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Extension of section 305 authorization 



(9) This section provides for an extension of the section 305 Man- 

 agement Program Development Grants authorization through Sep- 

 tember 30, 1979. Under the existing Act, the authorization expires 

 on June 30, 1977. 



This extension is recommended to make the companion addition to 

 section 305, that contained in subsection (h) providing for the "pre- 

 liminary approval" phase, meaningful. Otherwise the provision of a 

 new, interim phase in the progi'am would not occur for most states 

 if section 305 funding expired in 1977. 



Also, the Committee has provided in subsection 305(c) for an addi- 

 tional year for program development, allowing states io receive four 

 annual grants if necessary. 



Both the extension to fiscal year 1979 and the addition of a fourth 

 year under 305 program development funding are recognition by 

 the Committee that the task assigned to states by the Act is a compli- 

 cated one and that the orifjinal three-year estimate of the time needed 

 was probably optimistic for many states. Those states which, by the 

 time of enactment in 1972, were already developing their own coastal 

 zone programs are not hard-pressed to meet a 1977 deadline, but the 

 majority of states are not so suited. Also, as is mentioned elsewhere, the 

 difficultv of finding qualified personnel has served to slow the begin- 

 ning of program development in some states and initial fimdimr was 

 delayed for a year. 



Increase Federal share of section 306 grants 



(10) Section 306(a) would be amended to increase the maximum 

 Federal share of management implementation grants from the present 

 66% percent to 80 percent. Due to the additional requirements placed 

 upon the coastal states by emerging national energy policies and by 

 the amendments to section 305 contained in this bill, it was recognized 

 that the states will have a need for increased fundinsr to properly im- 

 plement a more complicated coastal zone program. Since the original 

 Act was established in 1972, inflationaiy trends in the economy have 

 created fiscal burdens on state as well as federal s:overnment. Since 

 the Committee recognizes that it is in the national interest to develop 

 and implement effective coastal zone management plans within the 

 respective coastal states, and since it is also recognized that manv of 

 the additional burdens placed upon the coastal states are due, in great 

 part, to federally initiated energy policy, it seems appropriate for the 

 federal government to contribute a larger share of funds to the coastal 

 states. 



This amendment woidd also delete the last sentence of section 306 

 (a) which pertains to the use of other federal funds received bv a state 

 as part of a state's matchinjr share. It should be noted that while this 

 particular language is deleted from this section, an additional amend- 

 ment (section 320(c)) would have the effect of applying this same 

 provision to the entire title. Therefore, section 306(a) was amended 

 to avoid redundancy. 



Local government reviev of State coastal zone decisions 



(11) This subsection amends section 306(c)(2)(B) to require a 

 coastal state to establish an effective coordination and consultative 

 mechanism between a designat^ed state coastal zone agency and local 



