Title 16 › CHAPTER 33 — COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT › § 1468
Allows coastal States and Indian Tribes to form Regional Ocean Partnerships to work together on shared ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes issues. A partnership can include nearby or noncontiguous States and Indian Tribes that share a water area or priorities. Partnerships can apply to be officially designated if they coordinate regional resource management, focus on shared environmental problems, add to existing state and tribal efforts, do not act as regulators, and do not duplicate an existing partnership. Four partnerships are already named: Gulf of Mexico Alliance (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas); Northeast Regional Ocean Council (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island); Mid‑Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia); and West Coast Ocean Alliance (California, Oregon, Washington and coastal Indian Tribes). Great Lakes groups may be called Regional Coastal Partnerships or Regional Great Lakes Partnerships. Each partnership must have a governing body with at least one voting member from each participating coastal State chosen by the Governor. Partnerships can plan, share data, run projects, give grants and make contracts (with federal or other funds) for monitoring, research, data work, resilience, habitat, and public outreach. They must coordinate with the Federal Government, Indian Tribes, nonprofits, academia, and other regional bodies. The NOAA Administrator must report to Congress no later than five years after December 23, 2022, on partnership activities, effectiveness, and funding distribution. Federal agencies may fund partnerships. NOAA may give money to the partnerships and the partnerships may award grants and contracts. Authorized funding to NOAA for these partnerships is $10,100,000 for FY2023; $10,202,000 for FY2024; $10,306,040 for FY2025; $10,412,160 for FY2026; and $10,520,404 for FY2027, to be split evenly among the partnerships. An additional $1,000,000 each year for FY2023–2027 is authorized for Indian Tribe participation. Definitions: Administrator = NOAA Administrator; Coastal State and Indian Tribe = as defined in other laws; Regional Ocean Partnership = a partnership designated under this law.
Full Legal Text
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Legislative History
Reference
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 1468
Title 16, Conservation
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110