[Senate Report 118-127]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                  Calendar No. 177

118th Congress}                                           { Report
                                 SENATE
  1st Session }                                           { 118-127

======================================================================
 
                COASTAL HABITAT CONSERVATION ACT OF 2023

                                _______
                                

               December 11, 2023.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

       Mr. Carper, from the Committee on Environment and Public 
                     Works, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 1381]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Environment and Public Works, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 1381), to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior, through the Coastal Program of the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service, to work with willing partners and provide 
support to efforts to assess, protect, restore, and enhance 
important coastal landscapes that provide fish and wildlife 
habitat on which certain Federal trust species depend, and for 
other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably 
thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                    GENERAL STATEMENT AND BACKGROUND

    The USFWS Coastal Program is a voluntary, partnership-based 
habitat conservation program that operates in 24 priority 
coastal areas. The program's locally-based staff provide 
technical and financial assistance to help develop and 
implement habitat restoration and design projects. Through 
those projects, the program helps conserve and recover USFWS 
trust species.
    The program also helps build coastal resilience by 
improving the health of coastal ecosystems. Another noted 
benefit of the Coastal Program is the economic benefit it 
brings to the communities in which the projects are located. 
Not only does the USFWS employ local businesses to help plan 
and implement the projects, but the projects also support a 
wide array of local industries, including commercial fishing 
and tourism.\1\
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    \1\U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2022 Coastal Program 
Accomplishment Report (March 2023), https://www.fws.gov/media/2022-
coastal-program-accomplishment-report.
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    Since its genesis in 1985, the Coastal Program has enabled 
the conservation of over two million acres of habitat. In 2022, 
the program helped fund and coordinate 185 projects and 
conserve 45,033 acres. Those projects helped advance a number 
of important goals, including restoring habitats that create 
corridors for wildlife, removing barriers in streams to improve 
fish passage and aquatic habitats, and enhancing local outdoor 
recreation opportunities. According to the USFWS's 2022 Coastal 
Program Accomplishment Report, the program leveraged nine 
dollars for every Coastal Program dollar spent in 2022.\2\ 
Congress appropriated $13.957 million for the Coastal Program 
in fiscal year (FY) 2023 and $13.616 million for the program in 
FY 2022. Congress first provided appropriations to the Coastal 
Program in 1985 but has ever codified the program.
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    \2\Id.
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                     OBJECTIVES OF THE LEGISLATION

    The purpose of the bill is to authorize the Coastal Program 
of the USFWS through FY 2028 to conduct collaborative 
landscape-level planning and on-the-ground coastal habitat 
assessment, coastal habitat protection, coastal habitat 
restoration, and coastal habitat enhancement projects in 
priority coastal landscapes to conserve and recover Federal 
trust species.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Sec. 1. Short title

    This section states that the Act may be cited as the 
``Coastal Habitat Conservation Act of 2023.''

Sec. 2. Purpose

    This section states that the purpose of the Act is to 
authorize the USFWS Coastal Program to conduct collaborative 
landscape-level planning and on-the-ground coastal habitat 
assessment, coastal habitat protection, coastal habitat 
restoration, and coastal habitat enhancement projects in 
priority coastal landscapes to conserve and recover Federal 
trust species.

Sec. 3. Definitions

    This section provides definitions for terms used in the 
Act, including ``coastal ecosystem,'' ``coastal habitat 
assessment,'' ``coastal habitat enhancement,'' ``coastal 
habitat planning,'' ``coastal habitat protection,'' ``coastal 
habitat restoration,'' ``coastal landscape,'' ``coastal 
State,'' ``Federal trust species,'' ``financial assistance,'' 
``Secretary,'' ``Service,'' and ``technical assistance.''

Sec. 4. Coastal Program

    This section directs the Secretary of the Interior to carry 
out a Coastal Program within the USFWS to identify the leading 
threats to priority coastal landscapes and conservation actions 
and address those threats through partnerships with Federal, 
State, local, and Tribal governments, nongovernmental 
institutions, nonprofit organizations, and private individuals 
or entities.
    Through those partnerships, this section stipulates that 
the program will provide technical assistance for private 
individuals and entities to conduct voluntary coastal habitat 
planning, assessment, protection, restoration, and enhancement 
projects.
    This section also states that the program will:
           Use adaptive management procedures to ensure 
        the health and resilience of coastal ecosystems;
           Build the capacity of governmental and non-
        governmental institutions to carry out environmental 
        conservation and stewardship measures;
           Help develop and implement protocols to 
        monitor coastal ecosystem restoration and enhancement; 
        and
           Share information relating to best 
        management practices for the conservation, restoration, 
        and enhancement of coastal systems.

Sec. 5. Reports

    This section directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting 
through the Director of the USFWS, to submit an annual report 
on the Coastal Program to the Senate Appropriations Committee 
and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, as well 
as the House Natural Resources Committee and the House 
Appropriations Committee.

Sec. 6. Authorization of appropriations

    This section authorizes the Coastal Program from FY 2024 
through FY 2028 at the following levels: $20 million for FY 
2024; $21.25 million for FY 2025; $22.5 million for FY 2026; 
$23.75 million for FY 2027; and $25 million for FY 2028.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    On April 27, 2023, Senator Cardin introduced S. 1381, the 
Coastal Habitat Conservation Act of 2023. Senator Graham was an 
original cosponsor. The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works.

                                HEARINGS

    No committee hearings were held on S. 1381 in the 118th 
Congress. However, the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works did hold a hearing on similar legislation, S. 2194, in 
the 117th Congress on June 15, 2022.

                             ROLLCALL VOTES

    On July 26, 2023, the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works met to consider S. 1381. The bill was ordered favorably 
reported without amendment by voice vote. No roll call votes 
were taken.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT

    In compliance with section 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee on Environment and 
Public Works finds that S. 1381 does not create any additional 
regulatory burdens, nor will it cause any adverse impact on the 
personal privacy of individuals.

                          MANDATES ASSESSMENT

    In compliance with the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 
(Public Law 104-4), the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works notes that the Congressional Budget Office found that S. 
1381 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 
as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would 
impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.

                          COST OF LEGISLATION

    Section 403 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 
Control Act requires that a statement of the cost of the 
reported bill, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, be 
included in the report. That statement follows:




    S. 1381 would authorize the appropriation of $112.5 million 
over the 2024-2028 period for the USFWS to implement the 
Coastal Program and report annually to the Congress on the 
program's activities. Under that program, USFWS partners with 
federal and nonfederal entities to conduct land and habitat 
restoration, protection, and conservation activities on public 
and private coastal land and waters. In 2023, USFWS allocated 
about $14 million for the program.
    Using historical spending patterns for the program and 
assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts, CBO estimates 
that implementing the bill would cost $103 million over the 
2024-2028 period and $10 million after 2028.
    The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall 
within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).

                TABLE 1.--ESTIMATED INCREASES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION UNDER S. 1381
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     By fiscal year, millions of dollars--
                                                              --------------------------------------------------
                                                                2024    2025    2026    2027    2028   2024-2028
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authorization................................................      20      21      23      24      25        113
Estimated Outlays............................................      15      19      21      23      25        103
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    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Lilia Ledezma. 
The estimate was reviewed by Ann E. Futrell, Senior Adviser for 
Budget Analysis.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    Section 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate 
requires the committee to publish changes in existing law made 
by the bill as reported. Passage of this bill will make no 
changes to existing law.

                                  [all]