S. 1433, Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2025

S. 1433 would authorize the appropriation of $3 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2031 for the Northwest Straits Advisory Commission. Under the bill, that commission would coordinate with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state, local, and tribal governments to design projects to restore marine waters and habitats of the Northwest Straits region in the State of Washington. In 2024, the Congress provided $1 million for those activities.

CBO assumes that the bill will be enacted in 2025 and that the authorized amounts will be provided in each year. On that basis and using historical spending patterns, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $13 million over the 2025-2030 period and $5 million after 2030.

In addition, the bill would authorize the commission to accept donations and spend them without further appropriation to carry out its responsibilities. The receipt and spending of those donations are recorded as direct spending. Because the receipt and spending would offset each other, CBO estimates that enacting S. 1433 would have an insignificant effect on net direct spending over the 2025-2035 period.

The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aurora Swanson. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.