To reauthorize the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009.
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The bill would reauthorize the federal Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System through fiscal year 2030, funding it at $47.5 million per year, and would rename its governing council the Interagency Ocean Observation Committee.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would reauthorize the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009, extending funding authorization through fiscal year 2030 at $47,500,000 per year. It would rename the "National Ocean Research Leadership Council" to the "Ocean Policy Committee" throughout the underlying law and update related references from "Council" to "Committee." It would also direct the Interagency Ocean Observation Committee to develop requirements and processes for regional offices and federally funded projects of its member agencies to collaborate with regional coastal observing systems on data sharing.
The bill is a targeted amendment to existing law rather than a new program: it does not change the underlying system's scope, mission, or the technologies it uses (buoys, gliders, radar, and forecasting models that monitor coastal and ocean conditions). It also adds a requirement that the system's operations include conducting operational oceanography measurements.
Key provisions
- 1Would reauthorize the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 through fiscal year 2030 at $47,500,000 per year
- 2Would rename the National Ocean Research Leadership Council as the Ocean Policy Committee and update related terminology
- 3Would require the system's operations to include conducting operational oceanography measurements
- 4Would direct the Interagency Ocean Observation Committee to develop requirements and processes for regional data-sharing collaboration with regional coastal observing systems
Who would be affected
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies participating in the Interagency Ocean Observation Committee, regional coastal observing systems and their regional offices, and researchers, coastal communities, and mariners who rely on ocean and coastal monitoring data.
Why it matters
Without reauthorization, funding authority for the ocean observation system would lapse; the bill's five-year extension gives NOAA and partner agencies budget certainty through 2030. The new data-sharing coordination requirement is meant to ensure regional and federal monitoring systems work together rather than separately.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Reauthorizes Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) (Sec. 1)
Extends authorized funding of $47,500,000 per year through fiscal year 2030
Amends 33 U.S.C. 3602 (Sec. 1)
Renames the National Ocean Research Leadership Council as the Ocean Policy Committee and adds operational oceanography measurements to the system's purpose
Amends 33 U.S.C. 3603 (Sec. 1)
Adds a new requirement for developing regional data-sharing collaboration processes between committee agencies and regional coastal observing systems
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- Reauthorized funding for the ocean observation system
Funding and costs
- $47,500,000
Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System operations
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates H.R. 2294 would cost $244 million over the 2026–2030 period and $33 million after 2030, all subject to future appropriations, with no effect on direct spending or the deficit.
H.R. 2294 would reauthorize and authorize $56 million per year from 2026 through 2030 for the Integrated Ocean Observing System, a network of buoys, ships, radar, and other devices used by NOAA to monitor marine conditions. CBO estimates the bill would result in $244 million in discretionary spending (spending that requires annual congressional approval) over the 2026–2030 period and an additional $33 million after 2030, based on historical spending patterns. The bill would have no effect on direct (mandatory) spending, revenues, or the deficit. CBO identified no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates in the bill.
How implementation would work
The Interagency Ocean Observation Committee, which coordinates planning and budgeting across participating federal agencies, would need to develop new requirements and processes governing how its agencies' regional offices and federally funded projects collaborate with regional coastal observing systems on data sharing. Funding of $47,500,000 annually would be authorized for fiscal years 2026 through 2030, subject to actual appropriations. The bill otherwise operates through direct amendments to existing statutory text rather than a new rulemaking or grant process.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
This bill reauthorizes and modifies the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Integrated Ocean Observation System (IOOS). (The IOOS is made up of radar, gliders, buoys, vessels, and different models and forecasts that collect data points to monitor and report on conditions along the nation's coasts and in marine waters.)
Specifically, the bill reauthorizes the IOOS through FY2030. The bill also directs the Interagency Ocean Observation Committee (which coordinates interagency planning, budgeting, and assessments for the system) to develop requirements and processes for regional offices and federally funded projects of the agencies of the committee to collaborate with the regional coastal observing systems for data sharing at regional levels.
Legislative subjects
Advanced technology and technological innovations; Advisory bodies; Aquatic ecology; Data collection, sharing, protection; Environmental assessment, monitoring, research; Environmental technology; Government information and archives; Great Lakes; Marine and coastal resources, fisheries; Public Lands and Natural Resources
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-489