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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9771 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9771

To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 
    to support research into the effects of extreme weather on the 
   subsurface natural and built environment, to support engineering 
      standards and building codes for resilient designs against 
                 multihazards, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 24, 2024

Ms. McClellan introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 
    to support research into the effects of extreme weather on the 
   subsurface natural and built environment, to support engineering 
      standards and building codes for resilient designs against 
                 multihazards, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Building and Upgrading 
Infrastructure for the Long Term Act'' or the ``BUILT Act''.

SEC. 2. SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle B of title II of division B of the 
Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (enacted as 
part of division B of Public Law 117-167; 42 U.S.C. 18931 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sections:

``SEC. 10236. SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--Subject to the availability of appropriations, 
the Director shall support measurement research and testing to inform 
the development of engineering standards, practices, and building codes 
on the subsurface environment as such relate to the built environment.
    ``(b) Research Areas.--Research and testing under subsection (a) 
may include the following:
            ``(1) Measuring, modeling, and predicting the properties of 
        subsurface materials of soil, rock, and groundwater elevations, 
        taking into consideration changing climate conditions.
            ``(2) Sensing technology for monitoring subsurface 
        infrastructure and phenomena, such as land subsidence, that may 
        affect subsurface infrastructure.
            ``(3) Risks to subsurface infrastructure integrity, 
        including subsurface infrastructure capacity, resulting from 
        changes in subsurface material properties associated with 
        climate conditions and other environmental variables.
            ``(4) Enhancing building design standards and best 
        practices related to the following:
                    ``(A) Evaluation of subsurface material properties 
                and potential geological hazards that affect below-
                ground infrastructure.
                    ``(B) Design and retrofit of below-ground 
                infrastructure.
            ``(5) Other research areas determined appropriate by the 
        Director.
    ``(c) Consultation.--The Director shall carry out this section in 
consultation with academia, the private sector, nonprofit 
organizations, professional associations, and other appropriate 
Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, and local entities.

``SEC. 10237. CLIMATE RESILIENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--Subject to the availability of appropriations, 
the Director shall support measurement research and testing to inform 
the development of engineering standards, practices, and building codes 
for resilience of the built environment, which may include measurement 
research and development for the following:
            ``(1) Future climate conditions, loads, and effects on 
        infrastructure.
            ``(2) Multihazard and cascading hazard risk and resilience 
        modeling and prediction.
            ``(3) Design standards and best practices for climate-
        resilient infrastructure, including lifeline infrastructure.
            ``(4) Sensing technology for monitoring infrastructure 
        integrity.
            ``(5) Future climate effects on infrastructure capacity 
        over its life cycle.
    ``(b) Workshop on Multihazard Resilient Design Framework.--Not 
later than two years after the date of the enactment of this section, 
the Director shall convene, or enter into a cooperative agreement with 
an appropriate nongovernmental organization to convene, a workshop 
composed of subject matter experts, stakeholders, and partners from 
Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, and local entities, 
nongovernmental organizations, private sector entities, disaster 
management professional associations, engineering professional 
associations, professional construction and homebuilding industry 
associations, and building code setting organizations to discuss a 
framework for designing multihazard resilient buildings and 
infrastructure, including identifying research and measurement needs 
for the following:
            ``(1) Risk and resilience assessments and modeling, 
        including cascading hazards and interactions between multiple 
        hazards.
            ``(2) Functional recovery design.
            ``(3) Climate resilient design.
            ``(4) Analysis and retrofit of existing building and 
        infrastructure stock.
            ``(5) Financial tools for decision-support.
            ``(6) Other areas determined appropriate by the Director.
    ``(c) Report.--Not later than one year after the date on which the 
workshop described in subsection (b) is completed, the Director shall 
submit to Congress and make available to the public a report on the 
findings of the workshop, including any recommendations for legislative 
action that could strengthen the multihazard resilience of the United 
States.
    ``(d) Consultation.--The Director shall carry out this section in 
consultation with academia, the private sector, nonprofit 
organizations, professional associations, and other appropriate Federal 
agencies.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Climate resilience.--The term `climate resilience' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of title 10, 
        United States Code.
            ``(2) Lifeline infrastructure.--The term `lifeline 
        infrastructure' has the meaning given the term in section 4 of 
        the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 
        7703).''.
    (b) Risk and Resilience Research.--Section 10351 of the Research 
and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19060) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ``and'' after the 
        semicolon;
            (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period and inserting 
        ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(6) multidisciplinary research to understand, model, and 
        predict subsurface geological phenomena related to climate 
        variations and the impact of such on infrastructure design and 
        operations, to manage risk and improve resiliency of the built 
        environment.''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1 of 
Public Law 117-167 is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 10235 the following new items:

``Sec. 10236. Subsurface environment research and development.
``Sec. 10237. Climate resilience research and development.''.
                                 <all>
```