116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1069 

AN ACT 

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. 
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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’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress makes the following findings: 

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

8 effective Federal partnerships with State and local 

9 government, nongovernmental organizations, and the 

10 private sector. 

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

12 standards-based geospatial information, tools, and 

13 training to characterize the United States coastal re14 gion is critical for public safety and for the environ15 ment, infrastructure, and economy of the United 

16 States. 

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

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

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

20 the next decade. 

21 (4) Coastal counties in the United States aver22 age 300 persons per square mile, compared with the 

23 national average of 98. 

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

25 for construction of single-family homes are issued in 
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1 coastal counties, combined with other commercial, 

2 retail, and institutional construction to support this 

3 population. 

4 (6) Over half of the economic productivity of 

5 the United States is located within coastal regions. 

6 (7) Highly accurate, high-resolution remote 

7 sensing and other geospatial data play an increas8 ingly important role in decision making and manage9 ment of the coastal zone and economy, including 

10 for— 

11 (A) flood and coastal storm surge pre12 diction; 

13 (B) hazard risk and vulnerability assess14 ment; 

15 (C) emergency response and recovery plan16 ning; 

17 (D) community resilience to longer range 

18 coastal change; 

19 (E) local planning and permitting; 

20 (F) habitat and ecosystem health assess21 ments; and 

22 (G) landscape change detection. 

23 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 
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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’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘coastal 

7 state’’ in section 304 of the Coastal Zone Manage8 ment Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1453). 

9 (3) FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COM10 MITTEE.—The term ‘‘Federal Geographic Data 

11 Committee’’ means the interagency committee that 

12 promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, 

13 and dissemination of geospatial data on a national 

14 basis. 

15 (4) REMOTE SENSING AND OTHER

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

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

18 disseminating graphical or digital data depicting 

19 natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, 

20 or boundaries of the Earth and any information re21 lated thereto, including surveys, maps, charts, sat22 ellite and airborne remote sensing data, images, 

23 LiDAR, and services performed by professionals 

24 such as surveyors, photogrammetrists, hydrog-
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1 raphers, geodesists, cartographers, and other such 

2 services. 

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

4 the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Ad5 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos6 pheric Administration. 

7 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIGITAL COAST. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

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

10 a program for the provision of an enabling platform 

11 that integrates geospatial data, decision-support 

12 tools, training, and best practices to address coastal 

13 management issues and needs. Under the program, 

14 the Secretary shall strive to enhance resilient com15 munities, ecosystem values, and coastal economic 

16 growth and development by helping communities ad17 dress their issues, needs, and challenges through 

18 cost-effective and participatory solutions. 

19 (2) DESIGNATION.—The program established 

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

21 Coast’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘pro22 gram’’). 

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

24 program, the Secretary shall ensure that the program pro-
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1 vides data integration, tool development, training, docu2 mentation, dissemination, and archive by— 

3 (1) making data and resulting integrated prod4 ucts developed under this section readily accessible 

5 via the Digital Coast internet website of the Na6 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 

7 GeoPlatform.gov and data.gov internet websites, and 

8 such other information distribution technologies as 

9 the Secretary considers appropriate; 

10 (2) developing decision-support tools that use 

11 and display resulting integrated data and provide 

12 training on use of such tools; 

13 (3) documenting such data to Federal Geo14 graphic Data Committee standards; and 

15 (4) archiving all raw data acquired under this 

16 Act at the appropriate National Oceanic and Atmos17 pheric Administration data center or such other 

18 Federal data center as the Secretary considers ap19 propriate. 

20 (c) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall coordinate 

21 the activities carried out under the program to optimize 

22 data collection, sharing, and integration, and to minimize 

23 duplication by— 

24 (1) consulting with coastal managers and deci25 sion makers concerning coastal issues, and sharing 
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1 information and best practices, as the Secretary con2 siders appropriate, with— 

3 (A) coastal States; 

4 (B) local governments; and 

5 (C) representatives of academia, the pri6 vate sector, and nongovernmental organizations; 

7 (2) consulting with other Federal agencies, in8 cluding interagency committees, on relevant Federal 

9 activities, including activities carried out under the 

10 Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act (33 

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

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

13 Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 

14 (33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), and the Hydrographic 

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

16 et seq.); 

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

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

19 44 U.S.C. 3501 note), in the establishment of such 

20 standards and common protocols as the Secretary 

21 considers necessary to assure the interoperability of 

22 remote sensing and other geospatial data with all 

23 users of such information within— 

24 (A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

25 Administration; 
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1 (B) other Federal agencies; 

2 (C) State and local government; and 

3 (D) the private sector; 

4 (4) coordinating with, seeking assistance and 

5 cooperation of, and providing liaison to the Federal 

6 Geographic Data Committee pursuant to Office of 

7 Management and Budget Circular A–16 and Execu8 tive Order 12906 of April 11, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 

9 17671), as amended by Executive Order 13286 of 

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

11 (5) developing and maintaining a best practices 

12 document that sets out the best practices used by 

13 the Secretary in carrying out the program and pro14 viding such document to the United States Geologi15 cal Survey, the Corps of Engineers, and other rel16 evant Federal agencies. 

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

18 program, the Secretary shall— 

19 (1) maximize the use of remote sensing and 

20 other geospatial data collection activities conducted 

21 for other purposes and under other authorities; 

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

23 coastal management issues, including with respect to 

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

25 Act, were underserved by coastal data and the areas 
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1 of the Arctic that are under the jurisdiction of the 

2 United States; 

3 (3) pursuant to the Ocean and Coastal Map4 ping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), sup5 port continue improvement in existing efforts to co6 ordinate the acquisition and integration of key data 

7 sets needed for coastal management and other pur8 poses, including— 

9 (A) coastal elevation data; 

10 (B) land use and land cover data; 

11 (C) socioeconomic and human use data; 

12 (D) critical infrastructure data; 

13 (E) structures data; 

14 (F) living resources and habitat data; 

15 (G) cadastral data; and 

16 (H) aerial imagery; and 

17 (4) integrate the priority supporting data set 

18 forth under paragraph (3) with other available data 

19 for the benefit of the broadest measure of coastal re20 source management constituents and applications. 

21 (e) FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS.— 

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

23 the Secretary— 

24 (A) may enter into financial agreements to 

25 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. 

Passed the Senate September 30 (legislative day, 

September 29), 2020. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1069 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting 

for other purposes. eral capacities to manage the coastal region, and form and improve local, State, regional, and Fedcollection of priority coastal geospatial data to intools, training, and best practices and to support integrating coastal data with decision-support digital information platform capable of efficiently lish a constituent-driven program to provide a anic and Atmospheric Administration, to estabthrough the Administrator of the National Oce-