<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="119" measure-type="s" measure-number="216" measure-id="id119s216" originChamber="SENATE" orig-publish-date="2025-05-20" update-date="2025-12-16">
        <title>Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act</title>
        <summary summary-id="id119s216v55" currentChamber="SENATE" update-date="2025-12-16">
            <action-date>2025-05-20</action-date>
            <action-desc>Passed Senate</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act</strong></p><p>This bill reauthorizes&nbsp;and modifies&nbsp;administration of&nbsp;Marine Debris Program (MDP) activities&nbsp;and the Marine Debris Foundation. (The program and the foundation support efforts to assess, prevent, and otherwise address marine debris and its adverse impacts on the U.S. economy, the&nbsp;marine environment, and navigation safety.)</p><p>First, the bill reauthorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's)&nbsp;Marine Debris Program through FY2029.&nbsp;The bill authorizes NOAA to&nbsp;provide contributions for&nbsp;MDP project costs on an in-kind basis in an amount that&nbsp;NOAA determines represents the value it derives from the project. The bill also authorizes NOAA to&nbsp;enter into agreements other than cooperative agreements,&nbsp;contracts, and grant agreements&nbsp;for projects.</p><p>Next, the bill modifies requirements for the Marine Debris Foundation and reauthorizes it&nbsp;for FY2025. Among other changes, the bill designates the current Chief Operating Officer (i.e., the first officer or employee appointed by the board) as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)&nbsp;and specifies that the board has the authority to appoint, review the performance of, and remove the CEO. The bill authorizes the CEO to appoint, supervise, and remove&nbsp;foundation employees and officers.</p><p>Further, the bill&nbsp;directs the foundation to develop and implement best practices for conducting outreach to Indian tribes and tribal governments.&nbsp;The foundation must locate its principal office in the National Capital Region or a coastal shoreline community.</p><p>Finally, the bill authorizes the foundation to match contributions from regional organizations, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and foreign governments.&nbsp;</p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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