Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act
Requires a public online map of where fishing, boating and other recreation are restricted in U.S. ocean waters.
The law's text
Not published yetThe Government Publishing Office has not published the print of this law on govinfo.gov. We asked for it on October 7, 2026 and the address answered with no document. The law was signed 13 days ago. We ask again every day.
We last asked on October 7, 2026.
Details
What each official address answered:
- Law text, web pageOctober 7, 2026 · a page that is not the document
- Law text, PDFOctober 7, 2026 · a page that is not the document
- Law text, XMLOctober 7, 2026 · a page that is not the document
What we have instead
The enrolled bill
The enrolled bill is the final text Congress passed and sent to the President.
Congress's own summary
From a secondary sourceSummary written by the Congressional Research Service, a part of the Library of Congress.
Version: Passed Senate, September 10, 2025.
Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act
This bill directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to publish geospatial data related to public recreational use of federal waterways (e.g., boating and fishing).
Under the bill, NOAA must consult with relevant stakeholders (including state and local governments, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations) to develop and adopt standards for the coordination and dissemination of geospatial data relating to fishing restrictions and recreational vessels' use of federal waterways, including the exclusive economic zone of the United States (EEZ). (The EEZ generally includes waters between 3 and 200 miles seaward from the U.S. coastline.)
Within four years after the bill is enacted, NOAA must provide geographic information system data on a public website that identifies and describes the locations where and conditions under which certain recreational activities are restricted in federal waterways. Specifically, the website must identify (1) locations where fishing restrictions are imposed, (2) areas in the EEZ with restrictions on specified recreational vessel types, and (3) federally protected areas (e.g., National Marine Sanctuaries). NOAA must also continue to provide digitized navigation information related to the EEZ and make the information available on the website to the extent practicable.
The bill allows NOAA to coordinate and partner with nonfederal entities to carry out this bill. It also directs NOAA to work with other federal agencies to ensure compatibility and interoperability among federal databases with respect to collecting and disseminating geospatial data related to the public outdoor recreational use of the EEZ.
Source: Congressional Research Service, from Congress's data service (api.congress.gov)
The bill
Confirmed from the official record- Official title
- “A bill to provide for standardization, publication, and accessibility of data relating to public outdoor recreational use of Federal waterways, and for other purposes.”
- Bill
- S. 759, 119th Congress · S. 759 on Congress.gov
- Sponsor
- Ted Cruz, Texas RRepublican
- Cosponsors
- 1 cosponsor
Names
- Angus S. King
- Committee
- Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
- Policy area
- Transportation and Public Works
- Subjects
- Data collection, sharing, protection; Geography and mapping; Government information and archives; Hunting and fishing; Internet, web applications, social media; Navigation, waterways, harbors; Outdoor recreation
The dates
Confirmed from the official record- Congress presented the bill to the President on September 22, 2026.
- The President signed it on September 25, 2026.
Actions in Congress
Confirmed from the official record19 actions on the official list
- Became Public Law No: 119-116.
- Signed by President.
- Presented to President.
- Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5559)
- Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5559)
- DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 759.
- Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H5559-5560)
- Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- Held at the desk.
- Received in the House.
- Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S6556; text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR S6556)
- Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 117.
- Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 119-40.
- Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Introduced in Senate
What this law changes
From a secondary sourceRequires a public online map of where fishing, boating and other recreation are restricted in U.S. ocean waters.
This account is written from the official description of the bill. The law's official text is Not published yet.
Plain-language account: Not checked yet. A draft is written from the enrolled bill and a person has not finished reviewing it.
Transparency Score
The Transparency Score is the share of this law’s dollars that goes to what the law says it is for.
Transparency Score
Share of the text within the stated purpose:Not checked yetThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount. The score is the share of its text within the stated intent. That share is "Not checked yet": no reading of this law is approved by a person yet.
How this is counted
- Transparency Score: dollars in sections a person approved as within the stated intent, divided by total dollars in the law. Shown as a percentage. Higher means more of the money goes to what the law says it is for.
- Beside it, the same two numbers the other way round: total dollars divided by dollars within the stated intent. 1.00 means every dollar is within the stated intent. When no dollar is within the stated intent this ratio cannot be computed, and the answer says so.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars, read from the law's text by the rules below. Dollars in a section whose reading is unclear or was not read count in the total and are shown apart as unclear.
- A law whose text provides and authorizes no dollar amount reads "No money in this law". Its score is the share of its words that are in sections within the stated intent.
- The score reads "Not checked yet" until a person approves the law's reading of which sections are within the stated intent. The dollar totals need no reading and are shown before that.
- The dollar totals read "Not checked yet" when more than 10 percent of the dollars read could not be sorted by the rules.
- Every dollar amount in our saved text of the law is read: "$1,234,567", "$5 billion", "$2.5 million". Margin notes, page marks and the table of contents are left out. Each amount is kept with the words printed around it.
- Appropriated: the sentence says "there is appropriated", "is hereby appropriated" or "out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated"; or the amount is the one an appropriations paragraph ("For ..., $X") provides under an account heading of an appropriations act.
- Authorized: the sentence says "authorized to be appropriated". An authorization lets a later law provide the money. It provides none itself.
- A list under such a sentence ("there is appropriated the following: (1) ...; (2) ..."): an amount that begins an item is counted the same way as the sentence says, unless the sentence gives a total first. Then the items are parts of that total.
- "$X for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030" is counted as X times the number of years named (here 5). The yearly figure, the years and the product are all kept. "For each fiscal year" with no years named is counted once, and the answer says so.
- Open-ended: "such sums as may be necessary" names no amount. It is counted as an item and adds no dollars.
- Rescinded: "is hereby rescinded", "permanently cancelled", or an item of a list headed "the following funds are hereby rescinded". Shown apart. Not subtracted from the total.
- Not spending, and left out of the total: an amount after "not to exceed", "not more than", "up to", "less than", "in excess of" and like words; a fine or penalty; a limit the law raises ("the limitation is increased by $X"); a figure the law strikes from another law; and a figure inside words it writes into another law ("striking $X and inserting $Y"), unless the same sentence says the figure is authorized or appropriated.
- Counted once: an amount after "of which", after "Provided, That", or after "of the amounts made available" is a part of a total already counted. Where a paragraph ends "in all, $X", that total is counted and the amounts before it are its parts.
- An amount the rules cannot sort is "not classified". It is listed with its words and left out of the total. Nothing is guessed.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars. The two are also shown apart.
What the law says it is for
Confirmed from the official recordThese are the law’s own words, and the words of Congress’s records, about what the law is for.
Official title
“To provide for the standardization, publication, and accessibility of data relating to public outdoor recreational use of Federal waterways, and for other purposes.”
The words under "An Act", Public Law 119-116, enrolled bill · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 85ca0ec6a11b51da
Short title
“Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act”
The sentence that names the Act, Public Law 119-116, enrolled bill · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 85ca0ec6a11b51da
Congress's summary · Congressional Research Service
“Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act This bill directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to publish geospatial data related to public recreational use of federal waterways (e.g., boating and fishing). Under the bill, NOAA must consult with relevant stakeholders (including state and local governments, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations) to develop and adopt standards for the coordination and dissemination of geospatial data relating to fishing restrictions and recreational vessels' use of federal waterways, including the exclusive economic zone of the United States (EEZ). (The EEZ generally includes waters between 3 and 200 miles seaward from the U.S.”
The quote stops here. The source has the full text.
Summary of the version: Passed Senate, Congressional Research Service summary: Passed Senate · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint 7eaf8371e8571163
Committee report, purpose · Senate committee
“The purpose of S. 759, Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act, is to provide for the standardization, publication, and accessibility of data relating to public outdoor recreational use of Federal waterways, and for other purposes.”
"PURPOSE OF THE BILL", Senate Report 119-40: MODERNIZING ACCESS TO OUR PUBLIC OCEANS ACT · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint b2cdcf194f123745
The law has no findings or purpose section.
Dollars in this law
Confirmed from the official recordThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount.
Source: Public Law 119-116, enrolled bill · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 85ca0ec6a11b51da
Other measures
Each measure has its own status. None is added into the score.
- Dollars in sections added along the way
- No money in this law
- Member-requested dollars as a share of appropriated dollars
- Not checked yet
No list of member-requested spending is printed in the 11 official records saved for this law, and no committee report says there is none.
- Open-ended amounts (“such sums as may be necessary”)
- 0 passagesConfirmed from the official record
- Other bills whose text this law contains
- 0 billsConfirmed from the official record
- How the House passed it
- Voice vote, September 14, 2026Confirmed from the official record
- How the Senate passed it
- Unanimous consent, September 10, 2025Confirmed from the official record
- Committee report saved
- 1 reportConfirmed from the official record
- Hearing saved
- None in the official recordConfirmed from the official record
The bill's official record names no hearing.
A voice vote or unanimous consent leaves no record of how each member voted.
How these are counted
- Added along the way, sections: sections of the final law marked "added later", divided by the sections compared.
- Added along the way, words: words in those sections, divided by the words in the sections compared.
- Each text is read as a list of words. A run is 5 words in a row. For each section of the final law we count the share of its runs that appear anywhere in the first published text of the bill. 90 percent or more: in the first text. From 20 to 90 percent: changed. Under 20 percent: added later. A section with fewer than 20 words is not compared.
- Sections outside the stated intent: sections a person approved as outside the stated intent, divided by the sections read. The same count is given in words.
- Member-requested spending: the number of items in the lists Congress printed for the law, and the sum of their dollar amounts.
- A part that is not checked yet is shown as "Not checked yet". It is never counted as zero. No single blended number is given.
Time to read before the House vote
How long the text is public before the House votes on it. This measure is not added into the score.
- House
- 140 hours 27 minutes (5 days 20 hours)Confirmed from the official record
The House Clerk posted the text on September 8, 2026 at 7:08 p.m. Eastern. The House voted on September 14, 2026 at 3:35 p.m. Eastern.
12 pages: S. 759, Engrossed in Senate. The page count GovInfo gives for this text. The copy posted for the floor can be laid out on a different number of pages.
The vote: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5559)
Posted: House Clerk, bills to be considered, week of 2026-09-14 · Saved October 8, 2026 · Fingerprint c2ab197fb024fe85
Voted: Actions on S. 759, Congress's data service · Saved October 8, 2026 · Fingerprint 1dfe11c4374d1d38
Pages: GovInfo's record of BILLS-119s759es · Saved October 8, 2026 · Fingerprint d8c6c33b998b5949
How the time zone is checked
- This vote has no recorded vote time in UTC to check the time zone against. The same field is checked on every House vote that has a recorded vote time in UTC.
- The file's own update stamp read as Eastern time is the same moment as the Last-Modified time (GMT) the file was served with.
- Senate
- Not published yet
The Senate publishes no time stamp for when the text of a bill is posted, so no time to read is given for the Senate.
How this is counted
- Posted: the moment the last file of the floor item became public on the House Clerk's weekly list of bills, before the vote. A file is public from the first time the list was published at or after the moment the file was added.
- A floor item lists the bill text and can list papers that go with it, such as an explanatory statement. The list does not say which file is which. So the count runs from the last file made public before the vote, and the moment the item was first listed is shown beside it. The count is never longer than the real time to read.
- Voted: the time of the House floor action in Congress's data service. When the House voted on the bill more than once, the last vote is used: that is the vote on the text that went on to become law.
- Time to read: voted minus posted, in hours and minutes. Both are Eastern time.
- Pages: the page count GovInfo gives for the text of the bill as the House voted on it. The copy posted for the floor can be laid out on a different number of pages.
- Which floor item: the one that names the bill. When several name it, the one whose words name the same kind of vote. When the House voted on the bill more than once that week and the list does not tell the votes apart, no figure is given.
- A floor item taken off the list, two floor items that fit, a text made public only after the vote, or a time zone check that shows another time zone: the figure reads "Not checked yet".
Congressional Budget Office cost estimates
Congress’s data service lists this estimate for the bill behind this law. Each link opens the estimate at cbo.gov. We keep no copy: cbo.gov turns our reader away with a bot check, and we do not get around a refusal.
- S. 759, Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on March 12, 2025
S. 759, Congress's data service · Saved October 8, 2026 · Fingerprint 0fdc95536ffb2397
A committee report prints the estimate. These sentences are copied from the report.
Based on information from the agency, CBO expects that NOAA would need seven full-time equivalent staff in 2026 and five each year thereafter, at an average cost of $180,000 per employee.
After accounting for anticipated inflation, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $5 million over the 2025-2030 period.
Senate Report 119-40: MODERNIZING ACCESS TO OUR PUBLIC OCEANS ACT · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint b2cdcf194f123745
How a report is quoted
- A committee report is searched for the letter in which the Congressional Budget Office sends its cost estimate ("The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate"), and for a part whose heading names a cost estimate. The part runs to the last line of the estimate or to the next part of the report. A report that prints several estimates (one for each part of a bill) has each one read, up to 12. From each part, up to 3 sentences are copied as printed: a sentence is copied when it states a dollar amount and says what the Congressional Budget Office estimates, or what the bill would cost, spend, save, increase or decrease. A sentence about what a budget resolution instructed a committee to do is not copied. Nothing is added up and nothing is reworded. A table printed as a picture is not read.
Added along the way
Confirmed from the official record1 of the 5 sections compared is added after the first published text of the bill. 4 are changed. None is in the first text. 1 heading or short section is too short to compare.
A section counts as added later when under 20 percent of its wording appears in the first published text.
The first published text (Introduced in Senate, February 26, 2025): S. 759, Introduced in Senate · Saved October 7, 2026 · Fingerprint 261da771f311ffb2
Published texts of this bill, in order: Introduced in Senate (February 26, 2025), Reported to Senate (July 16, 2025), Engrossed in Senate (September 10, 2025), Enrolled Bill.
Sections added later
1 section
- Section 2: DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) Exclusive economic zone.--The term ``exclusive economic zone'' has the meaning given that term in section 107 of title 46,274 words
Amendments adopted
The record lists no adopted amendment to this bill.
Other bills whose text this law contains
The Congressional Research Service marks no other bill as one whose text this law contains.
Member-requested spending
No list foundNo list of member-requested spending is printed in the 11 official records saved for this law, and no committee report says there is none.
Sections outside the stated intent
Not checked yetA person reviews each reading before it appears here.
What this law changes in taxes
This law amends no tax law. 1 sentence names a tax, a tariff, the tax code or the Internal Revenue Service.
Show the 1 sentence
- Section 2: DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) Exclusive economic zone.--The term ``exclusive economic zone'' has the meaning given that term in section 107 of title 46,
“The term ``nonprofit organization'' means an organization that is described in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.”
How we read a law for this section
- A provision is one sentence of the law that says a part of a tax law "is amended" or "is repealed". The words are quoted from our saved copy of the law. Words inside text the law inserts into another law are not read as provisions.
- A sentence counts when it names the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or title 26 of the United States Code; when it says "such Code" and the last Code named in that section of the law is the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; when the law says that its amendments are to be read as amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the sentence names no other law; or when the sentence names no law at all and the amending sentence before it, in the same section of the law, amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
- A sentence that amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States or the Tariff Act of 1930 is listed under "Tariffs and customs duties".
- The tax type comes from the number of the Code section the sentence names. Sections 1 to 5, 21 to 26, 32, 35, 36, 36B, 62, 63, 67, 68, 151 to 153 and 211 to 224 apply to individuals: "Individual income tax". Sections 11, 12, 59A, 241 to 250, 301 to 385, 531 to 565 and 1501 to 1564 apply to corporations: "Corporate income tax". Every other section from 1 to 1400Z and 1411 to 1564 is "Income tax, individuals and businesses". Sections 1401 to 1403 and 3101 to 3512: "Payroll taxes". Sections 2001 to 2801: "Estate and gift taxes". Sections 4001 to 5891: "Excise taxes". Every other section, such as the rules on returns, penalties and trust funds: "Other tax law".
- A sentence that names a chapter or subtitle of the Code and no section is sorted by that chapter or subtitle. A sentence that adds a new section is sorted by the new section's number.
- "Old and new" is shown only where the law says both: "striking X and inserting Y". Other dollar amounts and percentages in the sentence are listed as printed.
- A change to a table of contents or a change headed "Conforming" or "Clerical" is listed apart.
- A law reads "This law changes no tax" only when our saved copy reaches the end of the law, no sentence above is found, the text does not name the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Internal Revenue Service, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, a tariff, a duty or a named tax, and the margin of the official print cites title 26 of the United States Code nowhere.
- Nothing here says how much tax anyone pays. That takes figures the law's text does not state.
Read from the enrolled bill, the final text Congress passed: Public Law 119-116, enrolled bill · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 85ca0ec6a11b51da
Read from the enrolled bill, the final text Congress passed. The published law is not saved yet. An enrolled bill prints no margin citations, so that second look is not made.
On the record
On the record: Not started.
Press releases by members of Congress
From a secondary sourceThese are press releases from members' official websites that name this law. We save a copy of each one.
1 press release
-
Rep. Fry’s Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act Sent to President’s Desk
“The bill’s Senate companion, S. 759, advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives by voice vote. Rep. Fry introduced the legislation in May 2025 alongside Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49).”
Read from 539 of 539 members' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 8, 2026.
Press releases by organizations
From a secondary sourceThese are press releases from the websites of organizations named in lobbying reports, where the release names this law. We save a copy of each one.
“News item” marks an item the site publishes outside its press release pages.
1 news item
-
News item MAPOceans Act Heads to President’s Desk for Signature
“The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership joins America’s saltwater anglers, hunters, recreationists, and marine industry advocates in celebrating House passage of the Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act (S. 759). The MAPOceans Act is now headed to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law.”
Named in 1 lobbying report, on this law. See the lobbying reports that name S. 759
No registered political committee found under this name.
Read from 510 of 510 organizations' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 8, 2026.
What it touches
Kind of law: Requires a report or data. Budget effect: No direct effect on agency budgets.
Government
- Records, communications and archives
- Land, housing and natural resources
The economy
- No direct economic effect
Daily life
- Environment and outdoors
- Travel and transportation
Agencies it funds or directs
Dollar amounts:Not checked yetHow it passed
The Senate passed it without objection on September 10, 2025. No individual votes are recorded.
The House passed it by voice vote on September 14, 2026. A voice vote records no individual votes.
How each member votes
Both chambers passed this law without a recorded vote, so no individual votes exist. The House: passed by voice vote (no individual votes recorded). The Senate: passed without objection (no individual votes recorded).
Lobbying reports that name this bill
Confirmed from the official record2 saved lobbying reports name S. 759. The amount is what the report gives for the whole quarter: everything the registrant did for that client, all issues together. A linked name opens that organization’s page on this site.
| Registrant | Client | Amount for the whole quarter | Quarter | Filed | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMERICAN SPORTFISHING ASSOCIATION | AMERICAN SPORTFISHING ASSOCIATION | $60,000.00reported as expenses | April to June 2026 | Open the report | |
| THEODORE ROOSEVELT CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP | THEODORE ROOSEVELT CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP | $50,000.00reported as expenses | April to June 2026 | Open the report |
See the lobbying page for S. 759
Senate Office of Public Records cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from LDA.gov.
Lobbying Disclosure Act reports, LDA.gov. This copy was read October 8, 2026 at 5:34 AM Eastern.
Where this comes from
The links below open the official files for this law.