3 within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra4 tion, the Coastal Services Centers to facilitate the develop5 ment of products and services that address the needs of 

6 local, State, and regional entities involved with coastal and 

7 ocean decisionmaking including those State coastal man8 agement and research reserves benefitting from this Act, 

9 and to lead development and maintenance of the Digital 

10 Coast. 

11 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Coastal Services 

12 Centers shall be to— 

13 (1) support the environmental, social, and eco14 nomic well-being of the coast by linking people, in15 formation, and technology; 

16 (2) identify and assess coastal and ocean man17 agement needs and increase the capabilities and ca18 pacities of managers to address them at the local, 

19 State, and regional levels; 

20 (3) manage the Digital Coast program to carry 

21 out the intent of this Act; 

22 (4) convene and engage coastal managers and 

23 decisionmakers in dialog concerning coastal issues 

24 and share information and best practices across this 

25 audience; and 


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1 (5) collaborate with various programs of the 

2 National 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. 

6 (c) FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS.—To carry out this 

7 Act, including to provide program support to non-Federal 

8 entities that participate in implementing this Act, the Sec9 retary— 

10 (1) may enter into financial agreements includ11 ing grants, cooperative agreements, interagency 

12 agreements, and contracts with other Federal, tribal, 

13 State, and local governmental and nongovernmental 

14 entities; and 

15 (2) may collect registration fees in support of 

16 training, workshops, and conferences that advance 

17 the purposes of this Act. 

18 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec20 retary $85,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 

21 2019 to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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