Digital Coast Act of 2013

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. Short title This Act may be cited as the Digital Coast Act of 2013 2. Findings The Congress finds that— (1) the lack of current, accurate, uniform, and standards-based geospatial information to characterize the United States coastal region presents a significant liability to adequately manage and maintain the Nation’s— (A) environment; (B) infrastructure; (C) economy; and (D) public safety and homeland security; (2) more than half of all people of the United States (153 million) currently live on or near a coast and an additional 12 million are expected in the next decade; (3) coastal counties in the United States average 300 persons per square mile, compared with the national average of 98; (4) on a typical day, more than 1,540 permits for construction of single-family homes are issued in coastal counties, combined with other commercial, retail, and institutional construction to support this population; (5) over half of the Nation’s economic productivity is located within coastal regions; (6) highly accurate, high-resolution remote sensing and other geospatial data play an important role in management of the coastal zone and economy, including for flood and coastal storm surge prediction; hazard risk and vulnerability assessment; emergency response and recovery planning; community resilience to longer range climate change impacts; permitting and zoning decisionmaking; habitat and ecosystem health assessments; and landscape change detection; and (7) the Digital Coast is a model approach in effective Federal partnerships with local and State government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. 3. Definitions In this Act: (1) The term Digital Coast (2) The term remote sensing and other geospatial (3) The term Secretary (4) The term State (A) means a State of the United States in, or bordering on, the Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound, or one or more of the Great Lakes; and (B) includes Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, American Samoa, and any portion of a State that is located within 100 kilometers of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Great Lakes. (5) The term coastal region (6) The term Federal Geographic Data Committee 4. Building the digital coast (a) Establishment and implementation (1) In general The Secretary shall establish and implement the Digital Coast to collect the following priority supporting data and integrate such data with other available data for the benefit of the broadest measure of coastal resource management constituents and applications: (A) Coastal elevation data. (B) Land use and land cover data. (C) Benthic habitat and submerged aquatic vegetation data. (D) Parcels data. (E) Planimetric data. (F) Socioeconomic and human use data. (2) Focus on filling needs and gaps In implementing this section, the Secretary shall— (A) recognize that remote sensing and other geospatial data acquisition for navigational and positioning purposes is carried out through other authorities and programs; and (B) focus on filling data needs and gaps for critical coastal management issues. (b) Data integration, tool development, training, documentation, dissemination, and archive The Secretary shall— (1) make data and resulting integrated products developed under this section readily accessible via the Digital Coast and other related Internet technologies; (2) develop decision support tools that use and display resulting integrated data and provide training on use of such tools; (3) document such data to Federal Geographic Data Committee standards; and (4) archive all raw data acquired under this Act at the appropriate National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data center or other appropriate Federal data center. (c) Coordination The Secretary shall coordinate the activities carried out pursuant to this Act to maximize data sharing and integration and minimize duplication by— (1) coordinating activities, when appropriate, with— (A) other Federal efforts, including efforts under the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act ( 33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. 33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq. (B) coastal States and United States territories; (C) local governments; and (D) representatives of nongovernmental entities; (2) participating, pursuant to section 216 of Public Law 107–347 44 U.S.C. 3501 (A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; (B) other Federal agencies; (C) State and local government; and (D) the private sector; (3) coordinating with, seeking assistance and cooperation of, and providing liaison to the Federal Geographic Data Committee pursuant to Office of Management and Budget Circular A–16 and Executive Order No. 12906; and (4) providing for the utilization of contracts with the private sector, to the maximum extent practicable, to provide such products and services as are necessary to collect remote sensing and other geospatial data; which contracts shall be considered surveying and mapping chapter 11 5. Coastal Services Centers (a) Establishment The Secretary shall establish, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Coastal Services Centers to facilitate the development of products and services that address the needs of local, State, and regional entities involved with coastal and ocean decisionmaking including those State coastal management and research reserves benefitting from this Act, and to lead development and maintenance of the Digital Coast. (b) Purpose The purpose of the Coastal Services Centers shall be to— (1) support the environmental, social, and economic well-being of the coast by linking people, information, and technology; (2) identify and assess coastal and ocean management needs and increase the capabilities and capacities of managers to address them at the local, State, and regional levels; (3) manage the Digital Coast program to carry out the intent of this Act; (4) convene and engage coastal managers and decisionmakers in dialog concerning coastal issues and share information and best practices across this audience; and (5) collaborate with various programs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, other Federal agencies, and nongovernmental entities to bring data, information, services, and tools to the Nation’s coastal and ocean decisionmakers. (c) Financial agreements To carry out this Act, including to provide program support to non-Federal entities that participate in implementing this Act, the Secretary— (1) may enter into financial agreements including grants, cooperative agreements, interagency agreements, and contracts with other Federal, tribal, State, and local governmental and nongovernmental entities; and (2) may collect registration fees in support of training, workshops, and conferences that advance the purposes of this Act. 6. Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $85,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2019 to carry out this Act.

Summary: Digital Coast Act of 2013 - Defines "Digital Coast" as a constituent-driven effort led by the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to provide an enabling platform integrating geospatial data, decision support tools, training, and best practices to address coastal and emergency management issues and enhance coastal economies and ecosystem services by helping communities with cost-effective and participatory solutions. Directs NOAA to establish and implement the Digital Coast to: (1) collect data concerning coastal elevations, land use and cover, habitat and submerged aquatic vegetation, parcels, planimetrics, socioeconomics, and human use; and (2) integrate other data sources for the broadest measure of coastal resource management constituents and applications. Directs NOAA to: (1) make such data and resulting products accessible via the Digital Coast and other related Internet technologies, (2) provide training on decision support tools developed under this Act, (3) document data to Federal Geographic Data Committee standards, and (4) archive the raw data at appropriate NOAA or federal data centers. Requires coordination and data sharing with states, U.S. territories, local governments, nongovernmental entities, and other federal efforts. Requires the establishment of NOAA Coastal Services Centers to facilitate the development of products and services addressing the needs of local, state, and regional entities involved with coastal and ocean decisionmaking and to lead development and maintenance of the Digital Coast.