116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1237 
AN ACT 
To amend the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and 
Monitoring Act of 2009 to establish an Ocean Acidifica-
tion Advisory Board, to expand and improve the research 
on Ocean Acidification and Coastal Acidification, to es-
tablish and maintain a data archive system for Ocean 
Acidification data and Coastal Acidification data, 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. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coastal and Ocean 
Acidification Stressors and Threats Research Act of 
2019’’ or the ‘‘COAST Research Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 12402(a) of the Federal 
Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 
(33 U.S.C. 3701(a)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 
(A), by striking ‘‘development and coordina-
tion’’ and inserting ‘‘coordination and imple-
mentation’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘acidification on marine organisms’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘acidification and coastal acidification on 
marine organisms’’; and 
(C) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘es-
tablish’’ and all that follows through the semi-
colon and inserting ‘‘maintain and advise an 
interagency research, monitoring, and public 
outreach program on ocean acidification and 
coastal acidification;’’;
National Science and Technology Council’’ and in-
serting ‘‘National Science and Technology Council 
Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology’’; 
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and 
(3) as paragraphs (2), (3), and (4), respectively; 
(4) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so re-
designated, the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(1) 
COASTAL
ACIDIFICATION.—The 
term 
‘coastal acidification’ means the combined decrease 
in pH and changes in the water chemistry of coastal 
oceans, estuaries, and other bodies of water from 
chemical inputs (including carbon dioxide from the 
atmosphere), freshwater inputs, and excess nutrient 
run-off from land and coastal atmospheric pollution 
that result in processes that release carbon dioxide, 
acidic nitrogen, and sulfur compounds as byproducts 
which end up in coastal waters.’’; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(5) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each 
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 
Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands of the United
States, and any other territory or possession of the 
United States.’’. 
SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP. 
Section 12404 of the Federal Ocean Acidification Re-
search and Monitoring Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3703) is 
amended— 
(1) 
in 
the 
heading, 
by 
striking 
‘‘SUB-
COMMITTEE’’ and inserting ‘‘WORKING GROUP’’; 
(2) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Joint 
Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Tech-
nology of the National Science and Technology 
Council shall coordinate Federal activities on 
ocean acidification and’’ and insert ‘‘Sub-
committee shall’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Wildlife 
Service,’’ and inserting ‘‘Wildlife Service, the 
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the En-
vironmental Protection Agency, the Department 
of Agriculture, the Department of State, the 
Department of Energy, the Department of the 
Navy, the National Park Service, the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, the National Institute of Stand-
ards and Technology, the Smithsonian Institu-
tion,’’; and
(C) in paragraph (3), in the heading, by 
striking ‘‘CHAIRMAN’’ and inserting ‘‘CHAIR’’; 
(3) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, in-
cluding the efforts of the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration to facilitate such 
implementation’’ after ‘‘of the plan’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 
‘‘and coastal acidification’’ after ‘‘ocean 
acidification’’; and 
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 
‘‘and coastal acidification’’ after ‘‘ocean 
acidification’’; 
(C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
and inserting a semicolon; 
(D) in paragraph (5)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘developed’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘and coastal acidification developed’’; 
and 
(ii) by striking the period at the end 
and inserting ‘‘and coastal acidification; 
and’’; and 
(E) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
‘‘(6) ensure that each of the Federal agencies 
represented on the interagency working group— 
‘‘(A) participates in the Ocean Acidifica-
tion Information Exchange established under 
paragraph (5); and 
‘‘(B) delivers data and information to sup-
port the data archive system established under 
section 12406(d).’’; 
(4) in subsection (c), in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘, and to the Office of 
Management and Budget,’’ after ‘‘House of 
Representatives’’; and 
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘the 
interagency research’’ and inserting ‘‘inter-
agency strategic research’’; 
(5) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-
section (d); and 
(6) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(c) ADVISORY BOARD.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Chair of the Sub-
committee shall establish an Ocean Acidification Ad-
visory Board. 
‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The Advisory Board shall—
‘‘(A) not later than 180 days before the 
Subcommittee submits the most recent report 
under subsection (d)(2)— 
‘‘(i) review such report; 
‘‘(ii) submit an analysis of such report 
to the Subcommittee for consideration in 
the final report submitted under subsection 
(d)(2); and 
‘‘(iii) concurrently with the Sub-
committee’s final submission of the report 
under subsection (d)(2), the Advisory 
Board shall submit a copy of the analysis 
provided to the Subcommittee to the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Trans-
portation of the Senate, the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the 
House of Representatives, and the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources of the House 
of Representatives; 
‘‘(B) not later than 180 days before the 
Subcommittee submits the most recent strategic 
research plan under subsection (d)(3) to Con-
gress— 
‘‘(i) review such plan;