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<section article="gnr" article_name="Natural Resources" number="3-1202" title_number="3" title_name="Environmental Programs" subtitle_number="12">
  <level label="a">
    <text>There is a Resilience Through Restoration Capital Grant Fund in the Department.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>The purpose of the Fund is to provide equitable grant funding to State agencies, local jurisdictions, and nonprofit organizations for the planning, design, construction, and adaptive management of nature–based restoration projects that reduce the State’s climate change vulnerabilities and enhance the resilience of the State’s communities and public lands.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>The Department shall administer the Fund.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <level label="1">
      <text>The Fund is a special, nonlapsing fund that is not subject to § 7–302 of the State Finance and Procurement Article.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The State Treasurer shall hold the Fund separately, and the Comptroller shall account for the Fund.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>The Fund consists of:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Money appropriated in the State budget to the Fund;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Money from private or public sources, including from federal sources, accepted for the benefit of the Fund;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Interest earnings; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>Any other money from any other source accepted for the benefit of the Fund.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="f">
    <text>The Fund may be used only for:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Providing grants to State agencies, local governments, and nonprofit organizations in the State for the planning, design, construction, and adaptive management of nature–based restoration projects that reduce the State’s climate change vulnerabilities and enhance the resilience of the State’s communities and public lands;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Supporting programmatic and project–level adaptive management that reduces the State’s overall climate change vulnerabilities and enhances the resilience of the State’s communities and public lands; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Administrative expenses calculated in accordance with § 1–103(b)(2) of this article.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="g">
    <text>A project that receives funding under the Fund:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Shall enhance the ability of communities and public lands to prepare for, respond to, or recover from extreme hazards such as storms and more frequent and intense rain events or chronic hazards such as nuisance flooding and sea level rise;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Shall use at least 3% of the funding for programmatic or project–level adaptive management; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>May include:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>Natural and nature–based shoreline restoration;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Floodplain restoration;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>Beneficial use of dredged material;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iv">
        <text>Tidal and nontidal wetland restoration;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="v">
        <text>Dune and beach restoration;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="vi">
        <text>Green infrastructure; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="vii">
        <text>Any other nature–based project that provides community and ecosystem benefits by restoring, enhancing, or creating habitat.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="h">
    <level label="1">
      <text>The State Treasurer shall invest the money of the Fund in the same manner as other State money may be invested.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Any interest earnings of the Fund shall be credited to the Fund.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="i">
    <text>Expenditures from the Fund may be made only in accordance with the State budget.</text>
  </level>
</section>
