Steve Couture welcomes members to the meeting.

Members Present: Steve Couture (NH), Jill Andrews (GA); Charles Reulet (LA), Patty Snow (OR), Ronda Wuycheck (MI), Kim Cole (DE), Leo Asuncion (HI), Amber Westerbur (MN), Edwin Reyes (GU), Marlon Hibbert (USVI), Lisa Engler (MA); Brian Lynn (WA)

CSO Staff Present: Derek Brockbank, Mike Molnar, John Ryan-Henry, Rachel Keylon, Cadijah Walcott, Matt Smith, Kevin Sloan, Norma Longhi

Welcome

Approval of minutes from February 10, 2021

Minutes from February 10, 2021 are approved as submitted. Vote – No Comments, Approved.

Treasurer’s Report – Budget v. Actual Report
Derek Brockbank discusses the Budget v. Actual Report and notes the following accounts:

INCOME
• Line #4005 – State dues total is low for this period of the year (~55%), but it is expected to pick up in the upcoming months.
• Line #4783 – Other Grants – This line is at zero for now because contracts and proposals are still being finalized.
• Line #4795 – Contract & Grant Income – Reminder: This line is higher than budgeted because work was contracted after the FY2021 budget was approved. (ASFPM work)
• Line #4799 – This line is at zero because charges for this quarter haven’t been posted yet.

EXPENSES
• Line #5000 – Salaries – Reminder: this line is high due to hiring of new Executive Director, leave payout for departing staff, and temporary employment for part-time staff.
All expenses are on track and there are no significant changes since the last Ex Comm meeting.

Discussion Items

NOAA coastal management/Digital Coast Fellowship

Mr. Molnar provides an update on the Coastal Management/Digital Coast Fellowship Refresh efforts. Mr. Molnar states that CSO sent out a survey, to a large group of recipients, requesting input to the Refresh effort. Response deadline of April 16. If you had experience with the Fellowship please take the time and provide input on what you liked and what you feel could be improved. The next Refresh Team call is April 27 and results are to be discussed at that time.

Upcoming meeting with NOAA

Derek Brockbank discusses the goals for the upcoming meeting with Dr. Letise LaFeir. He states that this is the time to demonstrate the work of CZM programs, and how they are leading on the Administration’s priorities. It is also an opportunity to understand how the administration would like to work with CZM programs on coastal priorities. Mr. Brockbank reminds the committee that we have 7 members lined up to respond to questions from Dr. LaFeir, and that we have some questions for Dr. LaFeir.

Member Announcements – Regional Representatives

Northeast – Lisa Engler provides a short update on NROC’s partnership with MassCEC. Mr. Couture discusses legislation drafted by the Ocean Conservancy.

Mid-Atlantic – Kimberly Cole announces that the Third Mid-Atlantic Ocean Forum registration is now open. The Forum is scheduled to start on May 3.

Gulf Coast – Charles Reulet states that there aren’t any updates to be shared at this time.

Great Lakes – Amber Westerbur shares that the Corps of Engineers will construct a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI)-funded pilot project at Illinois Beach State Park. The project is a cross between an expensive, intensive capital project and a softer, less expensive, but more maintenance-intensive project. Specifically, it will consist of multiple low, submerged rubble ridges placed offshore within a 300 foot wide band, up to 1,000 feet long. Once constructed, it will reduce wave energy in the nearshore environment without trapping sand from longshore drift. It will also slow the littoral drift and reduce erosion. She thanks Diane Tecic (IL) for providing this information, and adds that it supplements the information in the regional report for our member virtual meeting.

Pacific – Patty Snow shares that the last West Coast Ocean Alliance meeting focused on 3 major topics of discussion – offshore aquaculture, renewable energy, and ocean policy. Brian Lynn discusses the outcomes of a meeting he had with Representative Kilmer’s staff on CZM Reauthorization.

Southwest – No updates were available this time.

Organizational updates

Mr. Brockbank states that Bradley Watson’s official last day with CSO was March 31st. He shares that we have partnered with ASFPM on a pre-proposal submitted to NFWF National Coastal Resilience Fund for Community Capacity Building and Planning in the Great Lakes. Mr. Brockbank adds that we intend to work with coastal communities as they assess their vulnerabilities to projected environmental stressors related to flooding and begin to develop strategies and policies to address identified vulnerabilities. The long-term goal is to build more resilient coastal region economies with better stewardship of natural assets and protection of critical infrastructure in light of projected future conditions.

Hill Report – Appropriations & Other Legislation

Rachel Keylon shares the following updates:

Appropriations
• President’s Budget Update
o The President’s skinny budget came out this week. The budget includes a $1.4B increase to NOAA calling out specifically investments in coastal resilience programs to help protect communities from economic and environmental impacts of climate change. Other notable components in the budget include an increase of $540M for FEMA to invest in resilient infrastructure community grant programs, pre-disaster planning programs, and other resilience efforts and language calling for USACE to take climate resilience into account when selecting projects.
• FY22 Waiver Request
 Based on survey results from the membership, we believe that we should go forward with requesting a match waiver for FY22.
• CZMA Reauthorization
o Updates from meetings with congressional offices
o CSO staff have met with HNR Majority, Senate Commerce Minority and Majority.
o Senator Cantwell’s staff have indicated that they have strong interest in being the lead sponsor on introducing the legislation.
o We have a call with them later this week to really dig in and identify areas that they may want to make changes before moving forward
o We have also met with Shaheen and Hassan’s offices with Steve
o We have met with Rep. Kilmer’s Office with Brian to discuss in particular the tribal coastal resilience act component. This call was extremely productive and we now have a sense of priorities they want to make sure are included while also that they are open to different structures including having the program stand alone from the CZMA
o We have met with Schatz’s office and addressed some of their concerns on the inclusion of Native Hawaiian’s in the tribal coastal resilience act component
o We have also met with Matt and Blaise from Senate Appropriations Majority and Minority to discuss structure of the funds, they are recommending some slight revisions to structure but understand the intent of the various changes overall
Other
• COASTAL Act
o Dan Ginolfi and Howard Marlowe, who work as consultants in the ocean and coastal policy realm, have developed some draft legislation establishing a grant program under USACE to states and tribes to establish revolving loans for projects to increase coastal resilience.
o They sought our edits on the bill and we provided some input.
o Now they would like to move forward with seeking sponsors for introduction and would like to be able to say that CSO supports the legislation.
 We think that the legislation could be helpful, does not have any notable negatives, and overall is non-controversial. We would like to allow them to move forward with permission to state that CSO supports the legislation.
 Notably this will not rise above CSO’s priority legislative activities including Appropriations and CZMA reauthorization
• We also do not think it will detract from our CZMA efforts as we 1) will not be leading advancement just noted as supporting, and 2) this legislation will be under the jurisdiction of entirely separate committees (EPW and T&I) than who we are working with on CZMA reauth (Commerce and HNR).
o Living Shorelines Act – NWF is also reviewing. Briefing video will be uploaded later today.
o Congressional Briefings

Regulatory Update

Mr. Ryan-Henry presents a brief regulatory update. The EPA has indicated that it intends to reengage states via governors’ offices to provide additional input on the technology-based standards of the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act regulations. The timing and format of that reengagement has not been announced. The Army Corps of Engineers is accepting public comments on its implementation guidance for WRDA 2020. Comments are due on May 7, 2021. CSO will submit comments and will review joint comments from the Natural Infrastructure Coalition to potentially sign onto that letter as well. FEMA has released guidance to FEMA Regions to implement its new requirements for federal consistency review of flood insurance rate mapping. Ms. Snow thanks Mr. Ryan-Henry for all the work at the Legal Council Meeting.

Work Group Updates – Please note that due to CSO-NOAA Meeting there was no Work Group updates during this meeting.

Adjourn – Mr. Couture thanks the Executive Committee and adjourns the meeting at_4:00_pm Eastern. The next EC Meeting is scheduled for May 12, 2021.