National Coordination on Adaptation and Resilience for Security Act of 2023

Bill: 118-s-3261
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]
Introduced: 2023-11-08
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Latest action: action_date: 2023-11-08
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 3261 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES November 8, 2023 Mr. Coons (for himself, Ms. Murkowski , Mr. Cassidy , Mr. Reed , Mr. Graham , Mr. Padilla , Ms. Collins , Mr. Kaine , and Mr. Bennet ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require the Federal Government to produce a national adaptation and resilience strategy, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the National Coordination on Adaptation and Resilience for Security Act of 2023 . 2. National adaptation and resilience strategy (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Adaptation The term adaptation means an adjustment in a natural or human system in response to a new or changing environmental condition, including such an adjustment associated with climate change, that exploits beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects. (2) Climate change The term climate change means changes in average atmospheric and oceanic conditions that persist over multiple decades or longer and are natural or anthropogenic in origin, including— (A) increases and decreases in temperature; (B) shifts in precipitation; (C) shifts in ecoregion or biome geography and phenology, as applicable; (D) changing risk from certain types of rapid-onset climate hazards and slow-onset climate hazards; and (E) changes to other features of the climate system. (3) Council The term Council means the Partners Council on Adaptation and Resilience established under subsection (c)(1). (4) Federal agency The term Federal agency has the meaning given the term Executive agency in section 105 of title 5, United States Code. (5) Freely associated state The term Freely Associated State means— (A) the Federated States of Micronesia; (B) the Republic of the Marshall Islands; and (C) the Republic of Palau. (6) Implementation plan The term Implementation Plan means the Implementation Plan jointly developed by the Chief Resilience Officer and the working groups under subsection (d)(2). (7) Indian tribe The term Indian Tribe has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act ( 25 U.S.C. 5304 ). (8) National climate assessment The term National Climate Assessment means the assessment delivered to Congress and the President pursuant to section 106 of the Global Change Research Act of 1990 ( 15 U.S.C. 2936 ). (9) Represented agency The term represented agency means each Federal agency from which the Chief Resilience Officer appoints a member to a working group. (10) Resilience The term resilience has the meaning given the term climate resilience in section 101 of title 10, United States Code. (11) Slow-onset climate hazard (A) In general The term slow-onset climate hazard means an environmental hazard driven or exacerbated by climate change that evolves gradually through time due to incremental change or because of an increasing frequency or intensity of recurring climate impacts. (B) Inclusions The term slow-onset climate hazard includes— (i) sea level rise; (ii) desertification; (iii) biodiversity loss or the alteration of or shift in habitat range of individual species or entire biomes; (iv) increasing temperatures; (v) ocean acidification; (vi) saltwater intrusion; (vii) soil salinization; (viii) drought and water scarcity; (ix) reduced snow pack; (x) sea ice retreat; (xi) glacial ice retreat; (xii) permafrost thaw; and (xiii) coastal and river bank erosion. (12) Strategy The term Strategy means the National Adaptation and Resilience Strategy required to be developed jointly by the Chief Resilience Officer and the working groups under subsection (d)(1). (13) Territorial government The term territorial government means the government of a territory (as defined in section 602(g) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 802(g) )). (14) Working group The term working group means a working group established under subsection (b)(2)(B). (b) Chief resilience officer and national adaptation and resilience working groups (1) In general Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall appoint a Chief Resilience Officer of the United States to serve in the Executive Office of the President. (2) Duties The Chief Resilience Officer shall— (A) serve the President by directing a whole-of-government effort to build resilience to environmental vulnerabilities in the United States (as described in the National Climate Assessment or other relevant analyses identified by the Chief Resilience Officer) in collaboration with existing Federal initiatives and interagency adaptation efforts; (B) establish any necessary interagency working groups to facilitate coordination with respect to resilience and adaptation and the development of the Strategy; and (C) at the end of a presidential administration, delegate the duties of the Chief Resilience Officer to the Executive Secretary of the Working Groups designated under paragraph (5)(A) until a new Chief Resilience Officer is appointed. (3) Compensation The Chief Resilience Officer shall be paid at the rate of basic pay for level III of the Executive Schedule under section 5314 of title 5, United States Code. (4) Necessary assistance To carry out the development of the Strategy and efforts of working groups, each represented agency shall furnish necessary assistance to that working group, such as— (A) a detail of employees to the working group to perform such functions as the Chief Resilience Officer may assign, including support staff for the Executive Secretary designated under paragraph (5)(A); and (B) on request of the Chief Resilience Officer, undertaking special studies for the working group as may be appropriate to carry out the functions of the working group. (5) Executive secretary (A) In general The Chief Resilience Officer shall designate a permanent employee of a represented agency to serve as Executive Secretary of the Working Groups. (B) Employment The employee designated as Executive Secretary under subparagraph (A) shall remain an employee of the agency, department, or program from which the employee was appointed. (c) Partners council on adaptation and resilience (1) Establishment There is established a council, to be known as the Partners Council on Adaptation and Resilience . (2) Mission and function The Council shall work to improve the adaptation and resilience operations of the Federal Government by providing recommendations through the Chief Resilience Officer, including those recommendations contained in the report required under paragraph (3), that identify how the Federal Government can better support non-Federal partners with equitable resources, technical assistance, improved policies, and other assistance to help communities build resilience to changing environmental conditions. (3) Report Not later than 16 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, the Council, acting through the Chief Resilience Officer, shall submit to the President a report that includes— (A) an analysis of the deficiencies or gaps in the resilience operations of the Federal Government that reduce or fail to increase the capacity of non-Federal partners to adapt to changing environmental conditions; (B) an identification of the resources, including Federal funding, necessary for non-Federal partners to adequately adapt to changing environmental conditions; and (C) recommendations with respect to how the Federal Government could better support efforts by non-Federal partners to expeditiously address vulnerabilities associated with climate change and build resilience. (4) Chair and vice-chair The Chief Resilience Officer shall— (A) serve as chairperson of the Council; and (B) appoint a vice-chairperson from among the members of the Council appointed pursuant to paragraph (5). (5) Membership (A) In general In addition to the Chief Resilience Officer, the Council shall consist of not more than 23 members appointed by the Chief Resilience Officer. (B) Appointment (i) In general The Chief Resilience Officer shall appoint members of the Council with relevant experiences to inform how the Federal Government can better support State governments, local governments, territorial governments, the governments of Indian Tribes, the governments of Freely Associated States, nonprofit organizations, or private sector entities to build resilience to changing environmental conditions. (ii) Non-federal partner members The Chief Resilience Officer shall appoint 20 non-Federal partner members of the Council as follows: (I) 12 members who are employees of State governments, local governments, territorial governments, the governments of Indian Tribes, or the governments of Freely Associated States, of which— (aa) not fewer than 2 shall be employees of a State government; (bb) not fewer than 2 shall be employees of a unit of local government; (cc) not fewer than 2 shall be employees of the government of an Indian Tribe; and (dd) not fewer than 2 shall be employees of a territorial government or the government of a Freely Associated State; and (II) 8 members who represent nongovernmental organizations and the private sector, of which— (aa) 3 shall represent nongovernmental organizations; (bb) 3 shall represent the private sector; and (cc) 2 shall represent academic institutions. (iii) Represented agency members The Chief Resilience Officer may, with the consent of those representatives, appoint not more than 3 representatives of represented agencies to the Council that the Chief Resilience Officer determines would promote dialogue useful for implementation of the duties of the Council while keeping the size of the Council manageable. (iv) Selection To the maximum extent practicable, the Chief Resilience Officer shall seek to select members of the Council who— (I) possess first-hand, lived experience of environmental vulnerability in the United States, including direct experience working with, or as members of, communities that are highly vulnerable to changing environmental conditions; and (II) represent a diversity of— (aa) perspectives; (bb) demographics; (cc) geographies; (dd) political affiliations; and (ee) institution sizes, including representatives of both small and large units of government and businesses. (v) Term Members appointed to the Council shall serve a single term of not more than 3 years, except that— (I) of the initial members appointed to the Council, the Chief Resilience Officer shall appoint— (aa) 1/2 of the members to serve for a term of 18 months; and (bb) 1/2 of the members to serve a term of 3 years; and (II) the Chief Resilience Officer may extend the term of any member of the Council by a period of not more than 1 year on a one-time basis, if the Chief Resilience Officer determines it necessary to support the work of the Council. (vi) Vacancies (I) In general A vacancy in the Council shall be filled in the same manner in which the original selection was made. (II) Appointment of new members After the expiration of the term for which a member of the Council is appointed, the member may continue to serve until a successor is appointed. (6) Applicability of faca Section 1013 of title 5, United States Code, shall not apply to the Council. (d) National adaptation and resilience strategy (1) Strategy (A) In general Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chief Resilience Officer shall submit to the President and Congress a National Adaptation and Resilience Strategy. (B) Updates Not later than the date that is 3 years after the date on which the Chief Resilience Officer submits the Strategy to the President and Congress under subparagraph (A), and every 3 years thereafter, the Chief Resilience Officer shall submit an updated version of the Strategy to the President and Congress to account for— (i) evolving science related to climate change, resilience, and adaptation; (ii) relevant changes in Federal Government structure, congressional authorities, or appropriations; and (iii) any other necessary improvements or changes identified by the Chief Resilience Officer. (C) Purpose and scope The Strategy shall describe strategies for the Federal Government, in partnership with non-Federal partners, to address the vulnerabilities of the United States described in the National Climate Assessment or other relevant analyses identified by the Chief Resilience Officer to ensure that— (i) the United States has an overarching strategic vision to respond to climate change that— (I) identifies national resilience goals and guides national adaptation efforts; (II) facilitates the incorporation of the resilience goals identified under subclause (I) into relevant national programs, operations, and strategies; (III) develops proactive, long-term, scenario-based strategies to plan for and respond to current and future disasters or environmental condition changes to human communities, natural resources and public land, and infrastructure and other physical assets; (IV) emphasizes forward-thinking adaptation strategies, including predisaster mitigation, that seek to overcome repeated impacts to vulnerable systems and communities; (V) prioritizes resilience efforts to support the most vulnerable human communities and the most urgent national resilience challenges, as determined by the Chief Resilience Officer in consultation with the working groups; (VI) avoids unnecessary redundancies and inefficiencies in national adaptation and resilience planning and response; and (VII) recognizes the vulnerability of natural systems to changing environmental conditions and underscores the importance of promoting ecosystem resilience to preserve the intrinsic value of nature and support ecosystem services relied on by human beings; (ii) Federal investments in Federal and non-Federal infrastructure and assets promote resilience to the maximum extent practicable; and (iii) the adaptive capacity and resilience of State governments, local governments, territorial governments, the governments of Indian Tribes, and governments of Freely Associated States are maximized to the maximum extent practicable. (D) Council recommendations In developing the Strategy, the Chief Resilience Officer and working groups shall consider the recommendations of the Council. (E) Inclusions The Strategy shall include the following: (i) Information with respect to direct Federal Government adaptation and resilience response, including— (I) information on better preparing the United States for the adverse impacts experienced or anticipated to be experienced as a result of near-term and long-term climate hazards, including slow-onset hazards; (II) information on educating, engaging, or developing the skills of the workforce of the represented agencies with respect to topics related to environmental vulnerability and resilience to promote effective Federal resilience operations; and (III) an identification of opportunities and appropriate circumstances for represented agencies to better use natural infrastructure as an adaptation strategy. (ii) Information relating to the support of the adaptation of non-Federal partners and resilience groups, including— (I) methods for represented agencies to better collaborate and work directly with non-Federal partners to increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of State governments, local governments, territorial governments, the governments of Indian Tribes, the governments of Freely Associated States, and other non-Federal partners; (II) clarifying, simplifying, and harmonizing the planning requirements and application processes for State governments, local governments, territorial governments, the governments of Indian Tribes, and the governments of Freely Associated States to access Federal funds for adaptation and resilience efforts across represented agencies; (III) identifying under-resourced communities and communities with low adaptive capacity and resilience and to directly support those communities in applying for Federal funds for adaptation and resilience efforts; and (IV) supporting the retreat or relocation of human communities in areas that are at increasing risk from climate change, in particular from slow-onset climate hazards, including strategies to better manage equitable property buyouts, managed retreat, or relocation options for communities in those areas. (iii) At the discretion of the Chief Resilience Officer, information relating to developing or improving resilience metrics and indicators to assist the Federal Government and non-Federal partners— (I) to the maximum extent practicable, to consistently measure the resilience of human communities, natural systems, and physical assets to climate change; (II) to set baselines and targets to measurably increase resilience over time and measure progress towards goals outlined in the Strategy; and (III) to better monitor and assess the effectiveness of various resilience-building activities after implementation. (iv) Information relating to funding adaptation, including— (I) strategies for— (aa) helping to prioritize Federal funding expenditures for adaptation and resilience in consideration of the greatest vulnerabilities; and (bb) creating financial incentives for adaptation and resilience efforts; (II) a review of the cost-benefit analysis methodologies and discount rates used by represented agencies for all Federal investments, including a review of the implications of those methodologies and discount rates for adaptation and resilience; and (III) recommendations to improve the methodologies described in subclause (II) to reflect— (aa) the added value of pre-disaster mitigation, resilience planning, and construction methodologies over the lifetime of a project or unit of infrastructure; (bb) the benefits of natural infrastructure investments and nature-based solutions; (cc) the potential value of retreat and relocation as adaptation solutions; and (dd) to what extent existing cost-benefit analysis methodologies lead to inequitable outcomes or outcomes that increase climate vulnerability. (v) Information relating to community considerations, including strategies for— (I) ensuring that the costs, benefits, and risks resulting from resilience efforts, including funding allocations, the methodologies for determining funding allocations, and existing and future policies, are equitably distributed among sectors of society, types of communities, and geographies; (II) ensuring that federally supported resilience efforts are— (aa) designed in consultation with the communities that will be affected by those efforts; and (bb) centered on the needs of those communities; and (III) to the greatest extent practicable, integrating equity considerations across all aspects of the Strategy. (2) Implementation plan Concurrently with the Strategy and each update of the Strategy, the Chief Resilience Officer shall submit to the President and Congress an Implementation Plan that describes how represented agencies intend to carry out the Strategy, which shall include— (A) a description of the roles and responsibilities of each represented agency in carrying out each element of the Strategy described in paragraph (1); (B) a plan to enter into such interagency agreements between and among represented agencies, partnerships with non-Federal entities, and other agreements for coordination between and among the Federal Government and non-Federal partners as may be necessary to facilitate a unified national plan to build resilience; (C) the use of any relevant metrics and indicators described in paragraph (1)(E)(iii); and (D) recommendations on leveraging or developing a national web-based approached to share resilience, adaptation, pre-disaster mitigation best practices, experiences, projects, technologies, and approaches. (3) National adaptation and resilience operations The Chief Resilience Officer shall include in the Strategy— (A) a summary of the existing resilience operations of each represented agency that includes— (i) the roles and responsibilities of each represented agency in building national resilience to the vulnerabilities described in the National Climate Assessment or other analyses relevant to each represented agency; (ii) the major findings and conclusions from adaptation plans or risk or vulnerability assessments prepared by each represented agency; (iii) the mechanisms by which each represented agency supports the resilience efforts of non-Federal partners, such as by providing funding, resources, and technical assistance; and (iv) an assessment of how each represented agency is working to ensure equitable adaptation outcomes; and (B) a cross-agency analysis of the resilience operations identified under subparagraph (A) that— (i) identifies— (I) the challenges, barriers, or disincentives for the Federal Government to build resilience in the United States; (II) the inconsistencies in goals, priorities, or strategies underlying resilience operations and policy across represented agencies that may inhibit effective interagency coordination to support national resilience, including— (aa) the areas of necessary differences in those goals, priorities, or strategies; and (bb) the justifications for those inconsistencies; (III) areas of overlap or redundant use of resources between or among represented agencies, including recommendations to eliminate any unnecessary or unintentional redundancy; (IV) gaps or deficiencies in resilience operations and policy that need to be addressed in the context of the Strategy; (V) opportunities for greater collaboration between or among represented agencies to improve Federal Government resilience operations and policy; and (VI) opportunities for greater collaboration between the Federal Government and non-Federal partners to build local-level adaptive capacity and resilience; and (ii) a review and summary of all available Federal funding from represented agencies that is specifically allocated for adaptation activities to be undertaken by non-Federal partners, including— (I) a summary of Federal funding available in appropriations accounts and subaccounts; (II) disparities between the supply and demand for adaptation funding available to non-Federal partners; and (III) existing mechanisms to ensure Federal funding allocations are being directed to communities with the greatest level of vulnerability. (4) Assessment Not later than 2 years after the completion of each Strategy and each Implementation Plan, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the President and Congress a report that assesses— (A) the extent to which the Strategy and Implementation Plan have been carried out by the Federal Government, which shall be judged, as appropriate, based on any metrics and indicators developed to track progress in increasing resilience under paragraph (1)(E)(iii); (B) the effectiveness of the actions taken under the Strategy and Implementation Plan and the resulting outcomes of those actions in building national adaptation and resilience planning and response; and (C) the progress made towards the development of an effective whole-of-government effort to build resilience to the vulnerabilities described in the National Climate Assessment or other relevant analyses identified by the Chief Resilience Officer, including recommendations for additional steps necessary to reach this goal. (5) Public comment The Chief Resilience Officer shall— (A) publish draft and final versions of the Strategy and Implementation Plan, and each update to the Strategy and Implementation Plan; and (B) through publication in the Federal Register, solicit comments from the public on the draft versions of the documents published under subparagraph (A) for a period of 60 days, which the Chief Resilience Officer shall consider before submitting final versions of the Strategy and Implementation Plan, and updates to the Strategy and Implementation Plan, to the President and Congress. (e) Adaptation and resilience clearinghouse Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chief Resilience Officer shall establish an adaptation and resilience clearinghouse that— (1) increases the accessibility and utility of adaptation and resilience data and information produced, published, or hosted by the Federal Government; and (2) increases technical assistance to non-Federal partners on adaptation and resilience planning and response, including strategies to better collaborate across the represented agencies and work with non-Federal partners to— (A) provide locally relevant resilience and adaptation information and, where practicable and useful, downscaled climate projections that are necessary to support local-level adaptation efforts; (B) establish improved methods of communicating resilience and adaptation risk and other information; (C) better educate non-Federal partners about the available resources; (D) streamline information about Federal adaptation and resilience resources in a single centralized location if determined necessary by the Chief Resilience Officer; (E) assist non-Federal partners in selecting and using appropriate information or related tools; (F) work with non-Federal partners to access existing Federal grant programs related to resilience and adaptation; and (G) standardize procedures to synthesize, align, and update adaptation and resilience information produced, published, or hosted by the Federal Government to create standardized national, regional, and, where applicable, local climate information for adaptation planning. (f) Sunset This section shall cease to be effective on the date that is the earlier of— (1) the date on which the Comptroller General of the United States submits to the President and Congress the third assessment report under subsection (d)(4); and (2) September 30, 2033.