Federal funding for coastal protection and climate research expands
H.R. 2786 — Resilient Coasts and Estuaries Act of 2025 · Filed by Mike Levin (D-CA) · 9 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill establishes a new federal Coastal and Estuarine Resilience and Restoration Program under the Department of Commerce, allowing the Secretary to fund coastal land acquisition and restoration projects in partnership with states, nonprofits, and research institutions. It expands the National Estuarine Research Reserve System by requiring designation of at least 5 new reserves over 8 years, increases funding to $47 million annually through 2029, and creates new fellowship and monitoring programs to study climate change impacts on coastal ecosystems. Nonprofits can now hold acquired land if they meet state approval and public-access requirements.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is federal funding for coastal land acquisition, ecosystem restoration, and climate-change research through expanded National Estuarine Research Reserves. It is a public-investment program in environmental protection and scientific capacity-building, not a regulatory or market-facing instrument.
What the text implies
- Nonprofit land-holding provision (subsection k) creates a new pathway for conservation organizations to acquire and hold coastal property with federal funds, potentially shifting land stewardship from state/federal agencies to private nonprofits — a structural change not highlighted in the title.
- Requirement that nonprofits provide deed language for property transfer if organization becomes nonviable may create administrative burden and uncertainty about long-term land management if organizations fail.
- Expansion of research reserves to 'each coastal State' may create pressure to designate reserves in states with limited estuarine resources, potentially diluting research focus or creating underfunded sites.
- Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Research Fellowship Program is named after a person but appears to be a new federal fellowship program (not a commemorative item); the naming is routine and the program serves a public research purpose.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill funds coastal protection, ecosystem restoration, and climate-change research that directly benefit communities vulnerable to sea-level rise and coastal hazards, with explicit priority given to low-income communities lacking resources to prepare for coastal threats. Expanded research reserves and monitoring networks provide public goods (data, education, stewardship) that inform coastal management and community resilience.
Who stands to gain
- conservation nonprofits and land trusts (eligible for grants to acquire coastal property)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (expanded research and fellowship programs)
- coastal research institutions (preferred locations for NOAA fellowships and collaborative research)
Named in the bill
Department of Commerce, Secretary of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Estuarine Research Reserve System, Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, State coastal management agencies, Conservation nonprofits and non-governmental organizations, Tribal nations and Indigenous communities
Where it stands
9 cosponsors: 5 Republicans, 4 Democrats.
- Apr 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 9, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,408,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 78% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Levin, the sponsor, reported $408,815 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Association of Convenience Stores — $770,000 on 1 filing
- Ocean Conservancy — $403,000 on 2 filings
- Open Space Institute, Inc. — $155,000 on 1 filing
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership — $50,000 on 1 filing
- National Association of Convenience Stores — $30,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (13,851 characters) on Sep 26, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 15,166 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-26.
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