According to Boat US, the funding for NOAA to continue to convert paper charts to electronic format is in jeopardy with the reconciliation of a house and senate budget for NOAA. It seems the house bill is the one with the proposed cuts.
Of most concern was a budget approved by the House of Representatives in July (HR 5672) that cut by 10% the President’s request for Mapping & Charting and virtually zeroed out any funding for converting existing paper charts into electronic files. Currently only about half of the full suite of 1,000 NOS charts are converted to Electronic Navigation Charts, or ENCs.
Boat US (and Patrick’s Sailing Blog) suggest you contact you representatives (e-mail is quickest) and tell them to maintain the funding of NOAA nautical charts.
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
http://www.senate.gov/