I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7801 
To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to allow the Secretary 
of Commerce to establish a Coastal and Estuarine Resilience and Res-
toration Program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 17, 2022 
Mr. LEVIN of California (for himself and Mr. MAST) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to 
allow the Secretary of Commerce to establish a Coastal 
and Estuarine Resilience and Restoration Program, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. COASTAL AND ESTUARINE RESILIENCE AND 
RESTORATION PROGRAM. 
Section 307A of the Coastal Zone Management Act 
of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1456–1) is amended— 
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(1) by striking the heading and inserting 
‘‘COASTAL AND ESTUARINE RESILIENCE AND RES-
TORATION PROGRAM’’; 
(2) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may conduct a 
Coastal and Estuarine Resilience and Restoration Pro-
gram, in cooperation with State, regional, and other units 
of government and the National Estuarine Research Re-
serves, for the purposes of— 
‘‘(1) protecting important coastal and estuarine 
areas that— 
‘‘(A) have significant conservation, recre-
ation, coastal access, ecological, historical, or 
aesthetic value; 
‘‘(B) are threatened by conversion from 
their natural, undeveloped, or recreational state 
to other uses; or 
‘‘(C) could be managed or restored to ef-
fectively conserve, enhance, or restore ecological 
function or mitigate climate change; or 
‘‘(2) restoring developed property in vulnerable 
coastal and estuarine areas to a natural state to re-
store ecological function, allow for shoreline migra-
tion, and protect coastal communities.’’; 
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(3) in subsection (c)— 
(A) by amending paragraph (7) to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(7) Priority shall be given to lands that— 
‘‘(A) can be effectively managed and pro-
tected and that have significant recreation, eco-
logical, historical, cultural, aesthetic, or commu-
nity protection value; 
‘‘(B) to the maximum extent practicable, 
benefit communities that may not have ade-
quate resources to prepare for or respond to 
coastal hazards or to access coastline, including 
low-income communities; and 
‘‘(C)(i) are under an imminent threat of 
conversion to a use that will degrade or other-
wise diminish their natural, undeveloped, or rec-
reational state; 
‘‘(ii) serve to mitigate the adverse impacts 
caused by coastal population growth in the 
coastal environment; 
‘‘(iii) are within or adjacent to a national 
estuarine research reserve designated under sec-
tion 315, a national wildlife refuge, or a na-
tional estuary program, or are proposed for des-
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ignation as such a reserve or other such pro-
tected area; or 
‘‘(iv) are under threat due to climate 
change or may serve to mitigate the adverse ef-
fects of climate change, including through the 
storage of blue carbon, and to facilitate inland 
migration of coastal ecosystems in response to 
sea level rise.’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘tri-
ennially’’ and inserting ‘‘every 5 years’’; 
(4) in subsection (f)— 
(A) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting ‘‘for 
any territory of the United States that is un-
able to provide such match,’’ after ‘‘commu-
nity,’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (4)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 
‘‘meets the criteria set forth in section 
2(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘the goals set forth in 
subsection (b)’’; 
(ii) by striking subparagraph (B) and 
redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub-
paragraph (B); 
(iii) in subparagraph (B) (as so redes-
ignated), by striking ‘‘described in (A)’’ 
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and inserting ‘‘described in subparagraph 
(A)’’; and 
(iv) by inserting at the end the fol-
lowing new subparagraph: 
‘‘(C) The value of ecosystem services that 
the acquired land provides, including as a buff-
er for storm surge, habitat for economically val-
uable species, and as blue carbon sink.’’; 
(5) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘15’’ and in-
serting ‘‘20’’; 
(6) in subsection (h), by striking the second 
sentence; and 
(7) in subsection (l), by striking ‘‘fiscal years 
2009 through 2013’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 
2022 through 2026’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO NATIONAL ESTUARINE RE-
SEARCH RESERVE SYSTEM PROGRAM. 
(a) DESIGNATION OF ADDITIONAL RESERVES.—Not 
later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Administrator shall designate not less than 5 new na-
tional estuarine reserves under section 315 of the Coastal 
Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1461). In mak-
ing such designations, the Administrator shall prioritize 
designations to achieve the following with respect to the 
National Estuarine Research Reserve System: 
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(1) Full representation of biogeographic re-
gions, States, and Territories. 
(2) The presence of a national estuarine reserve 
in each coastal State or Territory (as that term is 
defined in that Act). 
(b) GUIDELINES FOR TRACKING AND MODELING THE 
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE.—Section 315(c) of the 
Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 
1461(c)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through 
(5) as paragraphs (4) through (6); and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) the establishment of coordinated long-term 
data monitoring and methods throughout the Sys-
tem for tracking and modeling the impacts of cli-
mate change on estuarine systems, including impacts 
on lake levels and sea levels;’’. 
(c) LAND ACQUISITION AND CONSTRUCTION.—Sec-
tion 315 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 
(16 U.S.C. 1461) is amended by striking (g) and adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(g) LAND ACQUISITION AND CONSTRUCTION.—The 
Secretary may use funds authorized under section 318 for 
land acquisition and the construction and renovations of 
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facilities required to meet delivery of System programs 
and services, or to meet changing needs of program under 
this title. 
‘‘(h) REQUIREMENTS FOR USE OF FUNDS.—In using 
funds under subsection (g), the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) provide science-based information and 
technical assistance to coastal stakeholders and deci-
sionmakers; 
‘‘(2) leverage the capabilities of nationwide pro-
tected area networks to address challenging coastal 
management issues such as climate change and vul-
nerability of coastal ecosystems and communities to 
coastal hazards; 
‘‘(3) serve as living laboratories and preferred 
places for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration research and fellowships on coastal and 
estuarine systems; 
‘‘(4) serve as critical sentinel sites for detecting 
environmental change and developing and dem-
onstrating adaptation and mitigation strategies; 
‘‘(5) identify priority places for land acquisition, 
especially those lands required to enhance resilience 
to environmental change; and 
‘‘(6) engage coastal communities, stakeholders, 
and the public in education programs to increase sci-
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entific literacy of coastal environments, and to de-
velop and train capable environmental stewards. 
‘‘(i) SYSTEMWIDE ELEMENTS OF THE NATIONAL ES-
TUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE SYSTEM.—The Secretary 
shall coordinate systemwide programs and activities in the 
System including— 
‘‘(1) the centralized management and dissemi-
nation of data from System observation and moni-
toring networks; 
‘‘(2) a competitive grant program employing the 
collaborative research model on coastal research and 
management priorities to be conducted at research 
reserve sites focused on the priorities determined by 
the Secretary; and 
‘‘(3) establish the Margaret A. Davidson Grad-
uate Research Fellowship Program to address key 
coastal management questions and the coastal re-
search and management priorities of the Reserve 
System and its place-based sites to help scientists 
and communities understand the coastal challenges 
that may influence future policy and management 
strategies. 
‘‘(j) PLACE-BASED PROGRAM ELEMENTS OF THE 
NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE SYSTEM.— 
Each National Estuarine Research Reserve shall establish 
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and maintain place-based program elements that in-
clude— 
‘‘(1) a research, monitoring, and observation 
network that detects environmental change and in-
forms suitable adaptation and mitigation strategies 
where appropriate, and that supports systemwide ac-
tivities stated in subsection (e); 
‘‘(2) education, outreach, and interpretive pro-
grams that communicate the value and changing dy-
namics of coastal systems; 
‘‘(3) stewardship programs that provide science- 
based tools, habitat management, and restoration 
and that provide resources and information to in-
form coastal management; 
‘‘(4) coastal training programs that provide 
technical assistance to coastal communities, resource 
managers, and coastal decisionmakers; and 
‘‘(5) the lands and facilities that support such 
accessible research, monitoring, stewardship, edu-
cation, and coastal training activities. 
‘‘(k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
$47,000,000 for each of fiscal year 2022 through 2026 
to provide financial assistance under this section. 
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‘‘(l) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) COLLABORATIVE
RESEARCH.—The term 
‘collaborative research’ means the engagement of 
local decisionmakers and stakeholders directly in the 
research process so that their knowledge and needs 
will inform research questions, data analysis, and 
use of the products generated by the research. 
‘‘(2) SENTINEL SITE.—The term ‘sentinel site’ 
means a site with long-term research and monitoring 
capability to detect, document, and respond to 
emerging environmental changes that impact natural 
and human systems.’’. 
Æ 
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