Transfer NOS survey functions to the Coast Guard and USGS

Not started

Printed page 676 21. Department of Commerce

“Survey operations have historically accounted for almost half the NOS budget. These functions could be transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Geological Survey to increase efficiency.”

What has happened

Aug 31, 2026 Not started
Nothing found. The National Ocean Service keeps its survey operations: the FY2027 Congressional Justification still funds the Office of Coast Survey (120 hydrographic surveys a year) and the National Geodetic Survey inside NOS, and proposes only a $4.6 million reduction in hydrographic survey contracts. No transfer of NOS survey functions to the Coast Guard or the U.S. Geological Survey is proposed anywhere in the FY2026 or FY2027 budgets.
- NOAA FY2027 Congressional Justification
  Primary Executive branch Apr 1, 2026

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Rides the trail of #1867 (attempted) and takes its Congressional Justifications, but the Quote’s object is different and the answer is different: NOAA’s proposed break-up moves Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Office of Protected Resources, not the National Ocean Service’s survey programs.

Negative search: grep -n -i "hydrographic survey", "Office of Coast Survey", "National Geodetic", "Coast Guard" and "Geological Survey" over the text-extracted FY2027 Justification — the only NOAA-to-Coast Guard transfer in it is the routine transfer of NOAA Corps retired-pay funds, which the Coast Guard has administered for decades under 33 U.S.C. 3044-3046; and the same greps over the FY2026 Justification and over the FY2026 and FY2027 Budget documents.

Action: transfer
Object: National Ocean Service survey operations
ID: 1872