Coastal Sector Laws and Regulations
This tab includes laws, legislation, regulations, agency guidance, and executive orders relevant to the coastal sector.
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September 27, 2017
Rhode Island has approved legislation that requires all members of local planning boards and commissions to participate in a training program on the impacts of flooding and sea level rise to the state. One of the priorities is to help ensure that local decision makers can calculate the effects of sea level rise and flooding on development and land use in flood plains. The training is a free two-hour course required once every two years, for both coastal and inland municipalities - as flooding is expected on inland rivers and waterways as sea level rises as well.
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September 3, 2017
In 2017, New Hampshire passed a new law, New Hampshire Revised Statutes § 79-E:4-a, that enables municipalities to create a tax incentive program to encourage resiliency in coastal areas. Municipalities can establish “Coastal Resilience Incentive Zones” (CRIZ) in their jurisdictions to grant property owners tax relief for undertaking “resilience measures” for qualified properties or structures identified as impacted by storm surge, sea-level rise, or extreme precipitation projections.
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February 2017
New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) finalized this regulation establishing statewide science-based sea-level rise projections for the three distinct coastal regions of the state: Mid-Hudson, New York City/Lower Hudson, and Long Island. The projections, which were required by the 2014 Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CRRA), will be used and considered by state agencies and applicants in state permitting and other decisionmaking processes, as required by CRRA.
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January 18, 2017
In 2017, as a result of severe tidal flooding from king (i. e. exceptionally high) tides in 2015 and 2016 and increasing sea-level rise estimates, Monroe County, Florida—a low-lying area covering the Florida Keys and Everglades—adopted interim design standards specifying minimum road elevation requirements. [ref title=""]Monroe County Board of Commissioners Meeting, Wednesday, January 18, 2017; Agenda Items M. 6, M. 7. [/ref] The design standards are largely informed by recommendations included in the County’s Final Report for the Monroe County Pilot Roads Project: The Sands and Twin Lakes Communities (Final Report) which examined nuisance flooding in Key Largo and Big Pine Key, where king tide flooding was highest.
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December 9, 2016
President Obama’s Executive Order establishes the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area in response to requests from the native coastal tribes in this region for the Federal Government to take action to protect the health of the marine ecosystems, while maintaining sustainable fishing and economic development opportunities. The subsistence practices of these communities, along with inter-related marine ecosystem stability are threatened by warming ocean temperatures, sea ice loss, sea level rise, increasing maritime traffic, and oil and gas leasing.
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June 2016
In June 2016, New York City updated its local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) to require development and redevelopment projects to consider and mitigate against the risks posed by climate change and sea level rise. The LWRP is the city’s policies for management, use, and development of waterfront properties and coastal resources pursuant to the state's Waterfront Revitalization of Coastal Areas and Inland Waterway Act (NY Executive Law § 910 et seq. (McKinney)) and the federal Coastal Zone Management Act.
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June 13, 2016
New Hampshire SB 452 entitled: “Requiring certain state agencies to conduct an audit of laws governing coastal regions to enable authorities to take appropriate actions” is designed to help the state identify needs for improving resilience to climate impacts in coastal communities and Great Bay regions.
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June 7, 2016
The San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure (Measure AA) is a $12-per-year parcel tax for the San Francisco Bay area of California — which passed with over 70% support in all nine Bay Area counties on June 7, 2016. The measure is anticipated to generate $500 million over 20 years — approximately $25 million annually for critical tidal marsh restoration projects around San Francisco Bay. Measure AA was the first parcel tax in the history of the state to be levied throughout an entire region encompassing multiple counties.
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May 20, 2016
New Hampshire Senate Bill 374, effective July 19, 2016, requires the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Service (DES) to convene a multi-agency group to update and summarize coastal flooding trends every five years, based on sea-level rise, extreme precipitation and storm surge projections.
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May 12, 2016
In June 2015, the Rhode Island resolution H-5478 created an 11 member special legislative study Commission whose purpose was to study and make recommendations concerning the economic risks relating to, and resulting from, sea rise and flooding in Rhode Island, and who would report back to the General Assembly by January of 2016.
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