(a) Committee.—There is established an Ocean Policy Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Committee”). The Committee shall retain broad and inclusive membership.
(b) Responsibilities.—The Committee shall—(1) continue the activities of that Committee as it was in existence on the day before the date of the enactment of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021; (2) engage and collaborate, pursuant to existing laws and regulations, with stakeholders, including regional ocean partnerships, to address ocean-related matters that may require interagency or intergovernmental solutions; (3) facilitate coordination and integration of Federal activities in ocean and coastal waters to inform ocean policy and identify priority ocean research, technology, and data needs; (4) prescribe policies and procedures to implement the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, including developing guidelines for review, selection, identification, and approval of partnership projects, in conjunction with Federal agencies participating in the program, for implementation under the program, based on—(A) whether the project addresses important research objectives or operational goals; (B) whether the project has, or is designed to have, appropriate participation or support from public, academic, commercial, and private entities within the oceanographic community; (C) whether the partners have a long-term commitment to the objectives of the project; (D) whether the resources supporting the project are shared among the partners; (E) whether the project has been subjected to adequate scientific and technical merit review according to each participating agency; and (F) the approval of such guidelines by a consensus of the members of the Committee; and (5) for projects under the purview of the Committee, establish or designate one or more systems for ocean-related and ocean-mapping-related documents prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), in accordance with subsection (h).
(c) Subcommittees.—(1) The Committee shall include—(A) a subcommittee to be known as the “Ocean Science and Technology Subcommittee”; and (B) a subcommittee to be known as the “Ocean Resource Management Subcommittee”. (2) In discharging its responsibilities in support of agreed-upon scientific needs, and to assist in the execution of the responsibilities described in subsection (b), the Committee may delegate responsibilities to the Ocean Science and Technology Subcommittee, the Ocean Resource Management Subcommittee, or another subcommittee of the Committee, as the Committee determines appropriate.
(d) Annual Report and Briefing.—(1) Not later than March 1 of each year, the Committee shall—(A) make publicly available on an appropriate website a report on the National Oceanographic Partnership Program; and (B) provide to the appropriate congressional committees a briefing on the contents of the report. (2) Not later than 30 days after providing a briefing under paragraph (1)(B), the Committee shall make publicly available on an appropriate website the briefing materials covered by the briefing. (3) Each report and briefing shall include the following:(A) A description of activities of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program carried out during the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year during which the report is published. (B) A general outline of the activities planned for the program during the fiscal year during which the report is published. (C) A summary of projects, partnerships, and collaborations, including the Federal and non-Federal sources of funding, continued from the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year during which the report is published and projects expected to begin during the fiscal year during which the report is published and any subsequent fiscal year, as required under subsection (e)(4)(C). (D) The amounts requested in the budget submitted to Congress pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31 for the fiscal year following the fiscal year during which the report is published, for the programs, projects, activities and the estimated expenditures under such programs, projects, and activities, to execute the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. (E) A summary of national ocean research priorities informed by the Ocean Research Advisory Panel, as required under section 8933(b)(4) of this title. (F) A list of the members of the Ocean Research Advisory Panel established under section 8933(a) of this title and any working groups described in subsection (e)(4)(A) in existence during the fiscal years covered by the report.
(e) Partnership Program Office.—(1) The Secretary of the Navy and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall jointly establish a partnership program office for the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. (2) The Secretary of the Navy and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall use competitive procedures to select a non-Government entity to manage the partnership program office. (3) The Committee shall monitor the management of the partnership program office. (4) The partnership program office shall perform the following duties:(A) Supporting working groups established by the Committee or subcommittee and reporting to the Committee and to any Federal agency that has contributed amounts to the National Oceanographic Partnership Program on the activities of such working groups, including the proposals of such working groups for partnership projects. (B) Supporting the process for proposing partnership projects to the Committee and to the agencies referred to in subparagraph (A), including, where appropriate, managing review of such projects. (C) Submitting to the appropriate congressional committees, and making publicly available, an annual report on the status of all partnership projects, including the Federal and non-Federal sources of funding for each project, and activities of the office. (D) Performing such additional duties for the administration of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program that the Committee and the agencies referred to in subparagraph (A) consider appropriate.
(f) Contract and Grant Authority.—The Committee may authorize one or more of the departments or agencies represented on the Committee to enter into contracts and make grants, using funds appropriated pursuant to an authorization of appropriations for the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, for the purpose of implementing the program and carrying out the responsibilities of the Committee.
(g) Establishment and Forms of Partnership Projects.—(1) A partnership project under the National Oceanographic Partnership Program may be established by any instrument that the Committee considers appropriate, including a memorandum of understanding, a cooperative research and development agreement, and any similar instrument. (2) Projects under the program may include demonstration projects.
(h) Elements of Document System.—The systems established or designated under subsection (b)(5) may include the following:(1) A publicly accessible, centralized digital archive of documents described in subsection (b)(5) that are finalized after the date of the enactment of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, including—(A) environmental impact statements; (B) environmental assessments; (C) records of decision; and (D) other relevant documents as determined by the lead agency on a project. (2) Geospatially referenced data, if any, contained in the documents under paragraph (1). (3) A mechanism to retrieve information through geo-information tools that can map and integrate relevant geospatial information, such as—(A) Ocean Report Tools; (B) the Environmental Studies Program Information System; (C) Regional Ocean Partnerships; and (D) the Integrated Ocean Observing System. (4) Appropriate safeguards on the public accessibility of data to protect national security equities.
(i) Appropriate Congressional Committees.—In this section, the term “appropriate congressional committees” means—(1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; (2) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; (3) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; (4) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives; (5) the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives; (6) the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives; and (7) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
