Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. 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 National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Chesa-
peake Bay. 
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR RECOVERING OYSTERS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall es-
tablish a grant program (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘Program’’) under which the Administrator shall award 
grants to eligible entities for the purpose of conducting 
research on the conservation, restoration, or management 
of oysters in estuarine ecosystems. 
(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 
Administrator an application at such time, in such man-
ner, and containing such information as the Administrator 
may require. 
(c) ALLOCATION OF GRANT FUNDS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator 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 Administrator may 
waive all or part of the requirement in subpara-
graph (A) if the Administrator determines that 
no reasonable means are available through 
which an eligible entity applying for a grant 
under this section can meet such requirement 
and the probable benefit of such research 
project outweighs the public interest in such re-
quirement. 
(3) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—The Adminis-
trator shall ensure, to the maximum extent prac-
ticable, that grant funding under this section is ap-
portioned according to the historic baseline oyster 
population of each estuary of the United States. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-
nitions apply: 
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(1) ACADEMIC
COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘aca-
demic community’’ means faculty, researchers, pro-
fessors, and representatives of State-accredited col-
leges and universities. 
(2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Secretary of Commerce acting 
through the Administrator of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration. 
(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means a member of the academic community, 
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 an estua-
rine ecosystem 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. 
(4) HISTORIC BASELINE.—The term ‘‘historic 
baseline’’ means the estimated population of oysters 
in an estuary in 1850. 
(5) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization de-
scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 
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Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 
501(a) of such Code. 
(6) SEAFOOD INDUSTRY.—The term ‘‘seafood 
industry’’ means shellfish growers, shellfish har-
vesters, commercial fishermen, and recreational fish-
ermen. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 
$6,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2025 
to carry out this section. 
Æ 
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