In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

November 16, 2020. 

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 1069) entitled ‘‘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.’’, do pass with the following 

AMENDMENT: 

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert: 

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 ef6 fective Federal partnerships with State and local gov7 ernment, nongovernmental organizations, and the pri8 vate sector. 

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

10 standards-based geospatial information, tools, and 

11 training to characterize the United States coastal re-
2 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 gion is critical for public safety and for the environ2 ment, infrastructure, and economy of the United 

3 States. 

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

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

6 and an additional 12,000,000 are expected in the next 

7 decade. 

8 (4) Coastal counties in the United States average 

9 300 persons per square mile, compared with the na10 tional average of 98. 

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

12 for construction of single-family homes are issued in 

13 coastal counties, combined with other commercial, re14 tail, and institutional construction to support this 

15 population. 

16 (6) Over half of the economic productivity of the 

17 United States is located within coastal regions. 

18 (7) Highly accurate, high-resolution remote sens19 ing and other geospatial data play an increasingly 

20 important role in decision making and management 

21 of the coastal zone and economy, including for— 

22 (A) flood and coastal storm surge pre23 diction; 

24 (B) hazard risk and vulnerability assess25 ment; 
3 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 (C) emergency response and recovery plan2 ning; 

3 (D) community resilience to longer range 

4 coastal change; 

5 (E) local planning and permitting; 

6 (F) habitat and ecosystem health assess7 ments; and 

8 (G) landscape change detection. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) COASTAL REGION.—The term ‘‘coastal re12 gion’’ means the area of United States waters extend13 ing inland from the shoreline to include coastal wa14 tersheds and seaward to the territorial sea. 

15 (2) COASTAL STATE.—The term ‘‘coastal State’’ 

16 has the meaning given the term ‘‘coastal state’’ in sec17 tion 304 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 

18 (16 U.S.C. 1453). 

19 (3) FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COMMITTEE.— 

20 The term ‘‘Federal Geographic Data Committee’’ 

21 means the interagency committee that promotes the 

22 coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemi23 nation of geospatial data on a national basis. 

24 (4) REMOTE SENSING AND OTHER

25 GEOSPATIAL.—The term ‘‘remote sensing and other 
4 

•S 1069 EAH 

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

2 disseminating graphical or digital data depicting 

3 natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, or 

4 boundaries of the Earth and any information related 

5 thereto, including surveys, maps, charts, satellite and 

6 airborne remote sensing data, images, LiDAR, and 

7 services performed by professionals such as surveyors, 

8 photogrammetrists, hydrographers, geodesists, cartog9 raphers, and other such services. 

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

11 the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Ad12 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

13 Administration. 

14 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIGITAL COAST. 

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

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

17 a program for the provision of an enabling platform 

18 that integrates geospatial data, decision-support tools, 

19 training, and best practices to address coastal man20 agement issues and needs. Under the program, the 

21 Secretary shall strive to enhance resilient commu22 nities, ecosystem values, and coastal economic growth 

23 and development by helping communities address 

24 their issues, needs, and challenges through cost-effec25 tive and participatory solutions. 
5 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 (2) DESIGNATION.—The program established 

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

3 Coast’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘program’’). 

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

5 program, the Secretary shall ensure that the program pro6 vides data integration, tool development, training, docu7 mentation, dissemination, and archive by— 

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

10 the Digital Coast internet website of the National 

11 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 

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

13 such other information distribution technologies as 

14 the Secretary 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 Fed23 eral data center as the Secretary considers appro24 priate. 
6 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 (c) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall coordinate 

2 the activities carried out under the program to optimize 

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

4 duplication by— 

5 (1) consulting with coastal managers and deci6 sion makers 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 academia, the private 

12 sector, and nongovernmental organizations; 

13 (2) consulting with other Federal agencies, in14 cluding interagency committees, on relevant Federal 

15 activities, including activities carried out under the 

16 Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act (33 

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

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

19 Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 

20 (33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), and the Hydrographic Serv21 ices Improvement Act of 1998 (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; 44 

24 U.S.C. 3501 note), in the establishment of such stand25 ards and common protocols as the Secretary considers 
7 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 necessary to assure the interoperability of remote 

2 sensing and other geospatial data with all users of 

3 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 (4) coordinating with, seeking assistance and co10 operation of, and providing liaison to the Federal Ge11 ographic Data Committee pursuant to Office of Man12 agement and Budget Circular A–16 and Executive 

13 Order 12906 of April 11, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 17671), 

14 as amended by Executive Order 13286 of February 

15 28, 2003 (68 Fed. Reg. 10619); and 

16 (5) developing and maintaining a best practices 

17 document that sets out the best practices used by the 

18 Secretary in carrying out the program and providing 

19 such document to the United States Geological Sur20 vey, the Corps of Engineers, and other relevant Fed21 eral agencies. 

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

23 program, the Secretary shall— 
8 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 (1) maximize the use of remote sensing and other 

2 geospatial data collection activities conducted for 

3 other purposes and under other authorities; 

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

5 coastal management issues, including with respect to 

6 areas that, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, 

7 were underserved by coastal data and the areas of the 

8 Arctic that are under the jurisdiction of the United 

9 States; 

10 (3) pursuant to the Ocean and Coastal Mapping 

11 Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), support con12 tinue improvement in existing efforts to coordinate 

13 the acquisition and integration of key data sets need14 ed for coastal management and other purposes, in15 cluding— 

16 (A) coastal elevation data; 

17 (B) land use and land cover data; 

18 (C) socioeconomic and human use data; 

19 (D) critical infrastructure data; 

20 (E) structures data; 

21 (F) living resources and habitat data; 

22 (G) cadastral data; and 

23 (H) aerial imagery; and 

24 (4) integrate the priority supporting data set 

25 forth under paragraph (3) with other available data 
9 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 for the benefit of the broadest measure of coastal re2 source management constituents and applications. 

3 (e) FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS.— 

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

5 the Secretary— 

6 (A) may enter into financial agreements to 

7 carry out the program, including— 

8 (i) support to non-Federal entities that 

9 participate in implementing the program; 

10 and 

11 (ii) grants, cooperative agreements, 

12 interagency agreements, contracts, or any 

13 other agreement on a reimbursable or non14 reimbursable basis, with other Federal, trib15 al, State, and local governmental and non16 governmental entities; and 

17 (B) may, to the maximum extent prac18 ticable, enter into such contracts with private 

19 sector entities for such products and services as 

20 the Secretary determines may be necessary to 

21 collect, process, and provide remote sensing and 

22 other geospatial data and products for purposes 

23 of the program. 

24 (2) FEES.— 
10 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 (A) ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION.—The 

2 Secretary may, to the extent provided in advance 

3 in appropriations Acts, assess and collect fees for 

4 the conduct of any training, workshop, or con5 ference that advances the purposes of the pro6 gram. 

7 (B) AMOUNTS.—The amount of a fee under 

8 this paragraph may not exceed the sum of costs 

9 incurred, or expected to be incurred, by the Sec10 retary as a direct result of the conduct of the 

11 training, workshop, or conference, including for 

12 subsistence expenses incidental to the training, 

13 workshop, or conference, as applicable. 

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

15 the Secretary in the form of fees under this para16 graph shall be available to the extent and in such 

17 amounts as are provided in advance in appro18 priations Acts for— 

19 (i) the costs incurred for conducting an 

20 activity described in subparagraph (A); or 

21 (ii) the expenses described in subpara22 graph (B). 

23 (3) SURVEY AND MAPPING.—Contracts entered 

24 into under paragraph (1)(B) shall be considered ‘‘sur25 veying and mapping’’ services as such term is used 
11 

•S 1069 EAH 

1 in and as such contracts are awarded by the Sec2 retary in accordance with the selection procedures in 

3 chapter 11 of title 40, United States Code. 

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

5 publically available tools that track ocean and Great Lakes 

6 economy data for each coastal State. 

7 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

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

9 for each fiscal year 2021 through 2025 to carry out the pro10 gram. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1069 

AMENDMENT