S. 216 — Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act

This section restructures the Marine Debris Act by inserting a heading titled "A NOAA And Coast Guard Programs" before former section 3 and redesignating former sections 3 through 6 as sections 101 through 104, respectively. The section further revises authorities under redesignated section 101(d) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program—which identifies, determines sources of, assesses, prevents, reduces, and removes marine debris to mitigate threats to living marine resources, navigation safety, the economy, and the marine environment—by (1) expanding the subsection heading and paragraph (1) to explicitly include "other agreements" alongside grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts; (2) making clarifying changes to paragraph (2)(B) and (C) regarding cost-sharing requirements; and (3) adding paragraph (7) to authorize in-kind contributions by the NOAA Administrator for the agency's share of costs on non-grant, non-cooperative-agreement projects from which NOAA derives a benefit.

This section transfers provisions establishing the Marine Debris Foundation from Subtitle B of title I of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act to the Marine Debris Act (after section 104, as redesignated) and makes the following modifications to the foundation, which supports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) marine debris program to prevent, remove, and research marine debris: (1) designates the foundation as a corporation (from organization); (2) revises purposes to explicitly include Indian Tribes and updates a cross-reference from "title II" to "subtitle C"; (3) revises board of directors provisions to require board recommendations and Secretary of Commerce approval for appointments and removals, sets director terms to 6 years, adds the USAID Administrator to the ex officio nonvoting member list, limits initial hiring authority, and establishes a chief executive officer position appointed and removable by the board with authority over other officers and employees; (4) specifies powers for the foundation as a nonprofit corporation; (5) requires the principal office to be located in the National Capital Region or a coastal shoreline community; (6) requires development of best practices for outreach to Indian Tribes and Tribal governments, including technical assistance and promotion of program grants, with a rule of construction preserving government-to-government consultation requirements and Tribal rights; and (7) authorizes $2 million for FY2025 (in addition to prior authorizations through FY2024), expands eligible grant recipients to include regional organizations, Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and foreign governments (in addition to prior state and local government agencies), and reauthorizes appropriations for each of FY2018 through FY2029.

This section transfers Subtitle C of title I of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act to the Marine Debris Act after section 119, as redesignated by this Act. The section further amends the Marine Debris Act by (1) transferring sections 7, 8, 9 (as amended), and 10 to follow section 127, as transferred by this Act, and redesignating them as sections 131, 132, 133, and 134, respectively; and (2) inserting a new "D Administration" heading before section 131.

This section revises the definitions in section 131 of the Marine Debris Act (i.e., NOAA program authorizing grants and activities to address marine debris removal, prevention, and research) as follows: (1) strikes paragraph (1); (2) redesignates former paragraphs (2) through (7) as paragraphs (5), (6), (7), (11), (12), and (13); (3) inserts new paragraphs (1) circular economy, (2) coastal shoreline community, (3) EPA Administrator, and (4) Indian Tribe (cross-referencing the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act); (4) inserts new paragraphs (9) nonprofit organization and (10) post-consumer materials management; (5) inserts new paragraphs (14) Tribal Government (defined with reference to the list of federally recognized Indian tribes published pursuant to the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131)), (15) Tribal organization (cross-referencing the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act), and (16) Under Secretary (all cross-referencing the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act); (6) transfers the definition of "marine debris" from section 2(7) of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act to become new paragraph (8) of section 131 and makes conforming redesignations in section 2 of that Act; and (7) in new paragraph (13)(formerly (6)), adds "Indian Tribe" to the list of eligible grant recipients and strikes a parenthetical definition of that term.

This section makes conforming amendments to the Marine Debris Act to reflect redesignations and transfers made elsewhere in this Act, including (1) replacing references to the "Administrator" with "Under Secretary" in sections 1, 2, 101, 102, 104, and 133, and in section 103; (2) replacing "Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency" with "EPA Administrator" in sections 103 and 134; (3) updating internal cross-references in sections 103(e)(3), 123, and 133 to reflect redesignated section and subtitle numbers (i.e., "section 3" to "section 101," "sections 3, 5, and 6" to "sections 101, 103, and 104," and "title I" to "subtitle B"); and (4) capitalizing "tribal government" as "Tribal Government" throughout subtitle A.