Congress enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act in 1972 to balance the often competing demands for economic growth and development with the need to protect coastal resources. To accomplish the goals of the act, Congress established a framework for a voluntary federal and state coastal management partnership, the CZMP. The CZMP represents a unique federal-state partnership for protecting, restoring, and responsibly developing the nation’s coastal communities and resources, according to program documents. The act identifies specific goals for state programs that fall into six broad focus areas ranging from protecting and restoring coastal habitat to assisting with coastal community development efforts and improving government coordination and decision making (see table 1). States must submit comprehensive descriptions of their coastal management programs—which must be approved by the states’ governors—to NOAA for review and approval. As specified in the act, states must meet the following requirements to receive NOAA’s approval for their state programs, among others: designate coastal zone boundaries that will be subject to state define what constitutes permissible land and water uses in coastal propose an organizational structure for implementing the state program, including the responsibilities of and relationships among local, state, regional, and interstate agencies; and demonstrate sufficient legal authorities to carry out the objectives and policies of the state program, including the means by which a state will regulate land and water uses, control development, and resolve conflicts among competing activities in coastal zones to ensure their wise use. The act provides states the flexibility to design programs that best address states’ unique coastal challenges, laws, and regulations, and participating states have taken various approaches to developing and carrying out their programs. For instance, there are generally two organizational structures used by states to implement their programs: (1) networked programs, which rely on multiple state and local agencies to implement their programs, and (2) non-networked, or comprehensive state programs that administer all aspects of the program through a single centralized agency. The coastal management activities carried out also vary across states with some states focusing on permitting, mitigation, and enforcement activities, while other states focus on providing technical and financial assistance to local governments and nonprofits for local coastal protection and management projects. If states make changes to their programs, such as changes in their coastal zone boundaries or organizational structures, the states must submit those changes to NOAA for review and approval. The act includes two primary incentives to encourage states to develop coastal management programs and participate in the CZMP. First, participating states are eligible to receive federal funding from NOAA to support the implementation and management of their programs, which the agency receives annually through congressional appropriations. In fiscal year 2013, NOAA awarded participating states a total of approximately $61.3 million, a 9 percent decline from fiscal year 2008 awards, when it awarded just over $67.5 million across participating states. NOAA awards CZMP funding to individual states across three fund types—administrative, enhancement, and coastal nonpoint program—according to requirements in the act (see table 2). The majority of funding NOAA awards through the CZMP is administrative funding. Administrative funding, which requires state matching funds, supports general implementation of the state’s coastal management program. Under the act, NOAA may also award a maximum of $10 million annually in enhancement program funding to participating states. Enhancement funding is to be used by states to develop program changes, or enhancements, to their NOAA-approved programs in one or more of nine enhancement objectives specified in the act, as listed in table 2. In addition, Congress has generally provided direction on the total amount of funds to be awarded through the coastal nonpoint program to assist with states’ coastal nonpoint pollution control programs, which are programs to ensure states have necessary tools and enforceable authorities to prevent and control polluted runoff in coastal areas. According to NOAA officials, funding has not been provided for this program since fiscal year 2009, when nearly $3.4 million was awarded to states. States may also use other sources of funding for their coastal nonpoint pollution control programs, including administrative and enhancement funding. Second, federal agency activities in or affecting the uses or resources of a participating state’s defined coastal zone are required to be consistent to the maximum extent practicable with enforceable policies of the state’s program. Under this provision, known as federal consistency, states with approved programs must have the opportunity to review proposed federal actions for consistency with enforceable policies of their state programs. Types of federal actions that may be reviewed by states include federal agency activities, such as improvements made to a military base; licenses or permits to nonfederal applicants; financial assistance to state and local governments; and outer continental shelf activities, such as oil and gas development. If a state finds that a federal activity is not consistent with the state’s enforceable policies, the state can object to the activity and work with the federal agency to resolve any differences between the proposed activity and state policies. All participating state programs have developed federal consistency review processes. Thirty-four out of 35 eligible states have federally approved coastal management programs (see fig. 1). Most state programs have been in existence for more than 30 years, with the earliest program approved in 1976, and 29 states having received federal approval for their programs by 1986. The most recent state to begin participating in the program is Illinois, which received federal approval in January 2012. NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) is responsible for general administration and oversight of the CZMP. NOAA plans to merge the OCRM with its Coastal Services Center—an office that provides coastal-related mapping tools and data; training on various coastal management issues such as climate adaptation and coastal restoration design and evaluation; and technical and other assistance to local, state, and regional coastal organizations—into a single office by the end of 2014. Under the current and planned office structure, NOAA officials are responsible for approving state programs and any program changes, administering federal funding to the states, providing technical assistance to states such as on the development of 5-year assessment and strategy reports that identify states’ priority needs and projects to address one or more of nine enhancement objectives required for enhancement funding, among other topics, and managing the CZMP performance measurement system. NOAA assigns coastal management specialists to work with individual state programs. As part of its administration of the program, NOAA evaluates program performance using its CZMP performance measurement system. NOAA began developing a framework for this performance measurement system in 2001, started piloting it in 2004, and fully implemented the system by 2008. The system consists of 15 performance measures that generally correspond with the goals of the act, and two additional measures to track state financial expenditures. The 17 total performance measures incorporate individual data elements, plus additional subcategories of information that state programs collect and report into the system annually (see app. II). In addition, NOAA evaluators, who are in a different NOAA division than specialists, are responsible for conducting individual state program evaluations, which are required under the act. State program evaluations are designed to examine the extent to which states have: (1) implemented their approved programs,(2) addressed coastal management needs identified in the act, and (3) adhered to the terms of CZMP funds awarded through cooperative agreements. NOAA’s state program evaluation reports identify state accomplishments and make recommendations for improving states’ programs. NOAA’s recommendations are classified as either necessary actions—actions a state must take by a specific date such as the next regularly scheduled evaluation—or program suggestions—actions it believes a state should take to improve its program. NOAA may withdraw approval for a state’s program and financial assistance in cases where states do not address necessary actions. NOAA has not withdrawn approval for a state program as of the end of fiscal year 2013 and, according to NOAA officials, few necessary actions have been identified in past state evaluations. In 2008, we examined NOAA’s process for awarding financial assistance to states and how the agency evaluated the effectiveness of the CZMP. Of the seven recommendations we made in 2008, NOAA disagreed with one recommendation that the agency develop performance measures to evaluate the effectiveness of state programs in improving processes; NOAA agreed with the other six recommendations and has taken some actions to address them as described in table 3. During fiscal years 2008 through 2013, the 34 participating states allocated a total of nearly $400 million in CZMP funds for a variety of activities, generally related to the broad goals for state programs outlined in the Coastal Zone Management Act. Each year, NOAA analyzes its cooperative agreements with states for CZMP funding, and categorizes the states’ CZMP funding allocations as they correspond with the six focus areas based on the broad goals in the act, along with a seventh category to capture state program administrative costs, such as general program operations, supplies, and rent. According to NOAA’s analysis, during fiscal years 2008 through 2013, states’ allocations of CZMP funds varied across the seven categories, with about half concentrated in support of activities related to two focus areas, government coordination and coastal habitat (see fig. 2). NOAA officials told us that, while states have the flexibility to design and implement programs that best meet their unique needs, the agency does influence how states allocate CZMP funds through (1) NOAA’s review and approval of states’ 5-year assessment and strategy reports required for enhancement funding in which participating states prioritize projects that support program improvements and (2) NOAA’s periodic state program evaluations in which NOAA outlines necessary actions or makes program suggestions that can influence state program activities. NOAA officials said that they also informally shape or influence state program activities through ongoing discussions with state program officials about funding proposals or specific projects, such as how projects might be adjusted to address NOAA priorities. Examples of activities for which participating states allocated CZMP funds during fiscal years 2008 through 2013 in each of the six focus areas include the following: Government coordination.