[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3644 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3644

   To direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 
establish education and watershed programs which advance environmental 
   literacy, including preparedness and adaptability for the likely 
        impacts of climate change in coastal watershed regions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 24, 2009

   Mrs. Capps (for herself, Mr. Ehlers, and Mr. Farr) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 
establish education and watershed programs which advance environmental 
   literacy, including preparedness and adaptability for the likely 
        impacts of climate change in coastal watershed regions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Bay-Watershed Education and Training 
(B-WET) Regional Program and National Environmental Literacy Grant 
Program Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States faces major challenges, such as 
        mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change, 
        stewarding critical coastal and marine resources including fish 
        and wildlife habitat while sustaining the commercial and 
        recreational activities that depend on these resources, and 
        improving resilience to natural disasters, that collectively 
        threaten human health, economic development, environmental 
        quality, and national security.
            (2) Communities in coastal watersheds are particularly 
        vulnerable to these increasingly urgent, interconnected, and 
        complex challenges and need support for teacher professional 
        development and experiential learning among students of all 
        ages.
            (3) These challenges can be met with the help of 
        comprehensive programs specifically targeted to engage coastal 
        watershed communities, schoolchildren, and the general public 
        to develop engaged and environmentally literate citizens who 
        are better able to understand complex environmental issues, 
        assess risk, evaluate proposed plans, and understand how 
        individual decisions affect the environment at local, regional, 
        national, and global scales.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to advance environmental 
literacy, develop public awareness and appreciation of the economic, 
social, and environmental benefits of coastal watersheds, and emphasize 
stewardship of critical coastal and marine resources, including an 
understanding of how climate change is impacting those resources, 
through the establishment of--
            (1) a National Environmental Literacy Grant Program; and
            (2) regional Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) 
        programs.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
        Administration.
            (2) Environmental education.--The term ``environmental 
        education'' means interdisciplinary formal and informal 
        learning about the relevant interrelationships between dynamic 
        environmental and human systems, and which results in 
        increasing the learner's capacity for decisionmaking and 
        stewardship regarding natural and community resources.
            (3) Environmental literacy.--The term ``environmental 
        literacy'' means the capacity to perceive and interpret the 
        relative health of environmental systems and the 
        interrelationships between natural and social systems and 
        technology, and to assess options and take appropriate action 
        to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems.
            (4) Bay-watershed education.--The term ``bay-watershed 
        education'' means environmental education focused on 
        watersheds, with an emphasis on stewardship of critical coastal 
        and marine resources, including an understanding of how climate 
        change is impacting those resources.
            (5) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means a 
        State agency, local agency, school district, institution of 
        higher education, or for-profit or non-profit nongovernmental 
        organization, consortium, or other entity that the 
        Administrator finds has demonstrated expertise and experience 
        in the development of the institutional, intellectual, or 
        policy resources to help environmental education become more 
        effective and widely practiced.
            (6) High leverage projects.--The term ``high leverage 
        projects'' means projects supported by grants authorized under 
        this Act that use Federal, State and nongovernmental financial, 
        technical, and other resources in such a manner that the 
        potential beneficial outcomes are highly magnified or enhanced.
            (7) National program.--The term ``National Program'' means 
        the National Environmental Literacy Grant Program established 
        under section 4 of this Act.
            (8) Regional program.--The term ``Regional Program'' means 
        the regional Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) 
        program established under section 5 of this Act.
            (9) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
        States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American 
        Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, any 
        other territory or possession of the United States, and any 
        Indian tribe.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator shall establish a national 
competitive grant program under which the Administrator shall provide, 
subject to the availability of appropriations, financial assistance 
to--
            (1) expand the adoption of coastal, ocean, and watershed 
        environmental education within mainstream formal and informal 
        educational systems and other appropriate media;
            (2) build administrative and technical capacity with 
        coastal, ocean, and watershed communities and stakeholder 
        groups to enhance their effectiveness;
            (3) encourage water-dependent and outdoor recreation, 
        experiential learning, and hands-on involvement with coastal 
        and watershed resources as a method of promoting stewardship of 
        those resources; and
            (4) develop and implement new approaches to advance 
        coastal, ocean, and watershed education and environmental 
        literacy at national, regional, and local levels.
    (b) Priorities.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
Administrator shall give priority consideration to innovative, 
strategic, high-leverage projects that demonstrate strong potential for 
being sustained in the future by a grant recipient beyond the time 
period in which activities are carried out with the grant.
    (c) Guidelines.--No later than 180 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act and after consultation with appropriate stakeholders, the 
Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register guidelines 
regarding the implementation of this grant program, including 
publication of criteria for eligible entities, identification of 
national priorities, establishment of performance measures to evaluate 
program effectiveness, information regarding sources of non-Federal 
matching funds or in-kind contributions, and reporting requirements for 
grant award recipients.
    (d) Limitation on Use of Funds by Administrator.--Of the amounts 
made available to implement this section--
            (1) no less than 80 percent shall be used for competitive 
        grants or cooperative agreements;
            (2) no more than 10 percent may be used by the 
        Administrator to implement the grant program; and
            (3) no less than 10 percent of the annual funds 
        appropriated for the program authorized under this section 
        shall be used to fund contracts or cooperative agreements to 
        conduct strategic planning, promote communications among grant 
        recipients and within communities, coordinate grant activities 
        to foster an integrated program, and oversee national 
        evaluation efforts.

SEC. 5. BAY-WATERSHED EDUCATION AND TRAINING (B-WET) REGIONAL PROGRAMS.

    (a) Establishment.--The Administrator shall establish the Bay-
Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Regional Program, which shall 
be operated and carried out through regional program offices, as 
follows:
            (1) The B-WET Mid-Atlantic Program Office, which shall 
        include the States of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
        Virginia, West Virginia, New York, New Jersey, as well as the 
        District of Columbia.
            (2) The B-WET California Program Office, which shall 
        include the State of California.
            (3) The B-WET Pacific Islands Program Office, which shall 
        include the State of Hawaii, as well as American Samoa, the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the territory 
        of Guam.
            (4) The B-WET New England Program Office, which shall 
        include the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
        Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island.
            (5) The B-WET Pacific Northwest Program Office, which shall 
        include the States of Washington, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.
            (6) The B-WET Gulf Coast Program Office, which shall 
        include the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, 
        and Florida.
            (7) The B-WET Southeast Program Office, which shall include 
        the States of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, 
        Florida, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
            (8) The B-WET Great Lakes Program Office, which shall 
        include the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, 
        Wisconsin, New York, and Ohio.
            (9) The B-WET Alaska Program Office, which shall include 
        the State of Alaska.
            (10) The B-WET Colorado River and Upper Mississippi/
        Missouri Program Office, which shall include the States of 
        Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, North Dakota, 
        South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming.
            (11) The B-WET Lower Mississippi River, which shall include 
        the States of Kentucky, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, 
        and Arkansas.
    (b) New and Modified Regional Programs.--The Administrator may 
create and modify the Bay-Watershed Education Programs based on need, 
interest, and available resources.
    (c) Regional Program Management.--The Administrator shall appoint 
and select a Regional Program Manager for each regional program office, 
who shall reside in the region, be responsible for managing and 
administering the regional program, and demonstrate competence and 
expertise in bay-watershed education and training.
    (d) Functions.--Each regional program office shall--
            (1) administer the Bay-Watershed Education and Training 
        Program in accordance with this Act;
            (2) determine the most appropriate communities within the 
        region to be served by the Bay-Watershed Education and Training 
        Program;
            (3) encourage water-dependent and outdoor recreation, 
        experiential learning experiences for students, and hands-on 
        involvement with coastal and watershed resources as a method of 
        promoting stewardship of those resources and complementing core 
        classroom curriculum;
            (4) support communication and collaboration among 
        educators, natural resource planners and managers, and 
        governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders;
            (5) share and distribute information regarding educational 
        plans, strategies, learning activities, and curricula to all 
        stakeholders within its region;
            (6) provide financial and technical assistance pursuant to 
        the guidelines developed by the Administrator under this 
        section; and
            (7) perform any additional duties as necessary to carry out 
        the functions of the program.
    (e) Program Guidelines.--No later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act and after consultation with appropriate 
stakeholders, the Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register 
guidelines regarding the implementation of this program, including:
            (1) Contracts.--The Administrator shall create guidelines 
        through which each regional program may enter into contracts to 
        support projects to design, demonstrate, evaluate, or 
        disseminate practices, methods, or techniques related to Bay-
        watershed education and training.
            (2) Grant making and cooperative agreements.--
                    (A) The Administrator shall create guidelines 
                through which each regional program may provide 
                financial assistance in the form of a grant or 
                cooperative agreement to support projects which advance 
                the goals and objectives of this bill, and which shall 
                include criteria for eligible entities, identification 
                of national priorities, establishment of performance 
                measures to evaluate program effectiveness, and 
                reporting requirements for grant award recipients.
                    (B) In making grants pursuant to this section, the 
                regional programs shall give priority to those projects 
                which will--
                            (i) promote bay-watershed education 
                        throughout the region;
                            (ii) advance strategic initiatives to 
                        incorporate bay-watershed education into formal 
                        and informal education systems;
                            (iii) build capacity within bay-watershed 
                        education communities and stakeholder groups 
                        for expanding and strengthening their work;
                            (iv) build bay-watershed education into 
                        professional development or training activities 
                        for educators; and
                            (v) broadly replicate existing, proven bay-
                        watershed education programs.
    (f) Non-Federal Share.--
            (1) In general.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
        Administrator may give priority consideration to projects in 
        which the Federal share does not exceed 75 percent of the 
        aggregate cost of such project.
            (2) In-kind contribution.--The non-Federal share of the 
        costs of any project supported by an award of grant funding 
        under this section may be cash or the fair market value of 
        services, equipment, donations, or any other form of in-kind 
        contribution.
            (3) Waiver of requirement.--The Administrator may grant a 
        waiver of paragraph (1) for any underserved community, for any 
        community that has an inability to draw on other sources of 
        funding because of the small population or low income of the 
        community, or for any other person for any other reason the 
        Administrator considers appropriate and consistent with the 
        purposes of the program.
    (g) Regional Program Coordination.--Within the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, the Office of Education shall work with 
Regional Program Managers on the following regional B-WET functions:
            (1) Strategic planning efforts.
            (2) Integration and coordination of programs.
            (3) Coordination of national evaluation efforts.
            (4) Promotion of network wide communications.
            (5) Selection of new Regional Program Managers.
            (6) Management, tracking, and oversight of the B-WET 
        program.
    (h) Limitation on Use of Funds by Administrator.--Of the amounts 
made available to implement this section--
            (1) no less than 80 percent shall be used for 
        implementation of regional program activities, including the 
        award of grants; and
            (2) no more than 20 percent may be used by the 
        Administrator to implement the regional programs and regional 
        program coordination.

SEC. 6. BIENNIAL REPORT.

    Not later than December 31, 2011, and biennially thereafter, the 
Administrator shall submit to Congress a report on the grant programs 
authorized under this Act. Each such report shall include a description 
of the eligible activities carried out with grants awarded under the 
Act during the previous two fiscal years, an assessment of the success 
and impact of such activities, and a description of the type of 
programs carried out with such grant, disaggregated by State.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the 
Administrator to carry out this Act--
            (1) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2011;
            (2) $45,000,000 for fiscal year 2012;
            (3) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2013;
            (4) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2014; and
            (5) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.
    (b) Allocation.--The amount authorized for each fiscal year under 
subsection (a) shall be divided equally to carry out sections 4 and 
section 5.
                                 <all>