Coastal Sector Laws and Regulations
This tab includes laws, legislation, regulations, agency guidance, and executive orders relevant to the coastal sector.
Resources are automatically presented by rating, but can be sorted by date or title. Apply additional filters to narrow by law type, state, region, impact, or jurisdictional focus.
167 results are shown below.
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January 20, 2026
New Jersey’s Resilient Environments and Landscapes (REAL) rules, adopted in January 2026, represent a landmark regulatory reform effort by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to better account for climate change and future conditions in development and environmental protection.
Related Organizations: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Updated Oct 2, 2025
The city of Satellite Beach, FL, published updates to its floodplain management ordinance in 2014, elevating freeboard requirements for critical facilities to include consideration of the 0.2-percent annual chance flood hazard area (500-year floodplain).
Related Organizations: City of Satellite Beach, Florida
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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July 9, 2025
The Ocean City, Maryland Code of Ordinances includes a comprehensive flood damage prevention policy (Chapter 38, Article II). The policy, which includes both building hardening standards and floodplain management rules, is meant to protect people, property, and the environment from the impacts of coastal flooding in the city by restricting construction and development in high-risk areas.
Related Organizations: Ocean City, Maryland
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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June 10, 2025
Connecticut Public Act No. 25-33, signed by the Governor on June 10, 2025, is a wide-reaching environmental and climate adaptation law that creates new standards and requirements for state and local government as well as the private sector. Sections 5-16 of the Act make revisions to Connecticut's land use and planning statutes, ensuring that Connecticut’s local planning and regulatory frameworks account for observed and projected climate conditions.
Related Organizations: State of Connecticut
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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October 31, 2025
Georgetown Climate Center studied local ordinance-centered approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and identifying and reducing climate-driven flood risk in an October 2025 report, “Local Ordinances for Climate Adaptation & Mitigation. ” As part of that project, GCC’s research identified 11 ordinances from Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire, and New Jersey that represent some of the best uses of local ordinances to advance climate adaptation and protect people and property.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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May 16, 2025
In May 2025, the Hampton, New Hampshire Planning Board adopted the annual update of the Zoning Ordinance and Building Codes to restrict development of critical facilities in flood-prone areas, incorporate sea-level rise, and update freeboard values.
Related Organizations: Hampton Planning Board
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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November 13, 2024
The California Coastal Commission’s Adopted Sea Level Rise Policy Guidance offers an overview of the best available science on sea-level rise for California, coastal adaptation strategies, and recommended methodology for addressing sea-level rise in Coastal Commission planning and regulatory actions. The Sea Level Rise Policy Guidance was first released in 2015, amended with a Science Update in 2018, and amended again with an update in 2024. The new update reflects the best available science on sea-level rise, implements new legislation in the form of Senate Bill 272 (2023), and integrates environmental justice principles.
Related Organizations: California Coastal Commission
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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June 26, 2024
In June 2024, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed the Act on Coasts, which creates a framework for coastal resiliency through a statewide Coastal Resilience Plan, overseen by the state Chief Resilience Officer.
Related Organizations: State of Rhode Island
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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February 12, 2024
Signed by Governor Roy Cooper on February 12, 2024, Executive Order 305 sets the most ambitious environmental and restoration goals in North Carolina history. It notes that North Carolina is experiencing the impacts of climate change in the form of more intense and frequent hurricanes, extreme temperatures, flooding, droughts, sea level rise, and saltwater intrusion. The Order states that these impacts are endangering the people of North Carolina, are hurting the economy, and have caused over 250 billion dollars in damage in recent years.
Related Organizations: North Carolina Office of the Governor
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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December 9, 2023
The Nature-Based Solutions Resource Guide 2. 0, released by the White House in December of 2023, aims to encourage implementation and awareness of nature-based solutions employed by federal agencies and partners. The Guide defines nature-based solutions as “actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural or modified ecosystems to address societal challenges, simultaneously providing benefits for people and the environment. ” Nature-based solutions can be used to provide a wide range of benefits, such as supporting wildlife, reducing heat stress, reducing future disaster risk, and overcoming environmental injustices.
Related Organizations: White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) , White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
Resource Category: Data and tools
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