II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2890 

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

Atmospheric Administration, to establish a constituent-driven program 

that develops an information platform capable of efficiently integrating 

coastal data with decision-support tools, training, and best practices, 

and coordinates the 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. KING, Mr. 

WHITEHOUSE, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. BEGICH, Ms. HIRONO, and Mr. 

REED) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to establish a constituent-driven program that develops an information platform capable of efficiently integrating coastal 

data with decision-support tools, training, and best practices, and coordinates the 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. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2890 IS

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 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

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

9 effective Federal partnerships with State and local 

10 government, nongovernmental organizations, and the 

11 private sector. 

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

13 standards-based geospatial information, tools, and 

14 training to characterize the United States coastal re15 gion is critical for public safety and for the environ16 ment, infrastructure, and economy of the United 

17 States. 

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

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

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

21 the next decade. 

22 (4) Coastal counties in the United States aver23 age 300 persons per square mile, compared with the 

24 national average of 98. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2890 IS

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

2 for construction of single-family homes are issued in 

3 coastal counties, combined with other commercial, 

4 retail, and institutional construction to support this 

5 population. 

6 (6) Over half of the economic productivity of 

7 the United States is located within coastal regions. 

8 (7) Highly accurate, high-resolution remote 

9 sensing and other geospatial data play an important 

10 role in management of the coastal zone and econ11 omy, including for— 

12 (A) flood and coastal storm surge pre13 diction; 

14 (B) hazard risk and vulnerability assess15 ment; 

16 (C) emergency response and recovery plan17 ning; 

18 (D) community resilience to longer range 

19 climate change impacts; 

20 (E) permitting and zoning decisionmaking; 

21 (F) habitat and ecosystem health assess22 ments; and 

23 (G) landscape change detection. 

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2890 IS

1 (1) COASTAL REGION.—The term ‘‘coastal re2 gion’’ means the area of United States waters ex3 tending inland from the shoreline to include coastal 

4 watersheds and seaward to the territorial sea. 

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

6 State’’— 

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

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

9 Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mex10 ico, Long Island Sound, or one or more of the 

11 Great Lakes; and 

12 (B) includes Puerto Rico, the United 

13 States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Common14 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 

15 Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, Amer16 ican Samoa, and any portion of a State that is 

17 located within the designated coastal zone of 

18 the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, the Chesapeake 

19 Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Great Lakes. 

20 (3) DIGITAL COAST.—The term ‘‘Digital Coast’’ 

21 means a constituent-driven effort led by the Sec22 retary to provide an enabling platform that inte23 grates geospatial data, decision-support tools, train24 ing, and best practices to address coastal manage25 ment issues and needs. The Digital Coast strives to 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2890 IS

1 enhance resilient communities, ecosystem values, and 

2 coastal economic growth and development by helping 

3 communities address their issues, needs, and chal4 lenges through cost-effective and participatory solu5 tions. 

6 (4) FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COM7 MITTEE.—The term ‘‘Federal Geographic Data 

8 Committee’’ means the interagency committee that 

9 promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, 

10 and dissemination of geospatial data on a national 

11 basis. 

12 (5) REMOTE SENSING AND OTHER

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

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

15 disseminating graphical or digital data depicting 

16 natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, 

17 or boundaries of the Earth and any information re18 lated thereto, including surveys, maps, charts, sat19 ellite and airborne remote sensing data, images, 

20 LiDAR, and services performed by professionals 

21 such as surveyors, photogrammetrists, hydrog22 raphers, geodesists, cartographers, and other such 

23 services. 

24 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

25 the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the AdVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Oct 01, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2890.IS S2890

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2890 IS

1 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos2 pheric Administration. 

3 SEC. 4. BUILDING THE DIGITAL COAST. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish Dig5 ital Coast as a program that provides data integration, 

6 tool development, training, documentation, dissemination, 

7 and archive by— 

8 (1) making data and resulting integrated prod9 ucts developed under this section readily accessible 

10 via the Digital Coast Internet website of the Na11 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 

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

13 such other Internet technologies as the Secretary 

14 considers appropriate; 

15 (2) developing decision-support tools that use 

16 and display resulting integrated data and provide 

17 training on use of such tools; 

18 (3) documenting such data to Federal Geo19 graphic Data Committee standards; and 

20 (4) archiving all raw data acquired under this 

21 Act at the appropriate National Oceanic and Atmos22 pheric Administration data center or such other 

23 Federal data center as the Secretary considers ap24 propriate. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2890 IS

1 (b) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall coordinate 

2 the activities carried out pursuant to this Act to maximize 

3 data collection, sharing and integration, and to minimize 

4 duplication by— 

5 (1) consulting with coastal managers and deci6 sionmakers concerning coastal issues, and sharing 

7 information and best practices, as the Secretary con8 siders appropriate, with— 

9 (A) coastal States; 

10 (B) local governments; and 

11 (C) representatives of nongovernmental en12 tities; 

13 (2) consulting with other Federal agencies on 

14 relevant Federal activities, including activities car15 ried out under the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Inte16 gration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Coastal 

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

18 seq.), the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation 

19 System Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), and 

20 the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998 

21 (33 U.S.C. 892 et seq.); 

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

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

24 44 U.S.C. 3501 note), in the establishment of such 

25 standards and common protocols as the Secretary 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 2890 IS

1 considers necessary to assure the interoperability of 

2 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; and 

9 (4) 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 12906 of April 14, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 

14 17671), as amended by Executive Order 13286 of 

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

16 (c) FILLING NEEDS AND GAPS.—In carrying out this 

17 section, the Secretary shall— 

18 (1) recognize that remote sensing and other 

19 geospatial data acquisition for navigational and posi20 tioning purposes is carried out through other au21 thorities and programs; 

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

23 critical coastal management issues; 

24 (3) pursuant to the Ocean and Coastal Map25 ping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), supVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Oct 01, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2890.IS S2890

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 2890 IS

1 port continue improvement in existing efforts to co2 ordinate the acquisition and integration of key data 

3 sets needed for coastal management and other pur4 poses, including— 

5 (A) coastal elevation data; 

6 (B) land use and land cover data; 

7 (C) socioeconomic and human use data; 

8 (D) critical infrastructure data; 

9 (E) structures data; 

10 (F) living resources and habitat data; 

11 (G) cadastral data; and 

12 (H) aerial imagery; 

13 (4) integrate the priority supporting data set 

14 forth under paragraph (3) with other available data 

15 for the benefit of the broadest measure of coastal re16 source management constituents and applications; 

17 (5) enter into financial agreements to carry out 

18 this Act, including— 

19 (A) program support to non-Federal enti20 ties that participate in implementing this Act; 

21 (B) financial agreements, including grants, 

22 cooperative agreements, interagency agree23 ments, and contracts, or any other agreement 

24 on a reimbursable or non-reimbursable basis, 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 2890 IS

1 with other Federal, tribal, State, and local gov2 ernmental and nongovernmental entities; and 

3 (C) registration fees in support of training, 

4 workshops, and conferences that advance the 

5 purposes of this Act; and 

6 (6) enter into such contracts with private sector 

7 entities for such products and services as the Sec8 retary determines may be necessary to collect remote 

9 sensing and other geospatial data, which contracts 

10 shall be considered ‘‘surveying and mapping’’ serv11 ices as such term is used in and as such contracts 

12 are awarded by the Secretary in accordance with the 

13 selection procedures in chapter 11 of title 40, United 

14 States Code. 

15 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec17 retary such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 

18 section in each of fiscal years 2015 through 2020. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS