Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1124 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1124
5	5	To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish and carry out a grant
6	6	program to conserve, restore, and manage kelp forest ecosystems, and
7	7	for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	FEBRUARY7, 2025
10	10	Mr. H
11	11	UFFMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
12	12	Committee on Natural Resources
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish and carry
15	15	out a grant program to conserve, restore, and manage
16	16	kelp forest ecosystems, and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Our Kelp Act 4
21	21	of 2025’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. GRANTS TO CONSERVE, RESTORE, AND MANAGE 6
23	23	KELP FOREST ECOSYSTEMS. 7
24	24	(a) S
25	25	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-8
26	26	gress that the purposes of this section and the grants au-9
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29	29	•HR 1124 IH
30	30	thorized by this section are to support native wild kelp 1
31	31	forest ecosystems and restore native wild kelp to enable 2
32	32	long term recovery of naturally functioning kelp forest eco-3
33	33	systems that do not involve commercial or mechanized 4
34	34	harvesting. 5
35	35	(b) E
36	36	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 6
37	37	the date of the enactment of this section, the Adminis-7
38	38	trator shall establish and carry out a grant program under 8
39	39	which the Administrator shall award grants to eligible en-9
40	40	tities described in subsection (c) to carry out projects de-10
41	41	scribed in subsection (d) relating to the conservation, res-11
42	42	toration, or management of kelp forest ecosystems. 12
43	43	(c) E
44	44	LIGIBLEENTITY.—To be eligible for a grant 13
45	45	under this section, an eligible entity shall— 14
46	46	(1) be— 15
47	47	(A) a member of the fishing industry; 16
48	48	(B) an institution of higher education; 17
49	49	(C) a nonprofit organization; 18
50	50	(D) an Indian Tribe; 19
51	51	(E) a State agency; or 20
52	52	(F) a local government; 21
53	53	(2) consult or collaborate with any of the other 22
54	54	entities described in paragraph (1) throughout the 23
55	55	development or implementation of a project relating 24
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58	58	•HR 1124 IH
59	59	to the conservation, restoration, or management of 1
60	60	kelp forest ecosystems; and 2
61	61	(3) submit to the Administrator an application 3
62	62	describing such project at such time, in such man-4
63	63	ner, and containing such information as the Admin-5
64	64	istrator may require, including information regard-6
65	65	ing what criteria will be used to monitor and evalu-7
66	66	ate the effectiveness of the project and the qualifica-8
67	67	tions of the applicant to conduct, monitor, and 9
68	68	evaluate the project. 10
69	69	(d) E
70	70	LIGIBLEPROJECTS.—The Administrator shall 11
71	71	award grants to eligible entities for projects that— 12
72	72	(1) address greatest relative regional declines in 13
73	73	kelp forest ecosystems; 14
74	74	(2) focus on elements such as— 15
75	75	(A) long term ecosystem resilience of kelp 16
76	76	forest ecosystems; 17
77	77	(B) long term socioeconomic resilience re-18
78	78	lated to kelp forest ecosystems; 19
79	79	(C) kelp forest seeding and connectivity; 20
80	80	(D) re-establishing or recovering natural 21
81	81	trophic relationships and structure to support 22
82	82	resilience of kelp forest ecosystems through ac-23
83	83	tions such as predator control through targeted 24
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86	86	•HR 1124 IH
87	87	urchin removal and recovery of sunflower sea 1
88	88	stars; 2
89	89	(E) monitoring and assessment of kelp for-3
90	90	est ecosystems; 4
91	91	(F) integration of Indigenous knowledge 5
92	92	and cultural practices into restoration and mon-6
93	93	itoring of kelp forest ecosystems through con-7
94	94	sultation with Indian Tribes or promotion of 8
95	95	Federal or State co-management with Indian 9
96	96	Tribes; or 10
97	97	(G) other efforts to restore kelp forest eco-11
98	98	systems and prevent large scale losses of kelp 12
99	99	forests; or 13
100	100	(3) are identified by Indian Tribes or Federal 14
101	101	or State restoration or management plans as focal 15
102	102	areas for recovery of kelp forests and associated spe-16
103	103	cies. 17
104	104	(e) M
105	105	ATCHINGREQUIREMENT.— 18
106	106	(1) I
107	107	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-19
108	108	graph (2), the amount of Federal funding received 20
109	109	as a grant under this section by an eligible entity 21
110	110	may not exceed 85 percent of the total cost of the 22
111	111	project for which a grant is awarded. For the pur-23
112	112	poses of this paragraph, the non-Federal share of 24
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115	115	•HR 1124 IH
116	116	project costs may be provided by in-kind contribu-1
117	117	tions and other noncash support. 2
118	118	(2) W
119	119	AIVER.—The Administrator may waive all 3
120	120	or part of the requirement in paragraph (1) if the 4
121	121	Administrator determines that— 5
122	122	(A) no reasonable means are available 6
123	123	through which an eligible entity applying for a 7
124	124	grant under this section can meet such require-8
125	125	ment; 9
126	126	(B) the probable benefit of such project 10
127	127	outweighs the public interest in such require-11
128	128	ment; and 12
129	129	(C) the project undertaken is established 13
130	130	on lands owned by or held in trust for an In-14
131	131	dian Tribe. 15
132	132	(f) G
133	133	UIDELINES ANDCRITERIA.—The Administrator 16
134	134	shall— 17
135	135	(1) issue guidelines regarding the implementa-18
136	136	tion of the grant program established under sub-19
137	137	section (b); and 20
138	138	(2) establish criteria based on best practices, 21
139	139	the best available science, and community engage-22
140	140	ment to rank eligible projects under subsection (d). 23
141	141	(g) A
142	142	UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 24
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145	145	•HR 1124 IH
146	146	(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 1
147	147	appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this 2
148	148	section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 3
149	149	through 2030. 4
150	150	(2) A
151	151	VAILABILITY TO INDIAN TRIBES.— 5
152	152	(A) I
153	153	N GENERAL.—Of the amount author-6
154	154	ized to be appropriated by paragraph (1) for a 7
155	155	fiscal year, subject to appropriations, not less 8
156	156	than $750,000 shall be made available to award 9
157	157	grants under this section to eligible entities that 10
158	158	are Indian Tribes. 11
159	159	(B) C
160	160	ONTINGENCY; OUTREACH.—If no In-12
161	161	dian Tribe is awarded a grant under this sec-13
162	162	tion in a fiscal year— 14
163	163	(i) for that fiscal year, the amount de-15
164	164	scribed in subparagraph (A) shall be made 16
165	165	available to award grants under this sec-17
166	166	tion to other eligible entities; and 18
167	167	(ii) the Administrator shall conduct 19
168	168	outreach to inform Indian Tribes and orga-20
169	169	nizations that work with Indian Tribes of 21
170	170	the grant program established under sub-22
171	171	section (b). 23
172	172	(h) D
173	173	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24
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176	176	•HR 1124 IH
177	177	(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
178	178	trator’’ means the Secretary of Commerce, acting 2
179	179	through the Administrator of the National Oceanic 3
180	180	and Atmospheric Administration. 4
181	181	(2) F
182	182	ISHING INDUSTRY.—The term ‘‘fishing in-5
183	183	dustry’’ means— 6
184	184	(A) processors; 7
185	185	(B) commercial fishermen; and 8
186	186	(C) recreational fishermen. 9
187	187	(3) I
188	188	NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 10
189	189	has the meaning given such term in section 4 of the 11
190	190	Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 12
191	191	Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 13
192	192	(4) I
193	193	NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 14
194	194	term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 15
195	195	meaning given such term in section 101(a) of the 16
196	196	Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 17
197	197	(5) K
198	198	ELP FOREST ECOSYSTEM .—The term 18
199	199	‘‘kelp forest ecosystem’’ means a naturally occur-19
200	200	ring, biotic system dominated by canopy-forming, 20
201	201	stipitate, or prostrate benthic macroalgae and associ-21
202	202	ated taxa. 22
203	203	(6) N
204	204	ONPROFIT ORGANIZATION .—The term 23
205	205	‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization— 24
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208	208	•HR 1124 IH
209	209	(A) described in section 501(c)(3) of the 1
210	210	Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and 2
211	211	(B) exempt from tax under section 501(a) 3
212	212	of such Code. 4
213	213	Æ
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