Digital Coast Reauthorization Act of 2025
HB 4256, the Digital Coast Reauthorization Act of 2025, would extend the Digital Coast Act through 2030. The bill updates the statute to require that Digital Coast information be not only readily accessible, but also fully and freely available. It also expands the kinds of data the program may include by expressly adding underground infrastructure and subsurface utility data.
The measure is a targeted reauthorization and modernization bill for the Digital Coast program, which supports coastal data, mapping, and decision-making tools. By extending the sunset date from 2025 to 2030, it would continue the federal framework for collecting, organizing, and sharing coastal geospatial information used by governments, planners, researchers, and other stakeholders.
Its legal effect would be to amend section 4 of the Digital Coast Act, codified at 16 U.S.C. 1467. The bill would change the accessibility standard for Digital Coast data and broaden the scope of covered data to include underground infrastructure and subsurface utilities, which could affect coastal resilience planning, emergency response, land use, and infrastructure coordination.
The available context shows no recorded committee debate or votes, so there is no documented opposition or support in the provided materials. Based on the text, the bill appears to be noncontroversial and technical in nature, focused on extending an existing program and improving data availability rather than creating a new regulatory scheme.
Notable points of potential interest are the emphasis on open data access and the inclusion of subsurface utility information, which may be important to coastal engineering, utilities, and resilience planning. Any contention, if it arises, would likely center on data-sharing requirements, privacy or security concerns related to infrastructure information, or the scope of federal involvement in coastal data systems.
The bill would amend the Digital Coast Act (16 U.S.C. 1467) by extending its authorization from 2025 to 2030, requiring Digital Coast information to be fully and freely available, and expanding the program’s data scope to include underground infrastructure and subsurface utilities. This would affect the federal coastal geospatial data program and the agencies, state and local governments, planners, and other users that rely on it for coastal management, resilience, and infrastructure planning.
No committee transcripts or vote records were provided, so there is no documented floor or committee sentiment to assess. The bill’s text and sponsorship suggest broad, bipartisan, and technical support for reauthorizing an existing coastal data program, with the available context indicating a low-conflict measure that was advanced without recorded opposition in the materials provided.
There is no recorded contention in the provided transcripts or votes. If concerns were to emerge, they would likely involve the new requirement that data be fully and freely available and the inclusion of underground infrastructure and subsurface utility data, which could raise questions about data sensitivity, security, and who controls access to infrastructure-related information.