BLUE GLOBE Act

Bill: 116-s-933
Sponsor: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced: 2019-03-28 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Advanced technology and technological innovations
Advisory bodies
Air quality
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Aquatic ecology
Census and government statistics
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Computer security and identity theft
Computers and information technology
Congressional oversight
Economic performance and conditions
Employment and training programs
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Executive Office of the President
Executive agency funding and structure
Genetics
Geography and mapping
Government information and archives
Great Lakes
Higher education
Human rights
Human trafficking
Hydrology and hydrography
International organizations and cooperation
Labor standards
Lakes and rivers
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Marine and inland water transportation
Marine pollution
Mining
Minority education
Minority employment
Oil and gas
Outdoor recreation
Performance measurement
Public-private cooperation
Science and engineering education
Travel and tourism
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
Water quality
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2019-03-28
text: 

Bolstering Long-Term Understanding and Exploration of the Great Lakes, Oceans, Bays, and Estuaries Act or the
 
BLUE GLOBE Act 

 
This bill addresses data collection and monitoring of the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts.
 
Specifically, the bill
 
 
increases domestic and international coordination to enhance data management and monitoring of the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts;
 
creates the Interagency Ocean Exploration Committee to promote the exploration and improved understanding of the oceans; 
 
revises the Ocean Policy Committee to the Committee on Ocean Policy;
 
establishes a technology innovation task force to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing;
 
requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop a workforce development program, including to support undergraduate and graduate education in fields related to the advancement of the monitoring, collection, synthesis, and analysis of data regarding the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts;
 
requires NOAA to ensure that a goal of its cooperative institutes is to advance or apply emerging technologies;
 
requires NOAA to establish opportunities to engage indigenous, subsistence, and fishing communities to better understand their needs;
 
institutes an ocean innovation prize to catalyze the rapid development and deployment of data collection and monitoring technology;
 
reauthorizes several NOAA programs, including the Ocean Exploration Program;
 
directs relevant federal agencies to measure the value and impact of industries related to the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, estuaries, and coasts on the U.S. economy; and
 
 requires the National Academy of Sciences to assess the potential for an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Oceans.
 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2020-07-22
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
action_date: 2019-03-28
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2019-03-28
text: Introduced in Senate