I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1124
To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish and carry out a grant
program to conserve, restore, and manage kelp forest ecosystems, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY7, 2025
Mr. H
UFFMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish and carry
out a grant program to conserve, restore, and manage
kelp forest ecosystems, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Our Kelp Act 4
of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. GRANTS TO CONSERVE, RESTORE, AND MANAGE 6
KELP FOREST ECOSYSTEMS. 7
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-8
gress that the purposes of this section and the grants au-9
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•HR 1124 IH
thorized by this section are to support native wild kelp 1
forest ecosystems and restore native wild kelp to enable 2
long term recovery of naturally functioning kelp forest eco-3
systems that do not involve commercial or mechanized 4
harvesting. 5
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 6
the date of the enactment of this section, the Adminis-7
trator shall establish and carry out a grant program under 8
which the Administrator shall award grants to eligible en-9
tities described in subsection (c) to carry out projects de-10
scribed in subsection (d) relating to the conservation, res-11
toration, or management of kelp forest ecosystems. 12
(c) E
LIGIBLEENTITY.—To be eligible for a grant 13
under this section, an eligible entity shall— 14
(1) be— 15
(A) a member of the fishing industry; 16
(B) an institution of higher education; 17
(C) a nonprofit organization; 18
(D) an Indian Tribe; 19
(E) a State agency; or 20
(F) a local government; 21
(2) consult or collaborate with any of the other 22
entities described in paragraph (1) throughout the 23
development or implementation of a project relating 24
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to the conservation, restoration, or management of 1
kelp forest ecosystems; and 2
(3) submit to the Administrator an application 3
describing such project at such time, in such man-4
ner, and containing such information as the Admin-5
istrator may require, including information regard-6
ing what criteria will be used to monitor and evalu-7
ate the effectiveness of the project and the qualifica-8
tions of the applicant to conduct, monitor, and 9
evaluate the project. 10
(d) E
LIGIBLEPROJECTS.—The Administrator shall 11
award grants to eligible entities for projects that— 12
(1) address greatest relative regional declines in 13
kelp forest ecosystems; 14
(2) focus on elements such as— 15
(A) long term ecosystem resilience of kelp 16
forest ecosystems; 17
(B) long term socioeconomic resilience re-18
lated to kelp forest ecosystems; 19
(C) kelp forest seeding and connectivity; 20
(D) re-establishing or recovering natural 21
trophic relationships and structure to support 22
resilience of kelp forest ecosystems through ac-23
tions such as predator control through targeted 24
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urchin removal and recovery of sunflower sea 1
stars; 2
(E) monitoring and assessment of kelp for-3
est ecosystems; 4
(F) integration of Indigenous knowledge 5
and cultural practices into restoration and mon-6
itoring of kelp forest ecosystems through con-7
sultation with Indian Tribes or promotion of 8
Federal or State co-management with Indian 9
Tribes; or 10
(G) other efforts to restore kelp forest eco-11
systems and prevent large scale losses of kelp 12
forests; or 13
(3) are identified by Indian Tribes or Federal 14
or State restoration or management plans as focal 15
areas for recovery of kelp forests and associated spe-16
cies. 17
(e) M
ATCHINGREQUIREMENT.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-19
graph (2), the amount of Federal funding received 20
as a grant under this section by an eligible entity 21
may not exceed 85 percent of the total cost of the 22
project for which a grant is awarded. For the pur-23
poses of this paragraph, the non-Federal share of 24
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•HR 1124 IH
project costs may be provided by in-kind contribu-1
tions and other noncash support. 2
(2) W
AIVER.—The Administrator may waive all 3
or part of the requirement in paragraph (1) if the 4
Administrator determines that— 5
(A) no reasonable means are available 6
through which an eligible entity applying for a 7
grant under this section can meet such require-8
ment; 9
(B) the probable benefit of such project 10
outweighs the public interest in such require-11
ment; and 12
(C) the project undertaken is established 13
on lands owned by or held in trust for an In-14
dian Tribe. 15
(f) G
UIDELINES ANDCRITERIA.—The Administrator 16
shall— 17
(1) issue guidelines regarding the implementa-18
tion of the grant program established under sub-19
section (b); and 20
(2) establish criteria based on best practices, 21
the best available science, and community engage-22
ment to rank eligible projects under subsection (d). 23
(g) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 1
appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this 2
section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 3
through 2030. 4
(2) A
VAILABILITY TO INDIAN TRIBES.— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Of the amount author-6
ized to be appropriated by paragraph (1) for a 7
fiscal year, subject to appropriations, not less 8
than $750,000 shall be made available to award 9
grants under this section to eligible entities that 10
are Indian Tribes. 11
(B) C
ONTINGENCY; OUTREACH.—If no In-12
dian Tribe is awarded a grant under this sec-13
tion in a fiscal year— 14
(i) for that fiscal year, the amount de-15
scribed in subparagraph (A) shall be made 16
available to award grants under this sec-17
tion to other eligible entities; and 18
(ii) the Administrator shall conduct 19
outreach to inform Indian Tribes and orga-20
nizations that work with Indian Tribes of 21
the grant program established under sub-22
section (b). 23
(h) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24
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(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
trator’’ means the Secretary of Commerce, acting 2
through the Administrator of the National Oceanic 3
and Atmospheric Administration. 4
(2) F
ISHING INDUSTRY.—The term ‘‘fishing in-5
dustry’’ means— 6
(A) processors; 7
(B) commercial fishermen; and 8
(C) recreational fishermen. 9
(3) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 10
has the meaning given such term in section 4 of the 11
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 12
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 13
(4) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 14
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 15
meaning given such term in section 101(a) of the 16
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 17
(5) K
ELP FOREST ECOSYSTEM .—The term 18
‘‘kelp forest ecosystem’’ means a naturally occur-19
ring, biotic system dominated by canopy-forming, 20
stipitate, or prostrate benthic macroalgae and associ-21
ated taxa. 22
(6) N
ONPROFIT ORGANIZATION .—The term 23
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization— 24
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(A) described in section 501(c)(3) of the 1
Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and 2
(B) exempt from tax under section 501(a) 3
of such Code. 4
Æ
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