I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5366 
To require the Secretary of the Commerce, acting through the Administrator 
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to provide 
grants supporting research on the conservation, restoration, or manage-
ment of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 9, 2019 
Mr. BROWN of Maryland (for himself, Mr. SARBANES, and Mr. SCOTT of Vir-
ginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of the Commerce, acting through 
the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration, to provide grants supporting re-
search on the conservation, restoration, or management 
of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chesapeake Bay Oys-
ter Research Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the Chesapeake Bay 
Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration shall be the primary representative of the Adminis-
tration in the Chesapeake Bay. 
SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR RESEARCHING OYSTERS IN THE 
CHESAPEAKE BAY. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the Com-
merce, acting through the Administrator of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shall establish 
a grant program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro-
gram’’) under which the Secretary shall award grants to 
eligible entities for the purpose of conducting research on 
the conservation, restoration, or management of oysters 
in the Chesapeake Bay. 
(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 
Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 
and containing such information as the Secretary may re-
quire. 
(c) ALLOCATION OF GRANT FUNDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award a 
grant under the Program to eligible entities that 
submit an application under subsection (b). 
(2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 
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(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), the total amount of Federal 
funding received under the Program by an eligi-
ble entity may not exceed 85 percent of the 
total cost of the research project for which the 
funding was awarded. For the purposes of this 
subparagraph, the non-Federal share of project 
costs may be provided by in-kind contributions 
and other noncash support. 
(B) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive 
all or part of the requirement in subparagraph 
(A) if the Secretary determines that no reason-
able means are available through which an eligi-
ble entity applying for a grant under this sec-
tion can meet such requirement and the prob-
able benefit of such research project outweighs 
the public interest in such requirement. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the following defini-
tions apply: 
(1) ACADEMIC
COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘aca-
demic community’’ means faculty, researchers, pro-
fessors, and representatives of State-accredited col-
leges and universities. 
(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means a member of the academic community, 
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the seafood industry, a relevant nonprofit organiza-
tion, or a relevant State agency, that is proposing or 
conducting a research project on the conservation, 
restoration, or management of oysters in the Chesa-
peake Bay developed through consultation with a 
member of the academic community, a member of 
the seafood industry, a relevant nonprofit organiza-
tion, or a relevant State agency. 
(3) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization de-
scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 
501(a) of such Code. 
(4) SEAFOOD INDUSTRY.—The term ‘‘seafood 
industry’’ means shellfish growers, shellfish har-
vesters, commercial fishermen, and recreational fish-
ermen. 
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Commerce, acting through the 
Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $2,000,000 
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for each of the fiscal years 2020 through 2025 to carry 
out this section. 
Æ 
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