II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 216
To amend the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act to improve the administration of
the Marine Debris Foundation, to amend the Marine Debris Act to
improve the administration of the Marine Debris Program of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY23, 2025
Mr. S
ULLIVAN(for himself and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To amend the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act to improve the admin-
istration of the Marine Debris Foundation, to amend
the Marine Debris Act to improve the administration
of the Marine Debris Program of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, 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 ‘‘Save Our Seas 2.0 4
Amendments Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS TO THE MARINE DEBRIS PROGRAM 1
OF THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOS-2
PHERIC ADMINISTRATION. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Marine Debris Act (Public 4
Law 109–449) is amended— 5
(1) by inserting before section 3 the following: 6
‘‘Subtitle A—NOAA And Coast 7
Guard Programs’’; and 8
(2) by redesignating sections 3 through 6 as 9
sections 101 through 104, respectively. 10
(b) G
RANTS, COOPERATIVEAGREEMENTS, CON-11
TRACTS, ANDOTHERAGREEMENTS.—Section 101(d) of 12
the Marine Debris Act (33 U.S.C. 1952(d)), as redesig-13
nated by this Act, is amended— 14
(1) in the subsection heading by striking ‘‘AND 15
CONTRACTS’’ and inserting ‘‘CONTRACTS, AND 16
OTHER AGREEMENTS’’; 17
(2) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘and con-18
tracts’’ and inserting ‘‘, contracts, and other agree-19
ments’’; 20
(3) in paragraph (2)— 21
(A) in subparagraph (B)— 22
(i) by striking ‘‘part of the’’ and in-23
serting ‘‘part of a’’; and 24
(ii) by inserting ‘‘or (C)’’ after ‘‘sub-25
paragraph (A)’’; and 26
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(B) in subparagraph (C) in the matter pre-1
ceding clause (i) by inserting ‘‘and except as 2
provided in subparagraph (B)’’ after ‘‘subpara-3
graph (A)’’; and 4
(4) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(7) I
N-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS .—With respect 6
to any project carried out pursuant to a contract or 7
other agreement entered into under paragraph (1) 8
that is not a cooperative agreement or an agreement 9
to provide financial assistance in the form of a 10
grant, the Under Secretary may contribute on an in- 11
kind basis the portion of the costs of the project that 12
the Under Secretary determines represents the 13
amount of benefit the National Oceanic and Atmos-14
pheric Administration derives from the project.’’. 15
SEC. 3. MODIFICATIONS TO THE MARINE DEBRIS FOUNDA-16
TION. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subtitle B of title I of the Save 18
Our Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 116–224) is transferred 19
to appear after section 104 of the Marine Debris Act 20
(Public Law 109–449), as redesignated by this Act. 21
(b) S
TATUS OFFOUNDATION.—Section 111(a) of the 22
Marine Debris Act (Public Law 109–449), as transferred 23
by this Act, is amended, in the second sentence, by strik-24
ing ‘‘organization’’ and inserting ‘‘corporation’’. 25
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(c) PURPOSES.—Section 111(b) of the Marine Debris 1
Act (Public Law 109–449), as transferred and redesig-2
nated by this Act, is amended— 3
(1) in paragraph (3) by inserting ‘‘Indian 4
Tribes,’’ after ‘‘Tribal governments,’’; and 5
(2) in paragraph (4) by striking ‘‘title II’’ and 6
inserting ‘‘subtitle C’’. 7
(d) B
OARD OFDIRECTORS.— 8
(1) A
PPOINTMENT, VACANCIES, AND RE-9
MOVAL.—Section 112(b) of the Marine Debris Act 10
(Public Law 109–449), as transferred by this Act, 11
is amended— 12
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 13
through (5) as paragraphs (2) through (6) re-14
spectively; 15
(B) by inserting before paragraph (2), as 16
redesignated, the following: 17
‘‘(1) R
ECOMMENDATIONS OF BOARD REGARD -18
ING APPOINTMENTS .—For appointments made 19
under paragraph (2), the Board shall submit to the 20
Under Secretary recommendations on candidates for 21
appointment.’’; 22
(C) in paragraph (2), as redesignated, in 23
the matter preceding subparagraph (A)— 24
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(i) by striking ‘‘and considering’’ and 1
inserting ‘‘considering’’; and 2
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and with the ap-3
proval of the Secretary of Commerce,’’ 4
after ‘‘by the Board,’’; 5
(D) by amending paragraph (3), as redes-6
ignated, to read as follows: 7
‘‘(3) T
ERMS.—Any Director appointed under 8
paragraph (2) shall be appointed for a term of 6 9
years.’’; 10
(E) in paragraph (4)(A), as redesignated, 11
by inserting ‘‘with the approval of the Secretary 12
of Commerce’’ after ‘‘the Board’’; and 13
(F) in paragraph (6), as redesignated— 14
(i) by inserting ‘‘the Administrator of 15
the United States Agency for International 16
Development,’’ after ‘‘Service,’’; and 17
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and with the ap-18
proval of the Secretary of Commerce’’ after 19
‘‘EPA Administrator’’. 20
(2) G
ENERAL POWERS.—Section 112(g) of the 21
Marine Debris Act (Public Law 109–449), as trans-22
ferred by this Act, is amended— 23
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(A) in paragraph (1)(A) by striking ‘‘offi-1
cers and employees’’ and inserting ‘‘the initial 2
officers and employees’’; and 3
(B) in paragraph (2)(B)(i) by striking ‘‘its 4
chief operating officer’’ and inserting ‘‘the chief 5
executive officer of the Foundation’’. 6
(3) C
HIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER .—Section 112 7
of the Marine Debris Act (Public Law 109–449), as 8
transferred by this Act, is amended by adding at the 9
end the following: 10
‘‘(h) C
HIEFEXECUTIVEOFFICER.— 11
‘‘(1) A
PPOINTMENT; REMOVAL; REVIEW.—The 12
Board shall appoint and review the performance of, 13
and may remove, the chief executive officer of the 14
Foundation. 15
‘‘(2) P
OWERS.—The chief executive officer of 16
the Foundation may appoint, remove, and review the 17
performance of any officer or employee of the Foun-18
dation.’’. 19
(e) P
OWERS OFFOUNDATION.—Section 113(c)(1) of 20
the Marine Debris Act (Public Law 109–449), as trans-21
ferred by this Act, is amended in the matter preceding 22
subparagraph (A)— 23
(1) by inserting ‘‘nonprofit’’ before ‘‘corpora-24
tion’’; and 25
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(2) by striking ‘‘acting as a trustee’’ and insert-1
ing ‘‘formed’’. 2
(f) P
RINCIPALOFFICE.—Section 113 of the Marine 3
Debris Act (Public Law 109–449), as transferred by this 4
Act, is amended by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(g) P
RINCIPALOFFICE.—The Board shall locate the 6
principal office of the Foundation in the National Capital 7
Region, as such term is defined in section 2674(f)(2) of 8
title 10, United States Code, or a coastal shoreline com-9
munity.’’. 10
(g) B
ESTPRACTICES; RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.— 11
Section 113 of the Marine Debris Act (Public Law 109– 12
449), as transferred by this Act and amended by sub-13
section (e), is further amended by adding at the end the 14
following: 15
‘‘(h) B
ESTPRACTICES.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Foundation shall de-17
velop and implement best practices for conducting 18
outreach to Indian Tribes and Tribal Governments. 19
‘‘(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The best practices de-20
veloped under paragraph (1) shall— 21
‘‘(A) include a process to support technical 22
assistance and capacity building to improve out-23
comes; and 24
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‘‘(B) promote an awareness of programs 1
and grants available under this Act. 2
‘‘(i) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 3
may be construed— 4
‘‘(1) to satisfy any requirement for government- 5
to-government consultation with Tribal Govern-6
ments; or 7
‘‘(2) to affect or modify any treaty or other 8
right of any Tribal Government.’’. 9
(h) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 10
118(a) of the Marine Debris Act (Public Law 109–449), 11
as transferred by this Act, is amended— 12
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and 13
$2,000,000 for fiscal year 2025’’ after ‘‘through 14
2024’’; and 15
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and State 16
and local government agencies’’ and inserting ‘‘, 17
State and local government agencies, regional orga-18
nizations, Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and 19
foreign governments’’. 20
(i) R
EAUTHORIZATION.—Section 9(a) of the Marine 21
Debris Act (Public Law 109–449) is amended by striking 22
‘‘for’’ the first place it appears and all that follows through 23
‘‘carrying out’’ and inserting ‘‘for each of fiscal years 24
2018 through 2029 for carrying out’’. 25
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SEC. 4. TRANSFERS. 1
(a) S
AVEOURSEAS2.0 ACT.—Subtitle C of title I 2
of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 116–224) is 3
transferred to appear after section 119 of the Marine De-4
bris Act (Public Law 109–449) as transferred and redes-5
ignated by this Act. 6
(b) M
ARINEDEBRISACT.—The Marine Debris Act 7
(Public Law 109–449) is amended— 8
(1) by transferring sections 7, 8, 9 (as amend-9
ed), and 10 to appear after section 127, as trans-10
ferred by this Act, and redesignated as sections 131, 11
132, 133, and 134, respectively; and 12
(2) by inserting before section 131, as so trans-13
ferred and redesignated, the following: 14
‘‘Subtitle D—Administration’’. 15
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 131 of the Marine Debris 17
Act (Public Law 109–449), as transferred and redesig-18
nated by this Act, is amended— 19
(1) by striking paragraph (1); 20
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), (4), 21
(5), (6), and (7) as paragraphs (5), (6), (7), (11), 22
(12), and (13), respectively; 23
(3) by inserting before paragraph (5), as so re-24
designated, the following: 25
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‘‘(1) CIRCULAR ECONOMY .—The term ‘circular 1
economy’ has the meaning given such term in sec-2
tion 2 of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 3
116–224). 4
‘‘(2) C
OASTAL SHORELINE COMMUNITY .—The 5
term ‘coastal shoreline community’ means a city or 6
county directly adjacent to the open ocean, major es-7
tuaries, or the Great Lakes. 8
‘‘(3) EPA
ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘EPA 9
Administrator’ has the meaning given such term in 10
section 2 of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 11
116–224). 12
‘‘(4) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 13
has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 14
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 15
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).’’; 16
(4) by inserting before paragraph (11), as so 17
redesignated, the following: 18
‘‘(9) N
ONPROFIT ORGANIZATION .—The term 19
‘nonprofit organization’ has the meaning given such 20
term in section 2 of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act 21
(Public Law 116–224). 22
‘‘(10) P
OST CONSUMER MATERIALS MANAGE -23
MENT.—The term ‘post-consumer materials manage-24
ment’ has the meaning given such term in section 2 25
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of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 116– 1
224).’’; 2
(5) by inserting after paragraph (13), as so re-3
designated, the following: 4
‘‘(14) T
RIBAL GOVERNMENT .—The term ‘Tribal 5
Government’ means the recognized governing body 6
of any Indian or Alaska Native Tribe, band, nation, 7
pueblo, village, community, component band, or com-8
ponent reservation, individually identified (including 9
parenthetically) in the list published most recently as 10
of the date of the enactment of the Save Our Seas 11
2.0 Amendments Act pursuant to section 104 of the 12
Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 13
(25 U.S.C. 5131). 14
‘‘(15) T
RIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘Trib-15
al organization’ has the meaning given the term in 16
section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-17
cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 18
‘‘(16) U
NDER SECRETARY .—The term ‘Under 19
Secretary’ has the meaning given such term in sec-20
tion 2 of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 21
116–224).’’; and 22
(6) in paragraph (13), as so redesignated— 23
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(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B), 1
(C), and (D) as subparagraphs (C), (D), and 2
(E); and 3
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 4
the following: 5
‘‘(B) Indian Tribe;’’. 6
(b) T
RANSFER.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 2(7) of the Save Our 8
Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 116–224) is transferred to 9
section 131 of the Marine Debris Act (Public Law 10
109–449), inserted after paragraph (7) (as redesig-11
nated), and redesignated as paragraph (8). 12
(2) R
EDESIGNATION.—Section 2 of the Save 13
Our Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 116–224) is amended 14
by redesignating paragraphs (8) through (11) as 15
paragraphs (7) through (10), respectively. 16
(c) N
ON-FEDERALFUNDS.—Paragraph (8)(D) of 17
section 131 of the Marine Debris Act (Public Law 109– 18
449), as transferred and redesignated by this Act, is 19
amended by striking ‘‘(as defined in section 4 of the In-20
dian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 21
(25 U.S.C. 5304))’’. 22
SEC. 6. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Sections 1 and 2 of the Marine 24
Debris Act, sections 101, 102, and 104 of the Marine De-25
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bris Act, as redesignated by this Act, and section 133 of 1
the Marine Debris Act, as transferred and so redesignated 2
by this Act, are amended by striking ‘‘Administrator’’ and 3
inserting ‘‘Under Secretary’’. 4
(b) S
ECTION103.—Section 103 of the Marine Debris 5
Act is amended by— 6
(1) striking ‘‘Administrator of the National 7
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’’ and in-8
serting ‘‘Under Secretary’’; 9
(2) striking ‘‘Administrator of the Environ-10
mental Protection Agency’’ and inserting ‘‘EPA Ad-11
ministrator’’; and 12
(3) in subsection (e)(3) by striking ‘‘section 3’’ 13
and inserting ‘‘section 101’’. 14
(c) S
ECTION123.—Section 123 of the Marine Debris 15
Act, as transferred and so redesignated by this Act, is 16
amended by striking ‘‘title I’’ and inserting ‘‘subtitle B’’. 17
(d) S
ECTION133.—Section 133 of the Marine Debris 18
Act, as transferred and so redesignated by this Act, is 19
amended by striking ‘‘sections 3, 5, and 6’’ and inserting 20
‘‘sections 101, 103, and 104’’. 21
(e) S
ECTION134.—Section 134 of the Marine Debris 22
Act, as transferred and so redesignated by this Act, is 23
amended by striking ‘‘Administrator of the Environmental 24
Protection Agency’’ and inserting ‘‘EPA Administrator’’. 25
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(f) TRIBALGOVERNMENT.—Subtitle A of the Marine 1
Debris Act, as designated in this Act, is amended by strik-2
ing ‘‘tribal government’’ and inserting ‘‘Tribal Govern-3
ment’’. 4
Æ
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