HR 4256 — Digital Coast Reauthorization Act of 2025

changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italics, and existing law in which no 
change is proposed is shown in roman):

 DIGITAL COAST ACT

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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 and 
 fully and freely available 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 decision 
 makers 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 11, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 17671), as 
 amended by Executive Order 13286 of February 28, 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, including 
 data related to underground infrastructure and 
 subsurface utilities;
 (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; and
 (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
 (B) may, to the maximum extent practicable, 
 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) Fees.--
 (A) Assessment and collection.--The Secretary 
 may, to the extent provided in advance in 
 appropriations Acts, assess and collect fees 
 for the conduct of any training, workshop, or 
 conference that advances the purposes of the 
 program.
 (B) Amounts.--The amount of a fee under this 
 paragraph may not exceed the sum of costs 
 incurred, or expected to be incurred, by the 
 Secretary as a direct result of the conduct of 
 the training, workshop, or conference, 
 including for subsistence expenses incidental 
 to the training, workshop, or conference, as 
 applicable.
 (C) Use of fees.--Amounts collected by the 
 Secretary in the form of fees under this 
 paragraph shall be available to the extent and 
 in such amounts as are provided in advance in 
 appropriations Acts for--
 (i) the costs incurred for conducting 
 an activity described in subparagraph 
 (A); or
 (ii) the expenses described in 
 subparagraph (B).
 (3) 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.
 (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to 
be appropriated to the Secretary $4,000,000 for each fiscal 
year 2021 through [2025] 2030 to carry out the program.