H.R. 7459 — Coastal Trust Fund Act

This section establishes the Coastal Storm Risk Management Trust Fund in the Treasury, to be credited with $1 billion for each fiscal year from Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act revenues (i.e., bonuses, rents, royalties, fees, and other miscellaneous receipts) and interest on fund investments in U.S. obligations. Amounts in the fund, administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, are available as provided in section 3 and remain available until expended; upon termination, unobligated balances transfer to the general fund of the Treasury. The provision does not reduce deposits to the Land and Water Conservation Fund or amounts available under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006.

This section makes amounts in the Coastal Storm Risk Management Trust Fund available, to the extent appropriated in advance, for the federal share of costs of construction, operation, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and periodic nourishment of coastal storm risk management projects (i.e., congressionally authorized hurricane and storm damage reduction, shoreline protection, or periodic nourishment projects carried out by the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, including associated feasibility studies, engineering and design, and repairs under 33 U.S.C. 701n). It further (1) requires the Secretary's annual budget submission to the Office of Management and Budget to equal the total amount projected to be in the fund at the beginning of the fiscal year; and (2) directs the Secretary to submit to specified congressional committees, not later than 60 days after the end of each fiscal year, a report on amounts made available from the fund, projects for which amounts were obligated or expended, and the year-end unobligated balance.

This section expands the adjustments to discretionary spending limits under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 by adding a new category for appropriations derived from the Coastal Storm Risk Management Trust Fund (established under section 2 of the Coastal Trust Fund Act) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Construction, Mississippi River and Tributaries, and Operation and Maintenance accounts, if Congress designates such appropriations in statute for coastal storm risk management projects (as defined in section 3 of such Act). (Thus, the adjustment equals the total amount of such designated appropriations, excluding them from calculations of breaches that trigger sequestration.)