S. 190 would authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to increase the portion of funding the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) can use for administrative costs, under certain conditions. The NPRB awards grants on a competitive basis to federal, state, and private entities to research the health and sustainability of fisheries and marine ecosystems in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans.
Each year, the NPRB receives a transfer of 20 percent of the interest credited to the Environmental Improvement and Restoration Fund, an account established from a court settlement involving Arctic lands. In 2024, the amount transferred to the NPRB totaled about $7 million.
Under current law, the NPRB is authorized to use 15 percent of the transferred amount for administrative costs. S. 190 would temporarily authorize the NPRB, for the next four years, to exceed the 15 percent limit if its funding declines from the previous year.
CBO expects that enacting the bill could accelerate spending of amounts transferred to the NPRB because money for administrative expenses typically outlays more quickly than money for grants. CBO estimates that any increase in outlays during that four-year period would be insignificant and would be offset in later years by less spending for grants. Thus, enacting the bill would have no net budgetary effect over the 2025-2035 period.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aurora Swanson. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
