I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4093 
To improve the National Oceans and Coastal Security Act, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2019 
Mr. BEYER (for himself and Mr. ROONEY of Florida) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in 
addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To improve the National Oceans and Coastal Security Act, 
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 ‘‘National Oceans and 
Coastal Security Improvements Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE NATIONAL OCEANS AND 
COASTAL SECURITY ACT. 
(a) DEFINITION OF TIDAL SHORELINE REFINED.— 
Section 902 of the National Oceans and Coastal Security 
Act (16 U.S.C. 7501) is amended— 
(1) by amending paragraph (7) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(7) TIDAL
SHORELINE.—The term ‘tidal 
shoreline’ means a ‘tidal shoreline’ or a ‘Great Lake 
shoreline’ as such terms are used in section 
923.110(c)(2)(i) of title 15, Code of Federal Regula-
tions, or a similar successor regulation.’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(8) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 
has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).’’. 
(b) IMPROVEMENTS
TO NATIONAL OCEANS
AND 
COASTAL SECURITY FUND.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT
OF
FUND
REQUIRED.— 
Subsection (a) of section 904 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 
7503) is amended by inserting ‘‘and jointly manage’’ 
after ‘‘establish’’. 
(2) DEPOSITS.—Paragraph (1) of subsection 
(b) of section 904 is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be deposited 
into the Fund, which shall constitute the assets of 
the Fund, amounts as follows: 
‘‘(A) Amounts transferred to the Fund 
under section 908. 
‘‘(B) Such other amounts as may be ap-
propriated or otherwise made available to carry 
out this Act.’’. 
(3) EXPENDITURES.—Strike subsection (d) of 
section 904 and insert the following: 
‘‘(d) EXPENDITURE.— 
‘‘(1) Of the amounts deposited into the Fund 
for each fiscal year, if those funds are equal to or 
greater than $100,000,000— 
‘‘(A) not more than 80 percent may be 
used for the award of grants under subsection 
(b) of section 906; 
‘‘(B) not more than 20 percent may be 
used for the award of grants under subsection 
(c) of such section; and 
‘‘(C) no more than 4 percent may be used 
by the Administrator and the Foundation for 
administrative expenses to carry out this chap-
ter, which amount shall be divided between the 
Administrator and the Foundation pursuant to 
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an agreement reached and documented by both 
the Administrator and the Foundation. 
‘‘(2) Of the amounts deposited into the Fund 
for each fiscal year, if those funds are less than 
$100,000,000, all funds shall be used for the award 
of grants under subsection (c) of section 906 and no 
more than 4 percent may be used by the Adminis-
trator and the Foundation for administrative ex-
penses to carry out this chapter, which amount shall 
be divided between the Administrator and the Foun-
dation pursuant to an agreement reached and docu-
mented by both the Administrator and the Founda-
tion.’’. 
(c) ELIGIBLE USES OF THE FUND.—Section 905 of 
such Act (16 U.S.C. 7504) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 905. ELIGIBLE USES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Amounts in the Fund may be 
allocated by the Administrator and the Foundation to sup-
port programs and activities intended to protect, conserve, 
restore, better understand, and utilize ocean and coastal 
resources and coastal infrastructure, including scientific 
research, resiliency and spatial planning, data-sharing, 
and other programs and activities carried out in coordina-
tion with Federal and State departments or agencies, in-
cluding the following: 
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‘‘(1) Ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes restora-
tion and protection, including efforts to address po-
tential impacts of sea level change, sedimentation, 
erosion, changes in ocean chemistry, hurricanes and 
other extreme weather, flooding, and changes in 
ocean temperature to natural resources, commu-
nities, and coastal economies. 
‘‘(2) Restoration, protection, or maintenance of 
living ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources and 
their habitats. 
‘‘(3) Planning for and managing coastal devel-
opment to enhance ecosystem and community integ-
rity, or to minimize impacts from sea level change, 
hurricanes and other extreme weather, flooding, and 
coastal erosion. 
‘‘(4) Projects to address management, planning, 
or resiliency and readiness issues which are regional 
or interstate in scope, such as regional ocean part-
nerships or similar bodies. 
‘‘(5) Efforts that contribute to the under-
standing of ecological, economic, societal, and na-
tional security threats driven by changes to the 
oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. 
‘‘(6) Efforts to preserve, protect, and collect 
data, including but not limited to public ocean and 
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coastal data portals, that would support sustainable 
water-dependent 
commercial 
activities 
including 
commercial fishing, recreational fishing businesses, 
aquaculture, boat building, or other coastal-related 
businesses. 
‘‘(7) Efforts to assist coastal States in strength-
ening, stabilizing, hardening, elevating, modifying, 
repositioning, or otherwise enhancing the resiliency 
of critical coastal transportation, emergency re-
sponse, water, electrical, and other infrastructure, 
that are already subject to or face increased future 
risks of hurricanes, coastal flooding, coastal erosion, 
or sea level change to ensure the economic security, 
safety, and ecological well-being of the coasts of the 
United States. 
‘‘(8) Acquiring property or interests in property 
if— 
‘‘(A) the area is located within a coastal 
county or adjacent county; 
‘‘(B) the funds made available under this 
subtitle are used to acquire land or interest in 
land by purchase, exchange, or donation from a 
willing seller; 
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‘‘(C) the Governor of the State in which 
the property or interests in property are ac-
quired approves of the acquisition; and 
‘‘(D) such property or interest is acquired 
in a manner that will ensure such property or 
interest will be administered to support the pur-
poses of this Act. 
‘‘(9) Protection and modification of critical 
coastal public infrastructure affected by erosion, 
hurricanes or other extreme weather, flooding, or sea 
level change. 
‘‘(10) Assistance for small businesses and com-
munities that are dependent on coastal tourism as 
eligible efforts that help coastal economies minimize 
impacts from sea level rise and disasters. 
‘‘(11) Projects that reinforce wastewater and 
stormwater infrastructure as eligible critical infra-
structure projects (as compared to just general 
water infrastructure, which can also include drinking 
water systems). 
‘‘(12) Technical assistance to help develop com-
prehensive resilience and mitigation plans as an eli-
gible funding effort. 
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‘‘(b) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Administrator 
and the Foundation shall require a non-Federal match for 
all awards made under section 906(c) from the Fund. 
‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR LITIGA-
TION.—No funds made available under this Act may be 
used to fund litigation against the Federal Government.’’. 
(d) GRANTS.— 
(1) ADMINISTRATION.—Subsection (a)(1) of 
section 906 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 7505) is amend-
ed— 
(A) by amending subparagraph (B) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(B) Selection procedures and criteria for 
the awarding of grants under this section that 
require consultation with the Administrator and 
the Secretary of the Interior.’’; 
(B) by amending subparagraph (C)(ii) to 
read as follows: 
‘‘(ii) under subsection (c) to entities 
including States, local governments, re-
gional and interstate collaboratives, asso-
ciations, nonprofit and for-profit private 
entities, public-private partnerships, aca-
demic institutions, and Indian Tribes.’’; 
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(C) in subparagraph (F), by striking ‘‘year 
if grants have been awarded in that year’’ and 
inserting ‘‘five years’’. 
(2) GRANTS TO COASTAL STATES.—Subsection 
(b) of section 906 is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) GRANTS TO COASTAL STATES.— 
‘‘(1) 
IN
GENERAL.—Subject 
to 
section 
904(d)(1) and paragraphs (3) and (4) of this sub-
section, the Administrator and the Foundation shall 
award grants to eligible coastal States based on the 
following formula: 
‘‘(A) Fifty percent of the funds are allo-
cated equally among such coastal States. 
‘‘(B) Twenty-five percent of the funds are 
allocated on the basis of the ratio of tidal shore-
line miles in a coastal State to the tidal shore-
line miles of all coastal States. 
‘‘(C) Twenty-five percent of the funds are 
allocated on the basis of the ratio of population 
density of the coastal counties of a coastal 
State to the average population density of all 
coastal counties based on the most recent data 
available by the U.S. Census Bureau. 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE
COASTAL
STATES.—For pur-
poses of this subsection, an eligible coastal State is 
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any coastal State as defined in section 1453 of this 
title. 
‘‘(3) MAXIMUM ALLOCATION TO STATES.—Not-
withstanding paragraph (1), not more than 5 per-
cent of the total funds distributed under this sub-
section may be allocated to any single State. Any 
amount exceeding this limit shall be redistributed 
equally among the remaining eligible coastal States. 
‘‘(4) REQUIREMENT TO SUBMIT PLANS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re-
ceive a grant under this subsection, an eligible 
coastal State shall submit to the Administrator 
for review and approval, a 5-year plan, which 
shall include the following: 
‘‘(i) Criteria to determine eligibility 
for entities which may receive grants under 
this subsection. 
‘‘(ii) A description of the competitive 
process the coastal State will use in allo-
cating funds received from the Fund, ex-
cept in the case of allocating funds under 
paragraph (7), which shall include— 
‘‘(I) a description of the relative 
roles in the State competitive process 
of the State coastal zone management 
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program approved under the Coastal 
Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 
U.S.C. 1451 et seq.), if the coastal 
State has such a plan, and any State 
Sea Grant Program, if the state has 
such program; and 
‘‘(II) a demonstration that such 
competitive process is consistent with 
the application and review procedures 
established by the Administrator and 
Foundation under subsection (a)(1). 
‘‘(iii) A process to certify that the 
project or program and the awarding of a 
contract for the expenditure of amounts re-
ceived under this paragraph are consistent 
with the standard procurement rules and 
regulations governing a comparable project 
or program in that State, including all ap-
plicable competitive bidding and audit re-
quirements. 
‘‘(iv) Procedures to make publicly 
available on the internet a list of all 
projects supported by the Fund, that in-
cludes at a minimum the grant recipient, 
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grant amount, project description, and 
project status. 
‘‘(B) UPDATES.—As a condition of receiv-
ing a grant under this subsection, a coastal 
State shall submit to the Administrator, not 
less frequently than once every 5 years, an up-
date to the plan submitted by the coastal State 
under subparagraph (A) for the 5-year period 
immediately following the most recent submittal 
under this paragraph. 
‘‘(5) OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.—In 
determining whether to approve a plan or an update 
to a plan described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of 
paragraph (5), the Administrator or the Foundation 
shall provide the opportunity for, and take into con-
sideration, public input and comment on the plan. 
‘‘(6) INDIAN TRIBES.—As a condition on receipt 
of a grant under this subsection, a State that re-
ceives a grant under this subsection shall ensure 
that Indian Tribes in the State are eligible to par-
ticipate in the competitive process described in the 
State’s plan under paragraph (5)(A)(ii). 
‘‘(7) NONPARTICIPATION BY A STATE.—In any 
year, if an eligible coastal State or geographic area 
described in paragraph (4)(B) does not submit the 
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plan required by paragraph (5) or declines the funds 
distributed under this subsection, the funds that 
would have been allocated to the State or area shall 
be redistributed equally among the remaining eligible 
coastal States and geographic areas.’’. 
(3) NATIONAL GRANTS FOR OCEANS, COASTS, 
AND GREAT LAKES.—Subsection (c)(2) of such sec-
tion is amended— 
(A) in subparagraph (B)— 
(i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
and inserting a semicolon; 
(ii) by redesignating clause (iii) as 
clause (iv); and 
(iii) by inserting after clause (ii) the 
following: 
‘‘(iii) nongovernmental organizations; 
and’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) CAP
ON
STATE
FUNDING.—The 
amount of a grant awarded under this sub-
section shall not count toward the cap on fund-
ing to States through grants awarded under 
subsection (b).’’. 
(e) FUNDING.—Section 908 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 
7507) is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘SEC. 908. FUNDING. 
‘‘There 
is 
authorized 
to 
be 
appropriated 
$100,000,000 for this title for fiscal year 2020 and each 
fiscal year thereafter.’’. 
Æ 
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