[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 169 (Monday, November 28, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6519-S6520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       DIGITAL COAST ACT OF 2015

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 660, S. 2325.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2325) to require the Secretary of Commerce, 
     acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and 
     Atmospheric Administration, to establish a constituent-driven 
     program to provide a digital information platform capable of 
     efficiently integrating coastal data with decision-support 
     tools, training, and best practices and to support collection 
     of priority coastal geospatial data to inform and improve 
     local, State, regional, and Federal capacities to manage the 
     coastal region, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill, 
which had been reported from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation, with an amendment to strike all after the enacting 
clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Digital Coast Act of 2015''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The Digital Coast is a model approach for effective 
     Federal partnerships with State and local government, 
     nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector.
       (2) Access to current, accurate, uniform, and standards-
     based geospatial information, tools, and training to 
     characterize the United States coastal region is critical for 
     public safety and for the environment, infrastructure, and 
     economy of the United States.
       (3) More than half of all people of the United States 
     (153,000,000) currently live on or near a coast and an 
     additional 12,000,000 are expected in the next decade.
       (4) Coastal counties in the United States average 300 
     persons per square mile, compared with the national average 
     of 98.
       (5) On a typical day, more than 1,540 permits for 
     construction of single-family homes are issued in coastal 
     counties, combined with other commercial, retail, and 
     institutional construction to support this population.
       (6) Over half of the economic productivity of the United 
     States is located within coastal regions.
       (7) Highly accurate, high-resolution remote sensing and 
     other geospatial data play an increasingly important role in 
     decisionmaking and management of the coastal zone and 
     economy, including for--
       (A) flood and coastal storm surge prediction;
       (B) hazard risk and vulnerability assessment;
       (C) emergency response and recovery planning;
       (D) community resilience to longer range coastal change;
       (E) local planning and permitting;
       (F) habitat and ecosystem health assessments; and
       (G) landscape change detection.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Coastal region.--The term ``coastal region'' means the 
     area of United States waters extending inland from the 
     shoreline to include coastal watersheds and seaward to the 
     territorial sea.
       (2) Coastal state.--The term ``coastal State'' has the 
     meaning given the term ``coastal state'' in section 304 of 
     the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1453).
       (3) Federal geographic data committee.--The term ``Federal 
     Geographic Data Committee'' means the interagency committee 
     that promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and 
     dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis.
       (4) Remote sensing and other geospatial.--The term ``remote 
     sensing and other geospatial'' means collecting, storing, 
     retrieving, or disseminating graphical or digital data 
     depicting natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, or 
     boundaries of the Earth and any information related thereto, 
     including surveys, maps, charts, satellite and airborne 
     remote sensing data, images, LiDAR, and services performed by 
     professionals such as surveyors, photogrammetrists, 
     hydrographers, geodesists, cartographers, and other such 
     services.
       (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Commerce, acting through the Administrator of the National 
     Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

     SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIGITAL COAST.

       (a) Establishment.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a program 
     for the provision of an enabling platform that integrates 
     geospatial data, decision-support tools, training, and best 
     practices to address coastal management issues and needs. 
     Under the program, the Secretary shall strive to enhance 
     resilient communities, ecosystem values, and coastal economic 
     growth and development by helping communities address their 
     issues, needs, and challenges through cost-effective and 
     participatory solutions.
       (2) Designation.--The program established under paragraph 
     (1) shall be known as the ``Digital Coast'' (in this section 
     referred to as the ``program'').
       (b) Program Requirements.--In carrying out the program, the 
     Secretary shall ensure that the program provides data 
     integration, tool development, training, documentation, 
     dissemination, and archive by--
       (1) making data and resulting integrated products developed 
     under this section readily accessible via the Digital Coast 
     Internet website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
     Administration, the GeoPlatform.gov and data.gov Internet 
     websites, and such other information distribution 
     technologies as the Secretary considers appropriate;
       (2) developing decision-support tools that use and display 
     resulting integrated data and provide training on use of such 
     tools;
       (3) documenting such data to Federal Geographic Data 
     Committee standards; and
       (4) archiving all raw data acquired under this Act at the 
     appropriate National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
     data center or such other Federal data center as the 
     Secretary considers appropriate.
       (c) Coordination.--The Secretary shall coordinate the 
     activities carried out under the program to optimize data 
     collection, sharing and integration, and to minimize 
     duplication by--
       (1) consulting with coastal managers and decisionmakers 
     concerning coastal issues, and sharing information and best 
     practices, as the Secretary considers appropriate, with--
       (A) coastal States;
       (B) local governments; and
       (C) representatives of academia, the private sector, and 
     nongovernmental organizations;
       (2) consulting with other Federal agencies, including 
     interagency committees, on relevant Federal activities, 
     including activities carried out under the Ocean and Coastal 
     Mapping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Coastal 
     Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.), the 
     Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 
     (33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), and the Hydrographic Services 
     Improvement Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 892 et seq.);
       (3) participating, pursuant to section 216 of the E-
     Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347; 44 U.S.C. 3501 
     note), in the establishment of such standards and common 
     protocols as the Secretary considers necessary to assure the 
     interoperability of remote sensing and other geospatial data 
     with all users of such information within--
       (A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
       (B) other Federal agencies;
       (C) State and local government; and
       (D) the private sector;
       (4) coordinating with, seeking assistance and cooperation 
     of, and providing liaison to the Federal Geographic Data 
     Committee pursuant to Office of Management and Budget 
     Circular A-16 and Executive Order 12906 of April 14, 1994 (59 
     Fed. Reg. 17671), as amended by Executive Order 13286 of 
     March 5, 2003 (68 Fed. Reg. 10619); and
       (5) developing and maintaining a best practices document 
     that sets out the best practices used by the Secretary in 
     carrying out the program and providing such document to the 
     United States Geological Survey, the Corps of Engineers, and 
     other relevant Federal agencies.
       (d) Filling Needs and Gaps.--In carrying out the program, 
     the Secretary shall--
       (1) maximize the use of remote sensing and other geospatial 
     data collection activities conducted for other purposes and 
     under other authorities;
       (2) focus on filling data needs and gaps for coastal 
     management issues, including with respect to areas that, as 
     of the date of the enactment of this Act, were underserved by 
     coastal data and the areas of the Arctic that are under the 
     jurisdiction of the United States;
       (3) pursuant to the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration 
     Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), support continue improvement in 
     existing efforts to coordinate the acquisition and 
     integration of key data sets needed for coastal management 
     and other purposes, including--
       (A) coastal elevation data;
       (B) land use and land cover data;
       (C) socioeconomic and human use data;
       (D) critical infrastructure data;
       (E) structures data;
       (F) living resources and habitat data;
       (G) cadastral data; and
       (H) aerial imagery; and
       (4) integrate the priority supporting data set forth under 
     paragraph (3) with other available data for the benefit of 
     the broadest measure of coastal resource management 
     constituents and applications.
       (e) Financial Agreements and Contracts.--
       (1) In general.--In carrying out the program, the 
     Secretary--
       (A) may enter into financial agreements to carry out the 
     program, including--
       (i) support to non-Federal entities that participate in 
     implementing the program;
       (ii) grants, cooperative agreements, interagency 
     agreements, contracts, or any other agreement on a 
     reimbursable or non-reimbursable basis, with other Federal, 
     tribal, State, and local governmental and nongovernmental 
     entities; and
       (iii) registration fees in support of training, workshops, 
     and conferences that advance the purposes of the program; and

[[Page S6520]]

       (B) shall enter into such contracts with private sector 
     entities for such products and services as the Secretary 
     determines may be necessary to collect, process, and provide 
     remote sensing and other geospatial data and products for 
     purposes of the program.
       (2) Survey and mapping.--Contracts entered into under 
     paragraph (1)(B) shall be considered ``surveying and 
     mapping'' services as such term is used in and as such 
     contracts are awarded by the Secretary in accordance with the 
     selection procedures in chapter 11 of title 40, United States 
     Code.
       (f) Ocean Economy.--The Secretary may establish publically 
     available tools that track ocean and Great Lakes economy data 
     for each coastal state (as that term is defined in section 
     304 of the of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 
     U.S.C. 1453)).
       (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized 
     to be appropriated to the Secretary such sums as may be 
     necessary to carry out the program in each of fiscal years 
     2016 through 2020.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that 
the committee-reported substitute amendment be withdrawn, that the 
Baldwin substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, that 
the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motion 
to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The committee-reported substitute amendment was withdrawn.
  The amendment (No. 5112) in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  The bill (S. 2325), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a 
third reading, was read the third time, and passed.

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