Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1392 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 1392
55 To establish Ocean Innovation Clusters to strengthen the coastal communities
66 and ocean economy of the United States through technological research
77 and development, job training, and cross-sector partnerships, and for
88 other purposes.
99 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
1010 APRIL9, 2025
1111 Ms. M
1212 URKOWSKI(for herself, Ms. CANTWELL, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. WHITE-
1313 HOUSE, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. KING, and Mr. SULLIVAN) in-
1414 troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
1515 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
1616 A BILL
1717 To establish Ocean Innovation Clusters to strengthen the
1818 coastal communities and ocean economy of the United
1919 States through technological research and development,
2020 job training, and cross-sector partnerships, and for other
2121 purposes.
2222 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2323 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2424 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2525 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ocean Regional Oppor-4
2626 tunity and Innovation Act of 2025’’. 5
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3030 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
3131 In this Act: 2
3232 (1) B
3333 LUE ECONOMY.—The term ‘‘Blue Econ-3
3434 omy’’ means the value and impact of sustainable in-4
3535 dustries related to the Great Lakes, oceans, bays, es-5
3636 tuaries, and coasts on the economy of the United 6
3737 States, including living resources, marine construc-7
3838 tion, marine transportation, offshore energy develop-8
3939 ment and siting including for renewable energy, off-9
4040 shore mineral production, ship and boat building, 10
4141 tourism, recreation, subsistence, commercial, rec-11
4242 reational, and charter fishing, seafood processing, 12
4343 and other fishery-related businesses, kelp and shell-13
4444 fish aquaculture, coastal resilience, and other indus-14
4545 tries the Secretary of Commerce considers appro-15
4646 priate. 16
4747 (2) D
4848 IRECTOR OF SEA GRANT .—The term ‘‘Di-17
4949 rector of Sea Grant’’ means the Director of the Na-18
5050 tional Sea Grant College Program appointed under 19
5151 section 204(d)(1) of the National Sea Grant College 20
5252 Program Act (33 U.S.C. 1123(d)(1)). 21
5353 (3) I
5454 NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 22
5555 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 23
5656 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 24
5757 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 25
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6161 (4) NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION .—The 1
6262 term ‘‘Native Hawaiian organization’’ has the mean-2
6363 ing given the term in section 6207 of the Native Ha-3
6464 waiian Education Act (20 U.S.C. 7517). 4
6565 (5) O
6666 CEAN INNOVATION CENTER FOR CROSS - 5
6767 SECTOR COLLABORATION .—The term ‘‘Ocean Inno-6
6868 vation Center for Cross-Sector Collaboration’’ means 7
6969 a physical space for collaboration developed and 8
7070 managed in accordance with section 3(i). 9
7171 (6) O
7272 CEAN INNOVATION CLUSTER .—The term 10
7373 ‘‘Ocean Innovation Cluster’’ means an eligible entity 11
7474 designated by the Secretary of Commerce under sec-12
7575 tion 3. 13
7676 SEC. 3. OCEAN INNOVATION CLUSTERS. 14
7777 (a) D
7878 ESIGNATION.—Not later than 1 year after the 15
7979 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Com-16
8080 merce, in consultation with the Director of Sea Grant, the 17
8181 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmos-18
8282 phere, and the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Eco-19
8383 nomic Development, shall designate not fewer than 7 eligi-20
8484 ble entities as Ocean Innovation Clusters. 21
8585 (b) E
8686 LIGIBLEENTITIES.—For purposes of this sec-22
8787 tion, an eligible entity is an entity— 23
8888 (1) that is composed, in a concentrated geo-24
8989 graphic region, of 1 or more— 25
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9393 (A) business organizations; 1
9494 (B) academic institutions, including 2
9595 minority- and Tribal-serving institutions; 3
9696 (C) not-for-profit organizations; 4
9797 (D) Federal, State, or local governmental 5
9898 entities, agencies, or instrumentalities; 6
9999 (E) Indian Tribes; or 7
100100 (F) Native Hawaiian organizations; 8
101101 (2) that is led by a not-for-profit organization; 9
102102 and 10
103103 (3) that works to deliver services in the con-11
104104 centrated geographic region where the entity is lo-12
105105 cated, enhance collaboration, promote innovation, 13
106106 and contribute to the equitable and sustainable 14
107107 growth of the Blue Economy across all sectors. 15
108108 (c) P
109109 RIORITY.—In designating entities as Ocean In-16
110110 novation Clusters under subsection (a), the Secretary of 17
111111 Commerce shall prioritize entities with a history of sup-18
112112 porting cross-sector growth and development of the Blue 19
113113 Economy. 20
114114 (d) G
115115 EOGRAPHICDIVERSITY.—The Secretary of 21
116116 Commerce shall designate not fewer than 1 Ocean Innova-22
117117 tion Cluster under subsection (a) in— 23
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121121 (1) each of the regions covered by the 5 re-1
122122 gional offices of the National Marine Fisheries Serv-2
123123 ice; 3
124124 (2) the Great Lakes region; and 4
125125 (3) the Gulf of Mexico region. 5
126126 (e) C
127127 ONSIDERATIONS.—In designating an eligible en-6
128128 tity as an Ocean Innovation Cluster under subsection (a), 7
129129 the Secretary of Commerce shall consider the following: 8
130130 (1) The economic development potential of the 9
131131 coastal community or region in which the entity is 10
132132 located. 11
133133 (2) The ability of the entity to incorporate and 12
134134 bring growth and opportunity to broad geographic 13
135135 areas, including urban, rural, and underserved areas. 14
136136 (3) Whether the entity serves a diverse, 15
137137 multigenerational, ocean-dependent population con-16
138138 sisting of groups with different socioeconomic and 17
139139 educational attainment levels, industries, and Indian 18
140140 Tribes. 19
141141 (4) The ability of the entity to cultivate and le-20
142142 verage partnerships with private industry, academia, 21
143143 nongovernmental organizations, Federal, State, and 22
144144 local governments, and Indian Tribes to collaborate 23
145145 on shared outcomes. 24
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149149 (5) The relative potential for the designation of 1
150150 the entity as an Ocean Innovation Cluster to reverse 2
151151 a decline, or accelerate growth, in ocean sector jobs. 3
152152 (6) The ability of the entity to carry out 4
153153 projects that support economic and climate resilience 5
154154 through economic diversification and long-term re-6
155155 covery from natural disasters. 7
156156 (7) The extent, rural and underserved nature, 8
157157 and economic underutilization of the coastline and 9
158158 ocean area that projects carried out by the entity 10
159159 could affect. 11
160160 (f) P
161161 ARTNERSHIPMANAGEMENT.— 12
162162 (1) P
163163 ARTNERSHIP LIAISONS.— 13
164164 (A) D
165165 ESIGNATION.—The Director of Sea 14
166166 Grant, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 15
167167 Oceans and Atmosphere, and the Assistant Sec-16
168168 retary of Commerce for Economic Development 17
169169 shall each designate 1 partnership manager 18
170170 from within their respective agencies to serve as 19
171171 a partnership liaison between each Ocean Inno-20
172172 vation Cluster and Sea Grant, the National 21
173173 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and 22
174174 the Economic Development Administration, re-23
175175 spectively. 24
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179179 (B) FUNCTION.—Each partnership liaison 1
180180 designated under subparagraph (A) shall ensure 2
181181 that Ocean Innovation Clusters— 3
182182 (i) have direct communication with 4
183183 the agency of the liaison; and 5
184184 (ii) allow for collaboration and align-6
185185 ment with Federal objectives in each re-7
186186 gion regarding the Blue Economy. 8
187187 (2) I
188188 NTERAGENCY COORDINATION .— 9
189189 (A) S
190190 ECRETARY OF COMMERCE .—The Sec-10
191191 retary of Commerce shall coordinate with the 11
192192 Director of Sea Grant, the Assistant Secretary 12
193193 of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, the 13
194194 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic 14
195195 Development, the Department of Energy, the 15
196196 Maritime Administration of the Department of 16
197197 Transportation, the Environmental Protection 17
198198 Agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Manage-18
199199 ment of the Department of the Interior, the De-19
200200 partment of Agriculture, the Coast Guard, and 20
201201 such other Federal agencies, including bureaus 21
202202 of the Department of Commerce, as the Sec-22
203203 retary of Commerce considers appropriate to in-23
204204 crease technical knowledge exchange and oppor-24
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208208 tunities for cross-sector collaboration with those 1
209209 agencies. 2
210210 (B) S
211211 ECRETARY OF ENERGY .—With re-3
212212 spect to matters relating to the nexus of the 4
213213 Blue Economy and the responsibilities and ex-5
214214 pertise of the Department of Energy, the Sec-6
215215 retary of Energy— 7
216216 (i) shall provide advice and rec-8
217217 ommendations to the Secretary of Com-9
218218 merce in order to increase technical knowl-10
219219 edge exchange and opportunities for cross- 11
220220 sector collaboration; and 12
221221 (ii) may provide such advice and rec-13
222222 ommendations without any formal request 14
223223 from the Department of Commerce. 15
224224 (g) D
225225 EVELOPMENT OF ECONOMICIMPACTMETRICS 16
226226 OFOCEANINNOVATIONCLUSTERS.—The Administrator 17
227227 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 18
228228 the Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the 19
229229 Department of Commerce, and the heads of other relevant 20
230230 Federal agencies shall use and refine the Marine Economy 21
231231 Satellite Account to measure the value to and impact of 22
232232 Ocean Innovation Clusters on the Blue Economy. 23
233233 (h) A
234234 REAS OFFOCUS.—The Director of Sea Grant, 24
235235 the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and At-25
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239239 mosphere, and the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 1
240240 Economic Development shall coordinate with each Ocean 2
241241 Innovation Cluster in the following areas of focus: 3
242242 (1) Increasing pathways for new entrants into 4
243243 the Blue Economy for individuals and entities. 5
244244 (2) Intellectual property management. 6
245245 (3) Enhancing the sustainability of seafood sup-7
246246 ply chains, including with respect to food, transpor-8
247247 tation, processing, health and beauty products, ani-9
248248 mal feed, medical biotechnology, bioplastics, biofuels, 10
249249 and other value-added products, to strive for full use 11
250250 of harvested natural resources. 12
251251 (4) Providing significant and sustainable eco-13
252252 nomic opportunity through advanced research, cross- 14
253253 sector science, and technology development. 15
254254 (5) Contributing new knowledge, processes, 16
255255 technology, and support for stakeholders in the Blue 17
256256 Economy, especially to advance sustainability in spe-18
257257 cific sectors. 19
258258 (6) Working with Federal, State, local, and 20
259259 Tribal agencies to clearly communicate laws, regula-21
260260 tions, and agency practices affecting industry needs, 22
261261 planning, or growth opportunities. 23
262262 (7) Creating investable opportunities through 24
263263 the development of economies of scale to enhance 25
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267267 growth opportunities, job creation, sustainability, 1
268268 and expansion for small businesses within the Blue 2
269269 Economy. 3
270270 (8) Workforce development and training, busi-4
271271 ness planning, identifying existing and needed tech-5
272272 nology and economic infrastructure, and coordinated 6
273273 research and development among small businesses, 7
274274 government, and industry. 8
275275 (9) Research, development, and implementation 9
276276 of ocean energy, bioprospecting, and other innovative 10
277277 and sustainable ocean resource development endeav-11
278278 ors. 12
279279 (i) O
280280 CEANINNOVATIONCENTERS FORCROSS-SEC-13
281281 TORCOLLABORATION.— 14
282282 (1) I
283283 N GENERAL.—In order to foster collabora-15
284284 tion and innovation and strengthen regional ocean 16
285285 sector economies while creating employment oppor-17
286286 tunities, the Director of Sea Grant, the Assistant 18
287287 Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, 19
288288 and the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Eco-20
289289 nomic Development shall collaborate with cross-sec-21
290290 tor partners to jointly develop or designate at least 22
291291 1 physical space for collaboration as an Ocean Inno-23
292292 vation Center for Cross-Sector Collaboration within 24
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296296 each of the 7 regions with an Ocean Innovation 1
297297 Cluster. 2
298298 (2) M
299299 ANAGEMENT.—An Ocean Innovation Clus-3
300300 ter or a group of Ocean Innovation Clusters shall 4
301301 manage the Ocean Innovation Center for Cross-Sec-5
302302 tor Collaboration of the region in which the Cluster 6
303303 or Clusters is located. 7
304304 (3) F
305305 UNCTIONS.—Each Ocean Innovation Cen-8
306306 ter for Cross-Sector Collaboration shall— 9
307307 (A) serve as a hub for partners within 10
308308 Ocean Innovation Clusters to work toward the 11
309309 areas of focus in described in subsection (h); 12
310310 (B) support a community of entrepreneurs 13
311311 focused on strengthening vibrant marine-de-14
312312 pendent communities and the Blue Economy; 15
313313 (C) create workspaces and laboratories de-16
314314 signed to promote collaboration, including 17
315315 through shared meeting rooms, access to tech-18
316316 nology, common spaces, and offices; 19
317317 (D) strengthen relationships among indus-20
318318 try sectors through shared scientific, staffing, 21
319319 and business resources; 22
320320 (E) develop the critical networks with 23
321321 cross-sector partners that entrepreneurs need to 24
322322 grow effectively; and 25
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326326 (F) develop the next generation of Blue 1
327327 Economy workers by providing internships, ap-2
328328 prenticeships, or training, as appropriate, in-3
329329 cluding for underrepresented and Tribal com-4
330330 munities and local trade schools. 5
331331 SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR OCEAN INNOVATION CLUSTERS. 6
332332 The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 7
333333 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.) is amended by adding at 8
334334 the end the following: 9
335335 ‘‘SEC. 31. GRANTS FOR OCEAN INNOVATION CLUSTERS. 10
336336 ‘‘(a) I
337337 NGENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 11
338338 with the Director of Sea Grant, the Assistant Secretary 12
339339 of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and the Assist-13
340340 ant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, 14
341341 may award grants, on a competitive basis, to Ocean Inno-15
342342 vation Clusters for the purposes described in subsection 16
343343 (b). 17
344344 ‘‘(b) P
345345 URPOSES.—The Secretary may award grants 18
346346 under subsection (a) for the operation and administration 19
347347 of one or more Ocean Innovation Clusters under the Ocean 20
348348 Regional Opportunity and Innovation Act of 2025, with 21
349349 the goal that Ocean Innovation Clusters will become mem-22
350350 bership-based, self-sustaining entities. 23
351351 ‘‘(c) I
352352 NPUT.—In awarding a grant under subsection 24
353353 (a), the Secretary shall provide an opportunity for input 25
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357357 from the Director of Sea Grant, the Assistant Secretary 1
358358 of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and the Assist-2
359359 ant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. 3
360360 ‘‘(d) T
361361 ERM OFGRANTS.— 4
362362 ‘‘(1) I
363363 N GENERAL.—The term of a grant award-5
364364 ed under subsection (a) shall be 2 years. 6
365365 ‘‘(2) R
366366 ENEWAL.—The Secretary may renew a 7
367367 grant awarded under subsection (a) for additional 8
368368 periods of such duration as the Secretary determines 9
369369 to be appropriate and necessary for the Ocean Inno-10
370370 vation Cluster that received the grant to provide re-11
371371 gional economic benefits. 12
372372 ‘‘(e) L
373373 IMITATIONS ONGRANTAMOUNTS.—A grant 13
374374 awarded under subsection (a) may not exceed 14
375375 $10,000,000. 15
376376 ‘‘(f) A
377377 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 16
378378 is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to award 17
379379 grants under subsection (a) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 18
380380 years 2026 through 2030. 19
381381 ‘‘(g) D
382382 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20
383383 ‘‘(1) D
384384 IRECTOR OF SEA GRANT .—The term ‘Di-21
385385 rector of Sea Grant’ means the Director of the Na-22
386386 tional Sea Grant College Program appointed under 23
387387 section 204(d)(1) of the National Sea Grant College 24
388388 Program Act (33 U.S.C. 1123(d)(1)). 25
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392392 ‘‘(2) OCEAN INNOVATION CLUSTER .—The term 1
393393 ‘Ocean Innovation Cluster’ has the meaning given 2
394394 that term in section 2 of the Ocean Regional Oppor-3
395395 tunity and Innovation Act of 2025.’’. 4
396396 Æ
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