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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June 9, 2014
Hawai'i Act 83 establishes an interagency climate adaptation committee to develop a sea-level rise vulnerability and adaptation report addressing statewide climate impacts projected up to 2050. This bill was approved by Governor Neil Abercrombie on June 9, 2014.
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May 13, 2014
On May 13, 2014 the town of Oxford, Maryland adopted a pioneering ordinance to create a Stormwater Management and Shoreline Protection (SMSP) Fund. Oxford commissioners unanimously agreed to increase the town’s property tax rate in order to collect fees for the maintenance, enhancement, improvement and repair of the Town’s stormwater management and shoreline protection improvements, facilities and systems. The fund will raise approximately $100,000 per year to help mitigate ongoing and increasing impacts from flooding throughout the community.
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May 5, 2014
Maryland's Bay Acidification Bill (House Bill 118), signed into law by Governor Martin O’Malley in May 2014, taking effect July 1, 2014, creates a Task Force to evaluate and address the effects of ocean acidification and the changing chemistry in the Chesapeake Bay and other Maryland waterways.
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May 5, 2014
Maryland’s Coast Smart Council bill (House Bill 615) was signed by Governor Martin O’Malley on May 5, 2014; the law directs that all new and reconstructed State facilities be planned and built to avoid or minimize future flood damage. The law also creates the Coast Smart Council to oversee the state infrastructure projects.
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April 30, 2014
On April 30, 2014 Maine addressed the threat of ocean acidification with a new law: 'Resolve, Establishing the Commission to Study the Effects of Coastal and Ocean Acidification and Its Existing and Potential Effects on Species That Are Commercially Harvested and Grown along the Maine Coast. ’ The first of its kind on the East Coast, the law considers the impacts of rising carbon dioxide levels in the ocean on the ecosystem and on commercial shellfish grown and harvested along the Maine coast.
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March 8, 2014
The Virginia General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution No.16 in 2014, which considers the issue of recurrent flooding in Tidewater and Eastern Shore locales and establishes a “joint subcommittee to formulate recommendations for the development of a comprehensive and coordinated planning effort to address recurrent flooding” that will meet for two years.
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February 21, 2014
In February, 2014, Governor Lincoln Chafee signed Executive Order 14-01, creating the Rhode Island Executive Climate Change Council (EC3). The Council was charged with taking a lead role in developing a comprehensive approach, including both emissions reductions and adaptation planning, to address the potential threats from climate change to the state’s environment, economy, and people. The Governor established the EC3 to advise him, the General Assembly and the public on how the State and its communities can best prepare for the impacts of climate change.
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January 31, 2014
In December 2012, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed an Executive Order (EO) entitled “Climate Change and ‘Coast Smart’ Construction,” requiring state agencies to consider risks of coastal flooding and sea-level rise in state capital budget projects, and requiring the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to develop guidelines for the siting and design of infrastructure and other projects. Pursuant to the EO, in January 2014, the DNR-led Climate Change and Coast Smart Construction Working Group published “Coast Smart” Guidelines that provide recommendations to institutionalize consideration of coastal flooding and sea-level rise in planning and constructing all new or rehabilitated state structural and infrastructure projects, as well as state-funded private projects.
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November 2013, updated October 2017
In November 2013, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) adopted new guidelines to address climate change impacts on development projects. The Climate Change Preparedness and Resiliency Guidelines are an addition to Article 80 of the Boston Zoning Code requiring a checklist to be completed and approved before the BRA authorizes Final Design Approval and/or Article 80 documents. Article 80 applies to "large projects" (affecting greater than 50,000 square feet) and areas subject to planned development review requirements.
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November 2013
This model ordinance for floodplain management was developed by FEMA under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). It is a template that cities, counties and tribes can customize and adopt which allows land users to comply with the NFIP and the ESA. This model case is enacted for the State of Washington, to be implemented at the local level.
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