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On Friday, March 23rd, the President signed the FY18 omnibus budget bill, funding the government through September.
Coastal agencies finally have predictable funding for the remainder of the year after four short-term continuing resolutions in the past six months prevented them from planning or fully spending out their budgets.
ASBPA had weighed in on a number of coastal provisions across a few agencies. Here’s how our priorities ended up, and what the Administration request is for these priorities in FY19.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) coastal appropriations.
USACE Civil Works received a robust $6.8 billion in FY18, an increase over previous years. This comes on top of $16+ billion for work in flood risk reduction, investigations and flood control and coastal emergency funding appropriated in the supplemental Disaster Response Bill, this past February. USACE will have a lot of work to do in the coming months to spend, or at least obligate, all their funding.
Here’s how some of the coastal appropriations ASBPA specifically weighed in on ended up:
| Line Item | FY17 allocation |
ASBPA request | FY18 final budget | FY19 admin request |
| Shore Protection (construction) | $50 mil | $75 mil | $50mil | $0 |
| Shore Protection (Cont. Authorities Program) | $0 | – | $3 mil | $0 |
| Beneficial Use of Dredged Material (Cont. Auth. Prog.) | $1 mil | $1.5 mil | $1.5 mil | $0.5 mil |
| Regional Sediment Management | $1.8 mil | $6.8 mil | $3.5 mil | $3.5 mil |
| Coastal Inlet Research | $2.7 mil | $2.7 mil | $2.975 mil | $2.7 mil |
| National Coastal Mapping | $6.3 mil | $6.3 mil | $6.3 mil | $6.3 mil |
| Coastal Ocean Data System | $6 mil | $6 mil | $6 mil | $2.5 mil |
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) coastal appropriations.
NOAA’s budget was targeted for major cuts and program eliminations in the Administration’s proposed FY18 budget (and again in FY19), but Congress provided funding to all the coastal programs ASBPA supported, and in many cases increased the budget over last year.
Here’s how some of the coastal appropriations ASBPA specifically weighed in on ended up:
| Line Item | FY17 allocation |
ASBPA request | FY18 Final budget | FY19 Admin request |
| Protected Resources Sci. & Mgmt (e.g. permitting) | $185.8 mil | $199.2 mil | $189.6 mil | $181.6 mil |
| Coastal Zone Management Grants | $70 mil | $70 mil | $75 mil | $0 |
| Regional Coastal Resilience Grants | $15 mil | $15 mil | $30 mil | $0 |
| National Sea Grant College Program | $63 mil | $63 mil | $65 mil | $0 |
U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) coastal appropriations.
ASBPA’s primary interest in USGS is with their Coastal/Marine Hazards and Resources program. The Administration’s budget had targeted this for 12% cut in FY18 (and again in FY19), but funding was maintained at FY17 levels for the remainder of the year.
Here’s how the one coastal appropriation that ASBPA specifically weighed in on stands:
| Line Item | FY17 allocation |
ASBPA request | FY18 Final budget | FY19 Admin Request |
| Coastal/Marine Hazards & Resources | $40.5 mil | $46.3 mil | $40.5 mil | $35.5 mil |
Looking ahead to FY19
ASBPA is already working to see increases in some FY19 appropriations. We are working with allies in Congress to get shore protection increased back to $75 million, and see increases to regional sediment management and beneficial use of dredged material (BUDM) in order to fund the BUDM pilot projects that are currently being considered.
See all our priorities in our 2018 Legislative and Federal Affairs Agenda.