II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5601 

To improve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather 

research, support improvements in weather forecasting and prediction, 

expand commercial opportunities for the provision of weather data, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 18 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself and Mr. CRUZ) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather research, support improvements in 

weather forecasting and prediction, expand commercial 

opportunities for the provision of weather data, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthor6 ization Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘Weather Act Reauthorization 

7 Act of 2024’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

TITLE I—REAUTHORIZATION OF THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND 

FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017 

Sec. 101. Public safety priority. 

Sec. 102. United States weather research and forecasting. 

Sec. 103. Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment - 

United States of America (VORTEX-USA). 

Sec. 104. Hurricane forecast improvement program. 

Sec. 105. Tsunami Warning and Education Act reauthorization. 

Sec. 106. Observing system planning. 

Sec. 107. Observing system simulation experiments. 

Sec. 108. Computing resources prioritization. 

Sec. 109. Earth prediction innovation center. 

Sec. 110. Satellite architecture planning. 

Sec. 111. Improving uncrewed activities. 

Sec. 112. Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological Services. 

Sec. 113. Ocean observations. 

Sec. 114. Consolidation of reports. 

Sec. 115. Precipitation forecast improvement program. 

TITLE II—ENHANCING FEDERAL WEATHER FORECASTING AND 

INNOVATION 

Sec. 201. Weather innovation for the next generation. 

Sec. 202. Radar next program. 

Sec. 203. Data voids in highly vulnerable areas of the United States. 

Sec. 204. Atmospheric rivers forecast improvement program. 

Sec. 205. Coastal flooding and storm surge forecast improvement program. 

Sec. 206. Aviation weather and data innovation. 

Sec. 207. NESDIS partnership program, transition program, and operational 

planning. 

Sec. 208. Advanced weather interactive processing system. 

Sec. 209. Reanalysis and reforecasting. 

Sec. 210. National Weather Service workforce. 

Sec. 211. Artificial intelligence for weather forecasting. 

Sec. 212. Composition of the atmosphere and atmospheric observations. 

Sec. 213. Project to improve forecasts of coastal marine fog. 

TITLE III—COMMERCIAL WEATHER AND ENVIRONMENTAL 

OBSERVATIONS 

Sec. 301. Commercial Data Program. 

Sec. 302. Commercial Data Pilot Program. 

Sec. 303. Contracting authority and avoidance of duplication. 

Sec. 304. Data assimilation, management, and sharing practices. 

Sec. 305. Clerical amendment. 

TITLE IV—COMMUNICATING WEATHER TO THE PUBLIC 

Sec. 401. Definitions. 


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Sec. 402. Hazardous weather or water event risk communication. 

Sec. 403. Hazard communication research and engagement. 

Sec. 404. National Weather Service communications improvement. 

Sec. 405. NOAA Weather Radio modernization. 

Sec. 406. Post-storm surveys and assessments. 

Sec. 407. Government Accountability Office report on alert dissemination for 

hazardous weather or water events. 

Sec. 408. Data collection management and protection. 

TITLE V—IMPROVING WEATHER INFORMATION FOR 

AGRICULTURE AND WATER MANAGEMENT 

Sec. 501. Weather and climate information in agriculture and water management. 

Sec. 502. National integrated drought information system. 

Sec. 503. National Mesonet Program. 

Sec. 504. National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network. 

Sec. 505. National Water Center. 

Sec. 506. Satellite transfers briefing. 

TITLE VI—HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM AND HYPOXIA RESEARCH 

AND CONTROL AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2024 

Sec. 601. Short title. 

Sec. 602. Amendments to the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research 

and Control Act of 1998. 

Sec. 603. Other harmful algal bloom matters. 

TITLE VII—PREVENTING HEALTH EMERGENCIES AND 

TEMPERATURE-RELATED ILLNESS AND DEATHS ACT OF 2024 

Sec. 701. Short title. 

Sec. 702. Definitions. 

Sec. 703. National Integrated Heat Health Information System Interagency 

Committee. 

Sec. 704. National Integrated Heat Health Information System. 

Sec. 705. Authorization of appropriations. 

TITLE VIII—NATIONAL LANDSLIDE PREPAREDNESS ACT 

REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2024 

Sec. 801. Short title. 

Sec. 802. Certain definitions under Flood Level Observation, Operations, and 

Decision Support Act. 

Sec. 803. Reauthorization of National Landslide Preparedness Act. 

TITLE IX—ILLEGAL RED SNAPPER ENFORCEMENT ACT 

Sec. 901. Short title. 

Sec. 902. Methodology for identifying the country of origin of red snapper imported into the United States. 

TITLE X—ACCELERATING NETWORKING, 

CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE, AND HARDWARE FOR OCEANIC RESEARCH ACT 

Sec. 1001. Short title. 

Sec. 1002. Definitions. 


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Sec. 1003. Plan to improve cybersecurity and telecommunications of U.S. Academic Research Fleet. 

TITLE XI—OTHER AUTHORITIES 

Sec. 1101. Meteorological observations in the Arctic region. 

Sec. 1102. Unfunded priorities list, reports, and plans. 

Sec. 1103. Miscellaneous authorities. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the terms ‘‘seasonal’’, 

3 ‘‘State’’, ‘‘subseasonal’’, ‘‘Under Secretary’’, ‘‘weather en4 terprise’’, ‘‘weather data’’, and ‘‘weather industry’’ have 

5 the meanings given such terms in section 2 of the Weather 

6 Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 

7 U.S.C. 8501). 

8 (b) WEATHER DATA DEFINED.—Section 2 of the 

9 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 

10 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501) is amended— 

11 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para12 graph (6); and 

13 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol14 lowing new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(5) WEATHER DATA.—The term ‘weather 

16 data’ means information used to track and predict 

17 weather conditions and patterns, including forecasts, 

18 observations, and derivative products from such in19 formation.’’. 


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1 TITLE I—REAUTHORIZATION OF 

2 THE WEATHER RESEARCH 

3 AND FORECASTING INNOVA4 TION ACT OF 2017 

5 SEC. 101. PUBLIC SAFETY PRIORITY. 

6 Section 101 of the Weather Research and Fore7 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8511) is 

8 amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 101. PUBLIC SAFETY PRIORITY. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) ensure the National Oceanic and Atmos12 pheric Administration focuses on providing accurate 

13 and timely weather forecasts that protect lives and 

14 property and enhance the national economy; 

15 ‘‘(2) through the Director of the National 

16 Weather Service, coordinate and implement observa17 tional infrastructure, weather forecasting, commu18 nications, and impact-based decision support serv19 ices; and 

20 ‘‘(3) work to improve operation weather fore21 casts, products, and services through nimble, flexi22 ble, and mobile methods. 

23 ‘‘(b) RESEARCH.—In conducting research, the Under 

24 Secretary shall prioritize improving weather data, mod25 eling, computing, forecasting, and warnings for the protecVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5601.IS S5601

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1 tion of life and property and for the enhancement of the 

2 national economy.’’. 

3 SEC. 102. UNITED STATES WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORE4 CASTING. 

5 Section 110 of the Weather Research and Fore6 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8519) is 

7 amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 110. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

9 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated to the Office of Oceanic 

11 and Atmospheric Research to carry out this title the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(1) $163,794,000 for fiscal year 2025, of 

14 which— 

15 ‘‘(A) $91,058,000 is authorized for weath16 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

17 ‘‘(B) $39,491,000 is authorized for the 

18 United States Weather Research Program; 

19 ‘‘(C) $21,125,000is authorized for tornado, 

20 severe storm, and next generation radar re21 search; and 

22 ‘‘(D) $12,120,000 is authorized for the 

23 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

24 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 


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1 ‘‘(2) $165,432,000 for fiscal year 2026, of 

2 which— 

3 ‘‘(A) $91,968,000 is authorized for weath4 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

5 ‘‘(B) $39,886,000 is authorized for the 

6 United States Weather Research Program; 

7 ‘‘(C) $21,336,000 is authorized for tor8 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

9 research; and 

10 ‘‘(D) $12,241,000 is authorized for the 

11 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

12 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 

13 ‘‘(3) $167,086,000 for fiscal year 2027, of 

14 which— 

15 ‘‘(A) $92,888,000 is authorized for weath16 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

17 ‘‘(B) $40,285,000 is authorized for the 

18 United States Weather Research Program; 

19 ‘‘(C) $21,550,000 is authorized for tor20 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

21 research; and 

22 ‘‘(D) $12,364,000 is authorized for the 

23 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

24 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 


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1 ‘‘(4) $168,757,000 for fiscal year 2028, of 

2 which— 

3 ‘‘(A) $93,817,000 is authorized for weath4 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

5 ‘‘(B) $40,688,000 is authorized for the 

6 United States Weather Research Program; 

7 ‘‘(C) $21,765,000 is authorized for tor8 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

9 research; and 

10 ‘‘(D) $12,487,000 is authorized for the 

11 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

12 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 

13 ‘‘(5) $170,444,000 for fiscal year 2029, of 

14 which— 

15 ‘‘(A) $94,755,000 is authorized for weath16 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

17 ‘‘(B) $41,094,000 is authorized for the 

18 United States Weather Research Program; 

19 ‘‘(C) $21,983,000 is authorized for tor20 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

21 research; and 

22 ‘‘(D) $12,612,000 is authorized for the 

23 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

24 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 


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1 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—No additional funds are author2 ized to carry out this title or the amendments made by 

3 this title.’’. 

4 SEC. 103. VERIFICATION OF THE ORIGINS OF ROTATION IN 

5 TORNADOES EXPERIMENT - UNITED STATES 

6 OF AMERICA (VORTEX-USA). 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 103 of the Weather Re8 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

9 8513) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 103. VERIFICATION OF THE ORIGINS OF ROTATION IN 

11 TORNADOES EXPERIMENT - UNITED STATES 

12 OF AMERICA (VORTEX-USA). 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo14 ration with the United States weather industry and aca15 demic partners, shall maintain a program for rapidly im16 proving tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings, in17 cluding forecaster training in radar interpretation and in18 formation integration from new sources. 

19 ‘‘(b) GOAL.—The goal of the program under sub20 section (a) shall be to develop and extend accurate tornado 

21 forecasts, predictions, and warnings in order to reduce the 

22 loss of life or property related to tornadoes, with a focus 

23 on the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) Improving the effectiveness and timeliness 

25 of tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Optimizing lead time and providing action2 able information beyond one hour in advance. 

3 ‘‘(3) Transitioning from warn-on-detection to 

4 warn-on-forecast. 

5 ‘‘(c) INNOVATIVE OBSERVATIONS.—The Under Sec6 retary shall ensure the program under subsection (a) peri7 odically examines, tests, and evaluates the value of incor8 porating innovative observations, such as novel sensor 

9 technologies, observation tools or networks, crewed or 

10 uncrewed systems, and hosted instruments on commercial 

11 aircrafts, vessels, and satellites, with respect to the im12 provement of tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings. 

13 ‘‘(d) ACTIVITIES.—The Under Secretary shall award 

14 grants for research, including relating to the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) Implementing key goals and achieving pro16 gram milestones to the maximum extent practicable 

17 as outlined by the National Oceanic and Atmos18 pheric Administration’s 2019 report, ‘Tornado 

19 Warning Improvement and Extension Program 

20 Plan’. 

21 ‘‘(2) In coordination with the National Science 

22 and Technology Council’s Social and Behavioral 

23 Sciences Subcommittee, improving the social, behav24 ioral, risk, communication, and economic sciences re25 garding vulnerabilities, risk communication, and deVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5601.IS S5601

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1 livery of information critical for reducing the loss of 

2 life or property related to tornadoes. 

3 ‘‘(3) Improving the physical sciences, computer 

4 modeling, and tools related to tornado formation, the 

5 impacts of tornadoes on the built and natural envi6 ronment, and the interaction of tornadoes and hurri7 canes. 

8 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY INSTITUTIONS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In awarding grants under 

10 subsection (d), the Under Secretary may prioritize 

11 awarding grants to minority-serving institutions. 

12 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF MINORITY-SERVING INSTI13 TUTION.—In this subsection, the term ‘minority14 serving institution’ means— 

15 ‘‘(A) a part B institution (as defined in 

16 section 322 of the Higher Education Act of 

17 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061)); 

18 ‘‘(B) a Hispanic-serving institution (as de19 fined in section 502(a) of that Act (20 U.S.C. 

20 1101a(a))); 

21 ‘‘(C) a Tribal College or University (as de22 fined in section 316(b) of that Act (20 U.S.C. 

23 1059c(b))); 


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1 ‘‘(D) an Alaska Native-serving institution 

2 (as defined in section 317(b) of that Act (20 

3 U.S.C. 1059d(b))); 

4 ‘‘(E) a Native Hawaiian-serving institution 

5 (as defined in section 317(b) of that Act (20 

6 U.S.C. 1059d(b))); 

7 ‘‘(F) a Predominantly Black Institution 

8 (as defined in section 318(b) of that Act (20 

9 U.S.C. 1059e(b))); 

10 ‘‘(G) an Asian American and Native Amer11 ican Pacific Islander-serving institution (as de12 fined in section 320(b) of that Act (20 U.S.C. 

13 1059g(b))); or 

14 ‘‘(H) a Native American-serving, nontribal 

15 institution (as defined in section 319(b) of that 

16 Act (20 U.S.C. 1059f(b))). 

17 ‘‘(f) WARNINGS.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

18 Under Secretary, in coordination with the program estab19 lished under section 403(a) of the Weather Act Reauthor20 ization Act of 2024, shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) conduct and transition to operations the 

22 research necessary to develop and deploy prob23 abilistic weather forecast guidance technology for 

24 tornadoes and related weather phenomena; 


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1 ‘‘(2) incorporate into tornado modeling and 

2 forecasting, as appropriate, social, behavioral, risk, 

3 communication, and economic sciences; 

4 ‘‘(3) enhance workforce training on radar inter5 pretation and use of tornado warning systems; and 

6 ‘‘(4) expand computational resources, including 

7 cloud computing, to support higher-resolution mod8 eling to advance the capability for warn-on-forecast. 

9 ‘‘(g) TORNADO RATING SYSTEM.—The Under Sec10 retary, in collaboration with local communities and emer11 gency managers, shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) evaluate the system used as of the date of 

13 the enactment of this section to rate the severity of 

14 tornadoes; 

15 ‘‘(2) determine whether updates to such system 

16 are required to ensure such ratings accurately reflect 

17 the severity of tornados; and 

18 ‘‘(3) if determined necessary, update such sys19 tem. 

20 ‘‘(h) ANNUAL BUDGET.—The Under Secretary shall, 

21 not less frequently than annually, submit to Congress a 

22 proposed budget corresponding with carrying out this sec23 tion. 

24 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

25 authorized to be appropriated to the Under Secretary to 


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1 carry out this section $11,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

2 2025 through 2030, of which not less than $2,000,000 

3 each fiscal year shall be used for prioritized grants award4 ed under subsection (e).’’. 

5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

6 in section 1(b) of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

7 Innovation Act of 2017 is amended by amending the item 

8 relating to section 103 to read as follows: 

‘‘Sec. 103. Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment - 

United States of America (VORTEX-USA).’’. 

9 SEC. 104. HURRICANE FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PRO10 GRAM. 

11 Section 104 of the Weather Research and Fore12 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8514) is 

13 amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 104. HURRICANE FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PRO15 GRAM. 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo17 ration with the United States weather industry and aca18 demic partners, shall maintain a program to improve hur19 ricane forecasting, predictions, and warnings. 

20 ‘‘(b) GOAL.—The goal of the program under sub21 section (a) shall be to develop and extend accurate hurri22 cane forecasts, predictions, and warnings in order to re23 duce the loss of life or property related to hurricanes, with 

24 a focus on the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Improving the understanding, prediction, 

2 and communication of rapid intensity change and 

3 projected path of hurricanes, including probabilistic 

4 methods for hurricane hazard mapping. 

5 ‘‘(2) Improving the forecast and impact-based 

6 communication of inland flooding, compound flood7 ing, and storm surges from hurricanes, in coordina8 tion with the program established under section 205 

9 of the Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2024. 

10 ‘‘(3) Incorporating social, behavioral, risk, com11 munication, and economic sciences to clearly inform 

12 response to prevent the loss of life or property. 

13 ‘‘(4) Evaluating and incorporating, as appro14 priate, innovative observations, including acoustic or 

15 infrasonic measurements, novel sensor technologies, 

16 observation tools or networks, crewed or uncrewed 

17 systems, and hosted instruments on commercial air18 crafts, vessels, and satellites. 

19 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

20 Under Secretary shall award grants for research, includ21 ing relating to the following: 

22 ‘‘(1) Implementing key strategies and following 

23 priorities and objectives outlined by the National 

24 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2019 re25 port ‘Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program’. 


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1 ‘‘(2) In coordination with the National Science 

2 and Technology Council’s Social and Behavioral 

3 Sciences Subcommittee and other relevant inter4 agency committees, improving the social, behavioral, 

5 risk, communications, and economic sciences related 

6 to vulnerabilities, risk communication, and delivery 

7 of information critical for reducing the loss of life or 

8 property related to hurricanes. 

9 ‘‘(3) Improving the physical sciences, oper10 ational modeling, and tools related to hurricane for11 mation, the impacts of wind and water-based hurri12 cane hazards on the built and natural environment, 

13 and the interaction of hurricanes and tornadoes. 

14 ‘‘(d) WARNINGS.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

15 Under Secretary, in coordination with the program estab16 lished under section 403(a) of the Weather Act Reauthor17 ization Act of 2024, shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) conduct and transition to operations the 

19 research necessary to develop and deploy prob20 abilistic weather forecast guidance technology relat21 ing to hurricanes and related weather phenomena; 

22 ‘‘(2) incorporate into hurricane modeling and 

23 forecasting, as appropriate, social, behavioral, risk, 

24 communication, and economic sciences research; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) expand computational resources, including 

2 cloud computing, to support and improve higher-res3 olution operational modeling of hurricanes and re4 lated weather phenomena. 

5 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than June 1 of 

6 each year until 2029, the Under Secretary, in consultation 

7 with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to the Com8 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

9 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech10 nology of the House of Representatives a report that in11 cludes the following: 

12 ‘‘(1) The number and causes of missed mission 

13 requirements for the National Hurricane Operations 

14 Plan and the National Winter Season Operations 

15 Plan, including those related to equipment malfunc16 tion, aircraft availability, aircraft maintenance, flight 

17 hour limits, and availability of pilots or other air and 

18 maintenance crew members. 

19 ‘‘(2) Requirements related to the plans de20 scribed in paragraph (1) that were requested by 

21 forecasters but not tasked, and the reasons why 

22 those were not tasked. 

23 ‘‘(3) A workforce management plan addressing 

24 any shortfalls in human capital resources that are 


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1 necessary for hurricane observational data collection 

2 aboard aircraft or uncrewed systems. 

3 ‘‘(4) A summary of— 

4 ‘‘(A) hurricane technology that is under re5 search and development to improve confidence 

6 in hurricane track and intensity predictions; 

7 ‘‘(B) hurricane technology that is at the 

8 prototype demonstration stage or beyond; and 

9 ‘‘(C) plans for transitioning the hurricane 

10 technology described in subparagraph (B) into 

11 operations.’’. 

12 SEC. 105. TSUNAMI WARNING AND EDUCATION ACT REAU13 THORIZATION. 

14 (a) TITLE HEADING.—The Tsunami Warning and 

15 Education Act (enacted as title VIII of the Magnuson-Ste16 vens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthoriza17 tion Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–479)) is amended in 

18 the title heading, by inserting ‘‘RESEARCH,’’ after 

19 ‘‘WARNING,’’. 

20 (b) PURPOSES.—Section 803 of the Tsunami Warn21 ing and Education Act (33 U.S.C. 3202) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘timeliness 

23 and’’ before ‘‘accuracy’’; 

24 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

25 the semicolon; 


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1 (3) in paragraph (8), by striking the period and 

2 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (4) by adding at the end the following new 

4 paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(9) to ensure data and metadata are managed, 

6 archived, and made available for operations, re7 search, education, and mitigation activities in ac8 cordance with section 305 of the Weather Research 

9 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017.’’. 

10 (c) TSUNAMI FORECASTING AND WARNING PRO11 GRAM.—Section 804 of the Tsunami Warning and Edu12 cation Act (33 U.S.C. 3203) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (b)— 

14 (A) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, using 

15 industry and scientific best practices,’’ after 

16 ‘‘operational condition’’; 

17 (B) in paragraph (5)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

19 ‘‘global seismic network’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘Global Seismic Network’’; 

21 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

22 (D), (E), (F), and (G), as subparagraphs 

23 (E), (F), (G), and (H), respectively; and 

24 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 

25 (C) the following new subparagraph: 


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1 ‘‘(D) the global navigation satellite system 

2 (GNSS) network;’’; 

3 (C) by amending paragraph (6) to read as 

4 follows: 

5 ‘‘(6) ensure data quality and management sys6 tems, support data and metadata access and 

7 archiving, and support the requirements of the pro8 gram pursuant to the Foundations for Evidence9 Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Public Law 115– 

10 435) and chapter 31 of title 44, United States 

11 Code;’’; 

12 (D) in paragraph (7)— 

13 (i) by amending the matter preceding 

14 subparagraph (A) to read as follows: ‘‘in15 clude a cooperative effort among the Ad16 ministration, the United States Geological 

17 Survey (USGS), the National Aeronautics 

18 and Space Administration (NASA), and 

19 the National Science Foundation (NSF) 

20 under which the Director of USGS, the Di21 rector of the NSF, and the Administrator 

22 of NASA shall—’’; 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

24 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new subparagraphs: 

3 ‘‘(C) provide reliable and real-time support 

4 for the GNSS network data streams from NSF, 

5 NASA, and USGS maintained networks, and 

6 supplement instrumentation coverage for rapid 

7 earthquake assessment; 

8 ‘‘(D) assess the data and information re9 lating to warning systems of collaborating agen10 cies for potential utilization in NOAA’s warning 

11 system, taking into consideration advancement 

12 in research and technology; 

13 ‘‘(E) incorporate, as practicable, tsunami 

14 notifications and warnings in the USGS Earth15 quake Early Warning System; and 

16 ‘‘(F) incorporate, as practicable, prelimi17 nary analysis or data from the National Earth18 quake Information Center regarding the source 

19 and magnitude of an offshore earthquake with20 in five minutes of detection;’’; 

21 (E) in paragraph (8)— 

22 (i) by inserting ‘‘ and decision support 

23 aides’’ after ‘‘graphical warning prod24 ucts,’’; and 


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1 (ii) by inserting ‘‘-prone’’ after ‘‘tsu2 nami’’; 

3 (F) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

4 after the semicolon; 

5 (G) in paragraph (10), by striking the pe6 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

7 (H) by adding at the end the following new 

8 paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(11) update tsunami inundation maps, models, 

10 or other geographic products, in order to best sup11 port, as appropriate, relevant agencies with tsunami 

12 mitigation and recovery activities.’’; 

13 (2) in subsection (c)— 

14 (A) by striking paragraph (1) and redesig15 nating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs 

16 (1) and (2), respectively; and 

17 (B) in paragraph (1), as so redesignated— 

18 (i) by striking ‘‘the Atlantic Ocean, 

19 including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of 

20 Mexico, that are determined—’’ and insert21 ing ‘‘the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic 

22 Oceans, including the Caribbean Sea and 

23 Gulf of Mexico, that are determined to 

24 pose significant risks of tsunami for States 


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1 and United States territories along the 

2 coastal areas of such regions; and’’; and 

3 (ii) by striking subparagraphs (A) and 

4 (B); 

5 (3) by redesignating subsections (d), (e), (f), 

6 and (g) as subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h), respec7 tively; 

8 (4) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol9 lowing new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(d) TSUNAMI WARNING ALERT LEVEL EVALUA11 TION.—The Administrator, in collaboration with social sci12 entists, emergency personnel, and high-risk communities, 

13 shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) evaluate tsunami alert levels terminology, 

15 timing, and effectiveness; 

16 ‘‘(2) determine if such alerts produce the de17 sired response and understanding from possible tsu18 nami-prone communities; and 

19 ‘‘(3) if necessary, update the alert level system 

20 for increased effectiveness.’’; 

21 (5) in subsection (e), as so redesignated— 

22 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

23 (i) in the matter preceding subpara24 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘responsible for 

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1 waii, United States territories, and inter2 national entities the Administrator deter3 mines appropriate’’ before the period; 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

5 ‘‘which is primarily responsible for Alaska 

6 and the continental United States’’; and 

7 (iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

8 ‘‘, which is primarily responsible for Ha9 waii, the Caribbean, and other areas of the 

10 Pacific not covered by the National Cen11 ter’’; 

12 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

13 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

14 ‘‘current,’’ after ‘‘sea level,’’; 

15 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

16 ‘‘and volcanic eruptions’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘volcanic eruptions, or other sources’’; 

18 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

19 ‘‘buoy data and tidal’’ and inserting ‘‘and 

20 coastal’’; 

21 (iv) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

22 ‘‘Integrated Ocean Observing System of 

23 the Administration’’ and inserting ‘‘United 

24 States and global ocean and coastal observ25 ing system’’; 


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1 (v) in subparagraph (H), by inserting 

2 ‘‘monitoring needs,’’ after ‘‘response,’’; and 

3 (vi) by amending subparagraph (I) to 

4 read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(I) Providing a Tsunami Warning Coordi6 nator to coordinate with partners and stake7 holders products and services of the centers 

8 supported or maintained under paragraph (1).’’; 

9 (C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

10 follows: 

11 ‘‘(3) FAIL-SAFE WARNING CAPABILITY.—The 

12 Administrator shall support and maintain fail-safe 

13 warning capability for the tsunami warning centers 

14 supported or maintained under paragraph (1), and 

15 such centers shall conduct at least one service back 

16 up drill biannually.’’; 

17 (D) in paragraph (4)— 

18 (i) by amending the matter preceding 

19 subparagraph (A) to read as follows: ‘‘The 

20 Administrator shall coordinate with the 

21 weather forecast offices of the National 

22 Weather Service, the centers supported or 

23 maintained under paragraph (1), and such 

24 national and regional program offices of 

25 the Administration as the Administrator or 


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1 the coordinating committee, as established 

2 in section 805(b), consider appropriate to 

3 ensure that regional and local weather 

4 forecast offices—’’; 

5 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

6 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

7 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

8 the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

9 (iv) by adding at the end the following 

10 new subparagraph: 

11 ‘‘(D) conduct education and outreach ef12 forts to help prepare coastal communities for 

13 tsunami hazards.’’; 

14 (E) in paragraph (5)— 

15 (i) in the section heading, by striking 

16 ‘‘UNIFORM’’ and inserting ‘‘STANDARD17 IZED’’; 

18 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

19 ‘‘uniform’’ and inserting ‘‘standardized’’; 

20 (iii) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by strik21 ing ‘‘uniform’’ and inserting ‘‘standard22 ized’’; 

23 (iv) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

24 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 


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1 (v) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

2 the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (vi) by adding at the end the following 

4 new subparagraph: 

5 ‘‘(F) align the analytic techniques and 

6 methodologies of the existing tsunami warning 

7 centers supported or maintained under para8 graph (1) to ensure seamless continuity of oper9 ations and mitigate risk of operational failure 

10 by prioritizing investments that include— 

11 ‘‘(i) replacing end of life equipment; 

12 ‘‘(ii) ensuring product consistency; 

13 ‘‘(iii) enabling consistent operational 

14 process for backup capabilities; 

15 ‘‘(iv) mitigating existing operational 

16 security risks; and 

17 ‘‘(v) meeting information security re18 quirements specified in chapter 35 of title 

19 44, United States Code.’’; and 

20 (F) by adding at the end the following new 

21 paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(7) REPORTING.—Not later than 180 days 

23 after the date of the enactment of this paragraph 

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1 trator shall provide to the Committee on Science, 

2 Space, and Technology of the House of Representa3 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

4 Transportation of the Senate an update briefing on 

5 the progress of the following: 

6 ‘‘(A) Standardizing products and proce7 dures under paragraph (5), including tsunami 

8 assessments, forecast guidance, and related 

9 products. 

10 ‘‘(B) Migrating the message generation 

11 systems of the centers supported or maintained 

12 under paragraph (1) to the Advanced Weather 

13 Information Processing Systems, or successor 

14 systems. 

15 ‘‘(C) The structural reorganization effort, 

16 if necessary, to align such centers’ organiza17 tional charts. 

18 ‘‘(D) The expected timeline for the full 

19 completion of standardizing such centers’ prod20 ucts and procedures.’’; 

21 (6) in subsection (f), as so redesignated— 

22 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

23 (i) in the matter preceding subpara24 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘detect, measure, 

25 and’’ after ‘‘used to’’; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

2 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

3 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

4 ‘‘and the Advanced National Seismic Sys5 tem’’ and inserting ‘‘the Advanced Na6 tional Seismic System, and the global navi7 gation satellite system (GNSS); and’’; and 

8 (iv) by adding at the end the following 

9 new subparagraph: 

10 ‘‘(D) ensure research is coordinated with 

11 tsunami warning operations;’’; and 

12 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘accord13 ing to industry best practices’’ before the pe14 riod; and 

15 (7) in subsection (h)(2)(A), as so redesignated, 

16 by striking ‘‘accuracy of the tsunami model used’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘timeliness and accuracy of the fore18 cast used to issue the warning’’. 

19 (d) NATIONAL TSUNAMI HAZARD MITIGATION PRO20 GRAM.—Section 805(c) of the Tsunami Warning and Edu21 cation Act (33 U.S.C. 3204(c)) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (5)— 

23 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B), 

24 (C), (D), (E), (F), and (G) as subparagraphs 

25 (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), and (H), respectively; 


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1 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

2 the following new subparagraph: 

3 ‘‘(B) Coastal digital elevation models 

4 (DEMs) to support the development of inunda5 tion maps.’’; and 

6 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

7 subparagraphs: 

8 ‘‘(I) Evaluation of the variation of inunda9 tion impact resulting from tsunami-driven sedi10 ment transport. 

11 ‘‘(J) Evaluation of tsunami debris impact 

12 on critical infrastructure (as such term is de13 fined in section 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 

14 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e))) and lifelines. 

15 ‘‘(K) High-resolution and high-quality dig16 ital elevation models needed for at-risk coast17 lines, ports, and harbors, particularly for re18 gions not covered by existing inundation 

19 maps.’’; and 

20 (2) in paragraph (7)(C), by inserting ‘‘and be21 havioral’’ after ‘‘social’’; 

22 (e) TSUNAMI RESEARCH PROGRAM.—Section 806 of 

23 the Tsunami Warning and Education Act (33 U.S.C. 

24 3205) is amended— 

25 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘section 805(d)’’ and in2 serting ‘‘section 805(b)’’; and 

3 (B) by inserting ‘‘and management’’ after 

4 ‘‘data collection’’; 

5 (2) in subsection (b)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘deploy7 ment and’’ after ‘‘may include’’; 

8 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘social 

9 science research’’ and inserting ‘‘social and be10 havioral science research, including data collec11 tion,’’; 

12 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

13 after the semicolon; 

14 (D) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 

15 paragraph (7); and 

16 (E) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

17 following new paragraphs: 

18 ‘‘(5) develop decision support tools; 

19 ‘‘(6) leverage and prioritize research opportuni20 ties; and’’; and 

21 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub22 section: 

23 ‘‘(c) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN.—Not 

24 later than 12 months after the date of the enactment of 

25 this subsection and not less frequently than every 36 


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1 months thereafter, the Administrator, in consultation with 

2 the Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological 

3 Services, shall develop a research and development and re4 search to operations plan to improve tsunami detection 

5 and forecasting capabilities that— 

6 ‘‘(1) identifies and prioritizes research and de7 velopment priorities to satisfy section 804; 

8 ‘‘(2) identifies key research needs for better de9 tecting tsunamis that may occur in open ocean and 

10 along the coastlines of the United States and its ter11 ritories, improve forecasting of tsunamis that are 

12 not seismically driven, and other opportunities deter13 mined appropriate; 

14 ‘‘(3) develops plans for transitioning research to 

15 operations; and 

16 ‘‘(4) identifies collaboration opportunities that 

17 may further and align tsunami research, develop18 ment, warnings, and operations between the centers 

19 supported or maintained under section 804, the Na20 tional Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program, the Na21 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cen22 ter for Tsunami Research, the National Science 

23 Foundation, the United States Geological Survey, 

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1 tutions of higher education, private entities, stake2 holders, and others determined appropriate.’’; 

3 (f) ASSESSMENT OF TSUNAMI WATCHES AND WARN4 INGS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Tsunami Warning and 

6 Education Act (enacted as title VIII of the Magnu7 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 

8 Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–479)) 

9 is amended by inserting after section 804 (33 U.S.C. 

10 3203) the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 804A. ASSESSMENT OF TSUNAMI WATCHES AND 

12 WARNINGS. 

13 ‘‘(a) ASSESSMENT OF TSUNAMI WATCHES AND

14 WARNINGS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

17 Under Secretary shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) conduct an assessment of— 

19 ‘‘(i) the tsunami watches and warn20 ings of the National Weather Service; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) the information delivery to sup22 port preparation and responses to 

23 tsunamis; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) submit to Congress a report on the 

2 findings of the Under Secretary with respect to 

3 the assessment required by subparagraph (A). 

4 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The assessment required by 

5 paragraph (1)(A) shall include the following: 

6 ‘‘(A) An evaluation of whether the watch7 es, warnings, and information described in 

8 paragraph (1)(A) effectively— 

9 ‘‘(i) communicate risk to the general 

10 public; 

11 ‘‘(ii) inform action to prevent loss of 

12 life and property; 

13 ‘‘(iii) inform action to support tsu14 nami preparation and response; and 

15 ‘‘(iv) deliver information in a manner 

16 designed to lead to appropriate action. 

17 ‘‘(B) Subject to subsection (b)(2), such 

18 recommendations as the Under Secretary may 

19 have for— 

20 ‘‘(i) legislative and administrative ac21 tion to improve the watches and warnings 

22 described in paragraph (1)(A)(i); and 

23 ‘‘(ii) such research as the Under Sec24 retary considers necessary to address the 

25 focus areas described in paragraph (3). 


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1 ‘‘(3) FOCUS AREAS.—The assessment required 

2 by paragraph (1)(A) shall focus on the following 

3 areas: 

4 ‘‘(A) Ways to communicate the risks posed 

5 by hazardous tsunami events to the public that 

6 are most likely to result in informed decision 

7 making regarding the mitigation of those risks. 

8 ‘‘(B) Ways to provide actionable geo9 graphic information to the recipient of a watch 

10 or warning for tsunami, including partnering 

11 with emergency response agencies, as appro12 priate. 

13 ‘‘(C) Evaluation of information delivery to 

14 support the preparation for and response to 

15 tsunamis 

16 ‘‘(4) CONSULTATION.—In conducting the as17 sessment required by paragraph (1)(A), the Under 

18 Secretary shall consult with— 

19 ‘‘(A) individuals in the academic sector, in20 cluding individuals in the field of social and be21 havioral sciences; 

22 ‘‘(B) other weather services; 

23 ‘‘(C) media outlets and other entities that 

24 distribute the watches and warnings described 

25 in paragraph (1)(A)(i); 


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1 ‘‘(D) emergency planners and responders, 

2 including State, local, and Tribal emergency 

3 management agencies; 

4 ‘‘(E) other government users of the watch5 es and warnings described in paragraph 

6 (1)(A)(i), including the Federal Highway Ad7 ministration; and 

8 ‘‘(F) such other Federal agencies as the 

9 Under Secretary determines rely on watches 

10 and warnings regarding tsunamis for oper11 ational decisions. 

12 ‘‘(5) METHODOLOGIES.—In conducting the as13 sessment required by paragraph (1)(A), the Under 

14 Secretary shall use such methodologies as the Under 

15 Secretary considers are generally accepted by the 

16 weather enterprise, including social and behavioral 

17 sciences. 

18 ‘‘(b) IMPROVEMENTS TO TSUNAMI WATCHES AND

19 WARNINGS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Based on the assessment 

21 required by subsection (a)(1)(A), the Under Sec22 retary shall make such improvements to the watches 

23 and warnings described in that subsection as the 

24 Under Secretary considers necessary— 


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1 ‘‘(A) to improve the communication of the 

2 risks posed by tsunami events; and 

3 ‘‘(B) to provide actionable geographic in4 formation to the recipient of a watch or warn5 ing for a tsunami. 

6 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS REGARDING REC7 OMMENDATIONS.—In conducting the assessment re8 quired by subsection (a)(1)(A), the Under Secretary 

9 shall ensure that any recommendation under sub10 section (a)(2)(B) that the Under Secretary considers 

11 a major change— 

12 ‘‘(A) is validated by social and behavioral 

13 science using a generalizable sample; 

14 ‘‘(B) accounts for the needs of various de15 mographics, vulnerable populations, and geo16 graphic regions; 

17 ‘‘(C) responds to the needs of Federal, 

18 State, local, and Tribal government partners 

19 and media partners; and 

20 ‘‘(D) accounts for necessary changes to 

21 Federally operated watch and warning propaga22 tion and dissemination infrastructure and pro23 tocols.’’. 

24 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con25 tents for the Tsunami Warning and Education Act 


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1 (enacted as title VIII of the Magnuson-Stevens Fish2 ery Conservation and Management Reauthorization 

3 Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–479)) is amended by 

4 inserting after the item relating to section 804 the 

5 following: 

‘‘Sec. 804A. Assessment of tsunami watches and warnings.’’. 

6 (g) GLOBAL TSUNAMI WARNING AND MITIGATION

7 NETWORK.—Section 807(d) of the Tsunami Warning and 

8 Education Act (33 U.S.C. 3206(d)) is amended by insert9 ing ‘‘and management’’ after ‘‘data sharing’’; 

10 (h) TSUNAMI SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY

11 PANEL.—Section 808 of the Tsunami Warning and Edu12 cation Act (33 U.S.C. 3206a) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ‘‘and be14 havioral’’ after ‘‘social’’; and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(e) SUNSET.—The Panel shall terminate not later 

17 than six years after the date of the enactment of the 

18 Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2024.’’. 

19 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

20 809 of the Tsunami Warning and Education Act (33 

21 U.S.C. 3207) is amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 809. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to the Ad24 ministrator to carry out this title $30,000,000 for each 

25 of fiscal years 2024 through 2028, of which— 


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1 ‘‘(1) not less than 27 percent of the amount ap2 propriated for each fiscal year shall be for activities 

3 conducted at the State level under the national tsu4 nami hazard mitigation program under section 805; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(2) not less than 8 percent of the amount ap7 propriated shall be for the tsunami research pro8 gram under section 806.’’. 

9 SEC. 106. OBSERVING SYSTEM PLANNING. 

10 Section 106 of the Weather Research and Fore11 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8516) is 

12 amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (3)— 

14 (A) by inserting ‘‘Federal’’ before ‘‘observ15 ing capabilities’’; and 

16 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

17 (2) in paragraph (4)— 

18 (A) by inserting ‘‘, including private sector 

19 partnerships or commercial acquisition,’’ after 

20 ‘‘options’’; and 

21 (B) by striking the period and inserting a 

22 semicolon; and 

23 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

24 paragraphs: 


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1 ‘‘(5) compare costs and schedule, including 

2 cost-benefit analysis, of Federal and private sector 

3 supplemental options to fill the observation data re4 quirements under paragraph (1) and gaps identified 

5 pursuant to paragraph (3); and 

6 ‘‘(6) not later than one year after the date of 

7 the enactment of the Weather Act Reauthorization 

8 Act of 2024, submit to Congress a report that pro9 vides an analysis of the technical, schedule, cost, and 

10 cost benefit analyses to place an operational polar11 orbiting environmental satellite capability in the 

12 early morning orbit to support the weather enter13 prise and the Administration’s mission.’’. 

14 SEC. 107. OBSERVING SYSTEM SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS. 

15 Section 107 of the Weather Research and Fore16 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8517) is 

17 amended— 

18 (1) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘‘providing 

19 data’’ and inserting ‘‘comparison to current or ex20 perimental commercial system capabilities that pro21 vide data’’; 

22 (2) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘, including 

23 polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite systems,’’; 

24 (3) by striking subsection (d); and 


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1 (4) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub2 section (d). 

3 SEC. 108. COMPUTING RESOURCES PRIORITIZATION. 

4 (a) COMPUTING RESEARCH INITIATIVE.—Section 

5 108 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

6 Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8518) is amended by striking sub7 section (a)(3)(C) and all that follows through subsection 

8 (b)(7) and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(b) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INVESTMENTS.— 

10 The Under Secretary shall leverage artificial intelligence 

11 and machine learning technologies to facilitate, optimize, 

12 and further leverage advanced computing to accomplish 

13 critical missions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

14 Administration. 

15 ‘‘(c) CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE.—The Under Sec16 retary may expand, and where applicable establish, centers 

17 of excellence to aid the adoption of next-generation artifi18 cial intelligence and machine learning enabled advanced 

19 computing capabilities. Each such center may carry out 

20 activities that include the following: 

21 ‘‘(1) Leveraging robust public-private partner22 ship models to provide access to training, experience, 

23 and long-term development of workforce and infra24 structure. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Developing and optimizing tools, libraries, 

2 algorithms, data structures, and other supporting 

3 software necessary for specific applications on high 

4 performance computing systems. 

5 ‘‘(3) Applying modern artificial intelligence, 

6 deep machine-learning, and advanced data analysis 

7 technologies to address current and future mission 

8 challenges. 

9 ‘‘(4) To the maximum extent practicable, ex10 ploring quantum computing and related application 

11 partnerships with public, private, and academic enti12 ties to improve the accuracy and resolution of weath13 er predictions. 

14 ‘‘(d) MULTI-YEAR CONTRACTS.—The Under Sec15 retary may enter into multi-year contracts in accordance 

16 with section 3903 of title 41, United States Code, and 

17 shall ensure compliance with all contract clauses provided 

18 in such section to support operations, research, and devel19 opment related to high performance and cloud computing 

20 infrastructure or systems with an unfunded contingent li21 ability in the event of cancellation. 

22 ‘‘(e) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the 

23 date of the enactment of the Weather Act Reauthorization 

24 Act of 2024, the Under Secretary, in collaboration with 

25 the Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Committee 


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1 on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep2 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

3 and Transportation and the Committee on Energy and 

4 Natural Resources of the Senate a report evaluating the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(1) A best estimate of the overall value of 

7 high-resolution probabilistic forecast guidance for 

8 hazardous weather or water events (as such term is 

9 defined in section 401 of the Weather Act Reauthor10 ization Act of 2024) using a next-generation weather 

11 forecast and warning framework. 

12 ‘‘(2) The needs for cloud computing, quantum 

13 computing, or high-performance computing, visual14 ization, and dissemination collaboration between the 

15 Department of Energy and the National Oceanic 

16 and Atmospheric Administration. 

17 ‘‘(3) A timeline and guidance for implementa18 tion of the following: 

19 ‘‘(A) High-resolution numerical weather 

20 prediction models. 

21 ‘‘(B) Methods for meeting the cloud com22 puting, quantum computing, or high-perform23 ance computing, visualization, and dissemina24 tion needs identified under paragraph (2).’’. 


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1 (b) STRATEGIC PLAN ON HIGH-PERFORMANCE COM2 PUTING AND DATA MANAGEMENT NEEDS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

4 make publicly available not later than one year after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, and update 

6 every 5 years thereafter until 2035, a 10-year stra7 tegic plan that outlines the high-performance com8 puting and data management requirements and 

9 needs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad10 ministration and actions and strategies to address 

11 those requirements and needs. 

12 (2) PLAN ELEMENTS.—At a minimum, the 

13 strategic plan required by paragraph (1) shall in14 clude the following: 

15 (A) A 10-year prospective outlook of com16 puting resources and upgrades needed to meet 

17 the mission needs of the National Oceanic and 

18 Atmospheric Administration for fisheries man19 agement, oceanographic forecasting, and eco20 logical forecasting missions. 

21 (B) A discussion of— 

22 (i) computing and processing re23 sources of the Administration and a 10- 

24 year projected need for such resources, 


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1 disaggregated by line office of the Admin2 istration; 

3 (ii) facilities, commercial contracts, 

4 and partnerships (with other Federal agen5 cies or other institutions or entities) of the 

6 Administration that are providing com7 puting and data management support or 

8 capacity as of such date; 

9 (iii) the use by the Administration of 

10 cloud computing and other emerging tech11 nologies, such as artificial intelligence and 

12 machine learning; 

13 (iv) additional technologies that have 

14 the potential to increase effectiveness and 

15 efficiency for data storage and processing 

16 power, including challenges to access and 

17 use of those technologies; 

18 (v) the distribution of computing re19 sources among the operations and research 

20 functions of the Administration; 

21 (vi) products and services of the Ad22 ministration that have not become avail23 able to the public because of a lack of com24 puting resources; 


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1 (vii) current and future workforce de2 velopment needs, such as information tech3 nology and software engineering, of the 

4 Administration; and 

5 (viii) the high-performance computing 

6 requirements of the Administration, with a 

7 special focus on requirements that are 

8 common across line offices of the Adminis9 tration. 

10 (C) Timelines, and performance measures 

11 for assessing progress toward attaining goals 

12 for— 

13 (i) computing infrastructure and ar14 chitecture of the Administration (including 

15 facilities, hardware, and software); and 

16 (ii) use by the Administration of tech17 nologies that will increase effectiveness and 

18 efficiency for data storage and processing 

19 power, including challenges to access and 

20 use of such technologies. 

21 (D) A 10-year life cycle analysis of the 

22 management of facilities, hardware, and engi23 neering involved in the strategic plan that in24 cludes— 


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1 (i) program formulation for project 

2 conception, implementation, and closure; 

3 and 

4 (ii) technical infrastructure, products, 

5 processes, data, and personnel resources 

6 required to achieve defined cost, schedule, 

7 and performance objectives. 

8 (E) If appropriate, a description of actions 

9 taken to implement the previous plan. 

10 (3) PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT.—In developing the 

11 strategic plan required by paragraph (1), the Under 

12 Secretary shall invite comments and other feedback 

13 from the public to inform the strategic plan. 

14 (4) ANNUAL BRIEFINGS.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

17 annually thereafter until 2029, the Under Sec18 retary shall brief Congress on the progress 

19 made toward the objectives of the strategic plan 

20 required by paragraph (1). 

21 (B) ELEMENTS.—Each briefing required 

22 by subparagraph (A) shall include the following: 

23 (i) An evaluation of the progress 

24 made in implementing the strategic plan. 


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1 (ii) Such updates to the strategic plan 

2 as the Under Secretary considers appro3 priate. 

4 SEC. 109. EARTH PREDICTION INNOVATION CENTER. 

5 Paragraph (5) of section 102(b) of the Weather Re6 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

7 8512(b)) is amended— 

8 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

9 after the semicolon; and 

10 (2) by striking subparagraph (E) and inserting 

11 the following new subparagraphs: 

12 ‘‘(E) developing community weather re13 search modeling systems that— 

14 ‘‘(i) are accessible by the public in ac15 cordance with section 10601 of the James 

16 M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization 

17 Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (15 U.S.C. 

18 8512a) and available for archive and long19 term study; 

20 ‘‘(ii) meet basic end-user requirements 

21 for running on public computers and net22 works located outside of secure National 

23 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

24 information and technology systems; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) use, whenever appropriate and 

2 cost-effective, innovative strategies and 

3 methods, including cloud-based computing 

4 capabilities, for hosting and management 

5 of part or all of the system described in 

6 this subparagraph; 

7 ‘‘(iv) use modeling systems that allow 

8 for interoperability with new model compo9 nents, modules, and next-generation soft10 ware and coding languages; 

11 ‘‘(v) allow for open testing and inte12 gration of promising operational model im13 provements from the broader community; 

14 ‘‘(vi) access as close to a real-time 

15 basis as possible operational data and 

16 metadata, including commercially pur17 chased data for use in the model testing 

18 conducted by the Earth Prediction Innova19 tion Center pursuant to redistribution re20 strictions, licensing agreements, and appli21 cable existing laws and regulations; and 

22 ‘‘(vii) provide supported and portable 

23 versions of the unified forecast system, in24 cluding applications for fire weather, sub25 seasonal to seasonal forecasting, hurricane, 


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1 space weather, ocean, cryosphere, air qual2 ity, and coastal models, that can reproduce 

3 current operational global and regional 

4 model prediction; and 

5 ‘‘(F) establishing a National Oceanic and 

6 Atmospheric Administration Data Lake, to be 

7 maintained by the Administration, a commercial 

8 partner, or non-profit entity, that consolidates 

9 and maintains a publicly available and continu10 ously updated collection of data and metadata 

11 used in numerical weather prediction for use in 

12 the Earth Prediction Innovation Center’s model 

13 testing, pursuant to redistribution restrictions, 

14 licensing agreements, and applicable existing 

15 laws and regulations.’’. 

16 SEC. 110. SATELLITE ARCHITECTURE PLANNING. 

17 Section 301 of the Weather Research and Fore18 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8531) is 

19 amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (1) 

21 and redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) as 

22 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively; 

23 (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol24 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN2 ISTRATION SATELLITE SYSTEMS AND DATA.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

4 maintain a fleet of National Oceanic and Atmos5 pheric Administration space-based observation plat6 forms that provide critical operations-focused data 

7 and information to support the mission of the Ad8 ministration to monitor the global environment in 

9 order to protect lives and property from extreme 

10 weather and other natural phenomena. 

11 ‘‘(2) COLLABORATION.—The Under Secretary 

12 shall implement recommendations from the National 

13 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Observing 

14 Systems Council to ensure an appropriate mix of 

15 government, academic, commercial sector, and inter16 national partnerships in the provision of data and 

17 information, including a broadened effort on data 

18 acquisition through the Commercial Data Program 

19 under section 302 when cost effective and beneficial 

20 to the Administration. 

21 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—The Under Secretary shall en22 sure that platforms maintained under paragraph (1) 

23 prioritize the development of products and services 

24 that are tailored to meet the National Oceanic and 

25 Atmospheric Administration’s mission. 


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1 ‘‘(4) NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL

2 INFORMATION.—The Under Secretary shall maintain 

3 the National Centers for Environmental Information 

4 to provide a long-term archive and access to the na5 tional and global data and metadata of the National 

6 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.’’; and 

7 (3) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘2023’’ and 

8 inserting ‘‘2030’’. 

9 SEC. 111. IMPROVING UNCREWED ACTIVITIES. 

10 (a) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—Section 

11 102(b)(3) of the Weather Research and Forecasting Inno12 vation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8512(b)(3)) is amended— 

13 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘aerial’’ 

14 and inserting ‘‘crewed and uncrewed aerial and sur15 face’’; and 

16 (2) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘, includ17 ing commercial observing systems’’ and inserting ‘‘, 

18 including stationary and mobile commercial observ19 ing systems, such as uncrewed aircraft and marine 

20 systems, to provide observations of the atmosphere 

21 and ocean, and other observations, in cooperation 

22 with the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations’’. 

23 (b) USE OF UNCREWED AERIAL SYSTEMS.—Section 

24 102 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

25 Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8512) is further amended by— 


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1 (1) redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

2 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(c) USE OF UNCREWED AERIAL SYSTEMS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pro7 gram under this section, the Assistant Administrator 

8 for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the As9 sistant Administrator for the Office of Marine and 

10 Aviation Operations, whenever practical, shall use 

11 uncrewed aerial systems to assess damage and assist 

12 recovery after an extreme weather or water event. 

13 ‘‘(2) USE OF SYSTEMS.—In carrying out the 

14 program under this section, the Assistant Adminis15 trator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and 

16 the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Marine 

17 and Aviation Operations, may acquire uncrewed aer18 ial systems and training resources for the regional 

19 offices and partners of the National Oceanic and At20 mospheric Administration for the use and deploy21 ment of those systems in storm assessments and re22 sponse.’’. 


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1 SEC. 112. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL FOR ADVANCING METE2 OROLOGICAL SERVICES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 402 of the Weather Re4 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

5 8542) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘Advancing Weather Serv8 ices’’ and inserting ‘‘Advancing Meteorological 

9 Services (in this section referred to as the 

10 ‘Interagency Council’)’’; and 

11 (B) by striking ‘‘Committee’’ each place it 

12 appears and inserting ‘‘Council’’; 

13 (2) by amending subsections (b) and (c) to read 

14 as follows: 

15 ‘‘(b) CO-CHAIRS.—The Director of the Office of 

16 Science and Technology Policy and the Under Secretary 

17 shall serve as co-chairs of the Interagency Council. The 

18 Under Secretary shall serve as the Federal Coordinator 

19 for Meteorology. 

20 ‘‘(c) FURTHER COORDINATION.—The Director of the 

21 Office of Science and Technology Policy shall take such 

22 steps as are necessary to coordinate the activities of the 

23 Federal Government with stakeholders in the United 

24 States weather industry, academic partners, State govern25 ments, and emergency managers, including by imple26 menting mechanisms to encourage and enable the particiVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5601.IS S5601

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1 pation of non-Federal employees in the functions of the 

2 Interagency Council.’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub4 sections: 

5 ‘‘(d) FUNCTIONS.—The Interagency Council shall be 

6 the formal mechanism by which all relevant Federal de7 partments and agencies coordinate implementation of pol8 icy and practices to ensure United States global leadership 

9 in meteorological services. In doing so, the Interagency 

10 Council shall review programs and support relevant weath11 er research and forecast innovation activities, as well as 

12 other related implementation activities, related to Federal 

13 meteorological services, including by carrying out the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(1) Identifying and helping prioritize meteoro16 logical research and service delivery needs, including 

17 relating to observations, operational systems, com18 munications, and infrastructure. 

19 ‘‘(2) Providing recommendations to streamline 

20 or consolidate activities and develop greater effi21 ciencies in cross-agency activities. 

22 ‘‘(3) Leveraging Earth system science research 

23 outcomes of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

24 Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space 

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1 ments and agencies, including research outcomes re2 lated to the relevant recommended key science and 

3 applications questions and priorities in the National 

4 Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s 

5 2018 report ‘Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A 

6 Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from 

7 Space’, to understand and predict high-impact 

8 weather phenomena. 

9 ‘‘(4) Facilitating the expansion and strength10 ening of partnerships with private sector entities to 

11 advance meteorological research, communications, 

12 and computing in collaboration with the Earth sys13 tem science, service, and stakeholder communities. 

14 ‘‘(5) Sharing information regarding meteorolog15 ical research improvement needs and science oppor16 tunities across relevant Federal departments and 

17 agencies. 

18 ‘‘(6) Providing advice to all relevant Federal de19 partments and agencies regarding potential collabo20 rations and expected level of resources needed to 

21 maintain and operate the Interagency Council. 

22 ‘‘(7) Enhancing communication and coordina23 tion and promoting sharing within relevant Federal 

24 departments and agencies and across the Inter25 agency Council. 


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1 ‘‘(8) Developing, recruiting, and sustaining a 

2 professional and diverse workforce for meteorological 

3 research and services. 

4 ‘‘(e) DATA INVENTORY.—The Interagency Council, in 

5 coordination and avoidance of duplication with the United 

6 States Group on Earth Observations, shall promote data 

7 and metadata access and archive activities to increase ac8 cessibility, interoperability, and reusability by maintaining 

9 a data inventory of meteorological observations. Not less 

10 frequently than every two years for a period of 10 years 

11 beginning on the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

12 the Interagency Council shall solicit updated information 

13 from private sector entities identifying current and near 

14 future sources of such data. Such data shall be made 

15 available to member departments and agencies under sub16 section (a). 

17 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION OFFICE.—The Interagency Me18 teorological Coordination Office shall provide to the Inter19 agency Council such administrative and logistical support 

20 as the Interagency Council may require, as determined by 

21 the co-chairs. 

22 ‘‘(g) COST SHARE.—Member departments and agen23 cies of the Interagency Council specified under subsection 

24 (a) may provide reimbursable financial support to the 

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1 hance cost-sharing and collaboration related to weather re2 search and forecast innovation activities. 

3 ‘‘(h) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 

4 date of the enactment of this subsection and annually 

5 thereafter until 2029, the Interagency Council shall pub6 lish a report which identifies among member departments 

7 and agencies specified under subsection (a) the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) Federal programs that use meteorological 

9 observations, data sources, and capabilities. 

10 ‘‘(2) Federal programs that acquire such obser11 vations, data, and capabilities from private sector 

12 entities. 

13 ‘‘(3) Advancements in meteorological data col14 lection, assimilation, and forecasting that could im15 prove Federal programmatic operational capabilities. 

16 ‘‘(4) Barriers to acquiring meteorological obser17 vations, data sources, and capabilities that could be 

18 used to better meet Federal programmatic needs.’’. 

19 (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference to the Interagency 

20 Committee for Advancing Weather Services in any law, 

21 rule, regulation, paper, document, map, or other record 

22 of the United States shall be deemed to be a reference 

23 to the Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological 

24 Services. 


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1 SEC. 113. OCEAN OBSERVATIONS. 

2 Subsection (b) of section 12304 of the Integrated 

3 Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 (33 

4 U.S.C. 3603) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(5) SHIPS OF OPPORTUNITY PILOT PRO7 GRAM.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in 

9 coordination with the heads of relevant Federal 

10 departments and agencies, shall, subject to rel11 evant regulations and certifications, maintain 

12 pilot programs or projects to contract with re13 search or commercial ship operators for data 

14 collection and assess the potential costs, bene15 fits, and viability of a network of ocean and at16 mospheric observing instruments operating on 

17 research or commercial ocean vessels, including 

18 in the Arctic, in order to supplement the Inte19 grated Coastal, Great Lakes, and Ocean Obser20 vation System in improving understanding of 

21 coastal and ocean systems and their relation22 ships to human activities. 

23 ‘‘(B) STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS.— 

24 The Administrator shall ensure that data ac25 quired through the pilot program established 

26 pursuant to subparagraph (A) meets the most 


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1 recent standards and specifications required for 

2 observation services and data as published pur3 suant to subsection (c) of section 302 of the 

4 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

5 Act of 2017. 

6 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than five years 

7 after the date of the enactment of this para8 graph, the Administrator, in consultation with 

9 the Secretary of Transportation, shall submit to 

10 Congress a report on the requirements for a 

11 global network of ocean and atmospheric instru12 ments operating on research or commercial 

13 ocean vessels for measurement and data trans14 mission. 

15 ‘‘(D) SUNSET.—This paragraph shall ter16 minate on the earlier of— 

17 ‘‘(i) September 30, 2029; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) one year after the date on which 

19 the report required under subparagraph 

20 (B) is submitted by the Administrator.’’. 

21 SEC. 114. CONSOLIDATION OF REPORTS. 

22 (a) WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING INNO23 VATION ACT OF 2017.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Weather Research and 

25 Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is amended— 


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1 (A) in section 102 (15 U.S.C. 8512), by 

2 striking subsection (d); 

3 (B) by amending section 105 (15 U.S.C. 

4 8515) to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 105. WEATHER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN6 NING. 

7 ‘‘Not later than two years after the date of the enact8 ment of this section and not less frequently than every 

9 two years thereafter, the Under Secretary, acting through 

10 the Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric 

11 Research, and in coordination with the Director of the Na12 tional Weather Service and the Assistant Administrator 

13 for Satellite and Information Services, shall issue a re14 search and development and research to operations plan 

15 to maintain United States leadership in numerical weather 

16 prediction and forecasting that— 

17 ‘‘(1) describes the forecasting skill and tech18 nology goals, technology transfer plan, and progress 

19 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis20 tration in carrying out the program conducted under 

21 section 102; 

22 ‘‘(2) identifies and prioritizes specific research 

23 and development activities, data collection and anal24 ysis, predictive modeling, demonstration of potential 

25 operational forecast application, education, training, 


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1 and performance metrics, weighted to meet the oper2 ational weather and flood-event mission of the Na3 tional Weather Service to achieve a weather-ready 

4 Nation; 

5 ‘‘(3) describes how the program conducted 

6 under section 102 will collaborate with Federal 

7 agencies and departments, international partners, 

8 and stakeholders, including the United States weath9 er industry and academic partners, and the role of 

10 each in advancing weather forecasting and commu11 nication; 

12 ‘‘(4) identifies, through consultation with the 

13 National Science Foundation, the United States 

14 weather industry, and academic partners, research 

15 necessary to advance the scientific understanding of 

16 weather processes and provide information to im17 prove weather warning and forecast systems in the 

18 United States most effectively; 

19 ‘‘(5) describes the ongoing research projects of 

20 the United States Weather Research Program, the 

21 goals of those projects, and those projects related to 

22 weather observations, short-term weather, or subsea23 sonal forecasts within the Office of Oceanic and At24 mospheric Research that are closest to 

25 operationalization; and 


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1 ‘‘(6) describes how the National Oceanic and 

2 Atmospheric Administration is advancing community 

3 weather modeling.’’; 

4 (C) in section 403 (15 U.S.C. 8543)— 

5 (i) in subsection (a), by inserting 

6 ‘‘the’’ after ‘‘Director of’’; and 

7 (ii) by amending subsection (d) to 

8 read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL BRIEFING.—Not less frequently than 

10 once each year, the Under Secretary shall brief the Com11 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

12 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech13 nology of the House of Representatives on participation 

14 in the program under subsection (a) and shall highlight 

15 any innovations that come from the interaction described 

16 in subsection (b).’’; and 

17 (D) by striking sections 408 through 411 

18 and section 414 and redesignating sections 412 

19 and 413 as sections 408 and 409, respectively. 

20 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of 

21 contents in section 1(b) of the Weather Research 

22 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is amended 

23 by striking the items relating to sections 408 

24 through 414 and inserting the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 408. Weather enterprise outreach. 

‘‘Sec. 409. Hurricane hunter aircraft.’’. 


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1 (b) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN2 ISTRATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1992.—The National 

3 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Authorization 

4 Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567) is amended— 

5 (1) in section 106, by striking subsection (c) 

6 (15 U.S.C. 1537); and 

7 (2) in section 108 (15 U.S.C. 8520)— 

8 (A) in subsection (a)— 

9 (i) by striking paragraph (5); and 

10 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (6) 

11 through (12) as paragraphs (5) through 

12 (11), respectively; 

13 (B) by striking subsection (b); and 

14 (C) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub15 section (b). 

16 SEC. 115. PRECIPITATION FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PRO17 GRAM. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VI of the Weather Research 

19 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 

20 et seq.) is amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating section 603 as section 604; 

22 and 

23 (2) by inserting after section 602 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 603. PRECIPITATION FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PRO2 GRAM. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo4 ration with the United States weather industry, other Fed5 eral agencies, and academic partners, shall maintain a 

6 program to improve precipitation forecasting across 

7 timescales. 

8 ‘‘(b) GOAL.—The goal of the program under sub9 section (a) shall be to provide more accurate, reliable, and 

10 timely precipitation forecasts across timescales through 

11 the development and application of a fully coupled Earth 

12 system prediction model in order to reduce the loss of life 

13 or property related to precipitation extremes, with a focus 

14 on the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) Improving the understanding and pre16 diction of precipitation extremes from a variety of 

17 weather systems, including atmospheric rivers. 

18 ‘‘(2) Evaluating and incorporating, as appro19 priate, innovative observations into operational moni20 toring and forecast systems to improve precipitation 

21 forecasts. 

22 ‘‘(3) Improving earth system model predictions 

23 of precipitation extremes from atmospheric rivers, 

24 tropical cyclones, summer-time thunderstorms, win25 ter storms, and other phenomena, in coordination 

26 with relevant programs. 


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1 ‘‘(4) Enhancing research transition to oper2 ations through testbeds, including the evaluation of 

3 physical and social science, technology, and other re4 search to develop products and services for imple5 mentation and use by relevant stakeholders. 

6 ‘‘(5) Incorporating social, behavioral, and eco7 nomic sciences best practices into operations for 

8 more effective and actionable watch and warning 

9 products that help drive public safety and damage 

10 mitigation decisions in coordination with the pro11 grams established in accordance with this Act. 

12 ‘‘(6) Ensuring data and metadata management 

13 processes are in place to support data access and ar14 chive for long term research and operations among 

15 multiple partners. 

16 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the program 

17 under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall support 

18 research-to-operations work, including relating to the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(1) Implementing key strategies and following 

21 priorities and objectives outlined by the National 

22 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ‘Precipi23 tation Prediction Grand Challenge Strategy’. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Improving the physical science, operational 

2 modeling and tools, and technology related to better 

3 forecasting precipitation extremes across timescales. 

4 ‘‘(3) Improving the social, behavioral, risk, com5 munications, and economic sciences related to 

6 vulnerabilities, risk communication, and delivery of 

7 information critical for reducing the loss of life or 

8 property related to extreme precipitation. 

9 ‘‘(4) Conducting the research necessary to de10 velop and deploy probabilistic weather forecast guid11 ance technology relating to precipitation extremes in 

12 operational practice. 

13 ‘‘(5) Enhancing the operational capacity of the 

14 National Weather Service to deliver decision support 

15 for increasing precipitation extremes. 

16 ‘‘(6) Expanding computational resources to im17 prove precipitation modeling. 

18 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL BUDGET.—The Under Secretary shall, 

19 not less frequently than annually, submit to Congress a 

20 proposed budget corresponding with carrying out this sec21 tion. 

22 ‘‘(e) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the Sense of Con23 gress that improved precipitation forecasts should support 

24 improved water resource management and resilience to ex25 treme water related events, such as floods and drought, 


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1 which may include the use of enhanced streamflow pre2 diction.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

4 in section 1(b) of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

5 Innovation Act of 2017 is amended by striking the item 

6 relating to section 603 and inserting the following new 

7 items: 

‘‘Sec. 603. Precipitation forecast improvement program. 

‘‘Sec. 604. Definitions.’’. 

8 TITLE II—ENHANCING FEDERAL 

9 WEATHER FORECASTING AND 

10 INNOVATION 

11 SEC. 201. WEATHER INNOVATION FOR THE NEXT GENERA12 TION. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

15 shall establish a Research, Development, Test, and Eval16 uation Program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro17 gram’’) to ensure the continued performance of weather 

18 radar capabilities based on defined use needs and require19 ments, including capabilities currently being developed. 

20 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the Program, 

21 the Under Secretary, in consultation with the Interagency 

22 Council for Advancing Meteorological Services, shall— 

23 (1) partner with the private sector, academia, 

24 Federal, State, and local government entities, and 


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1 any other entity the Under Secretary considers ap2 propriate; 

3 (2) identify, evaluate, and test existing or 

4 emerging technologies and solutions that improve 

5 radar coverage and performance, including by miti6 gating the potential impact of interferences on 

7 weather radar; 

8 (3) to the maximum extent practicable, research 

9 additional solutions that could improve radar cov10 erage and performance and mitigate the effects of 

11 interferences on weather radar, such as— 

12 (A) signal processing algorithms, including 

13 the capability to merge data from multiple ra14 dars, including commercial radars, and other 

15 supplemental data sources; 

16 (B) short-term forecasting algorithms to 

17 improve weather and water-related forecasts 

18 and warnings; 

19 (C) gap filling radars to improve radar 

20 coverage and provide supplemental or replace21 ment observations in areas impacted by inter22 ferences on weather radar; 

23 (D) solutions to replace or mitigate the ef24 fects of data contaminated by interferences on 

25 weather radar; and 


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1 (E) solutions from electromagnetic sources; 

2 and 

3 (4) develop, support, or partner with developers 

4 to provide commercially viable technical mitigation 

5 solutions for interferences to weather radar capabili6 ties that are compatible with the operational require7 ments of the weather radar system. 

8 (c) PRIORITY.—In carrying out subsection (b), the 

9 Under Secretary shall prioritize consideration of the fol10 lowing technology-based mitigation solutions: 

11 (1) Phased array weather radar systems. 

12 (2) Supplementing or replacing contaminated 

13 data with commercial radar data. 

14 (3) The use of data from meteorological towers 

15 associated with the private sector, or similar capa16 bilities. 

17 (4) The installation and provision of access to 

18 rain gauges. 

19 (5) Any other technology-based mitigation solu20 tion the Under Secretary determines could improve 

21 radar coverage by overcoming interferences, beam 

22 blockage, or ghost echoes. 

23 (d) REPORT; RECOMMENDATION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than two years 

25 after the date of the enactment of this section and 


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1 annually thereafter until the Program terminates 

2 pursuant to subsection (e), the Under Secretary 

3 shall submit to Congress a report on the implemen4 tation of the Program, including an evaluation of 

5 each technology-based mitigation solution identified 

6 for priority consideration pursuant to subsection (c), 

7 and a recommendation regarding additional identi8 fication and testing of new technologies based on 

9 such consideration. 

10 (2) FINAL RECOMMENDATION.—Not later than 

11 five years after the date of the enactment of this 

12 section, the Under Secretary shall provide to Con13 gress a recommendation on whether additional re14 search, testing, and development through the Pro15 gram established under subsection (a) is needed, and 

16 a determination of whether a cessation of field re17 search, testing, development and evaluation under 

18 the Program is appropriate. 

19 (e) TERMINATION.—The authority of the Under Sec20 retary to carry out the Program shall terminate on the 

21 earlier of— 

22 (1) September 30, 2029; or 

23 (2) one year after the date on which the final 

24 recommendation required under subsection (d)(2) is 

25 submitted by the Under Secretary. 


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1 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) GHOST ECHO.—The term ‘‘ghost echo’’ 

3 means radar signal reflectivity or velocity return er4 rors in radar data due to the proximity of an inter5 ference. 

6 (2) INTERFERENCE.—The term ‘‘interference’’ 

7 means any natural or human-built structure that af8 fects a weather radar system, including any wind 

9 turbine or building that could disrupt or limit the ef10 fectiveness of a weather radar system. 

11 SEC. 202. RADAR NEXT PROGRAM. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in consulta13 tion with the Director of the National Weather Service, 

14 shall establish a program to be known as the ‘‘Radar Next 

15 Program’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘program’’). 

16 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the program, 

17 the Under Secretary shall— 

18 (1) develop performance and coverage require19 ments for the weather radar network of the United 

20 States, including the territories of the United States; 

21 (2) collaborate with the weather enterprise to 

22 determine potential solutions to update the weather 

23 radar network of the United States that meets the 

24 requirements developed under paragraph (1); and 


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1 (3) develop a plan in accordance with sub2 section (c). 

3 (c) PLAN.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

5 develop a plan to replace the Next Generation 

6 Weather Radar of the National Weather Service sys7 tem in existence as of the data of the enactment of 

8 this Act (in this subsection referred to as the 

9 ‘‘NEXRAD system’’). 

10 (2) ELEMENTS.—The plan developed under this 

11 subsection shall seek to continue and improve weath12 er radar coverage in the United States and its terri13 tories and include the following: 

14 (A) Estimates of quantifiable improve15 ments in performance, coverage, and accuracy 

16 to be made from potential options for replace17 ment of the NEXRAD system. 

18 (B) Development of a proof-of-concept 

19 phased array radar to test and determine the 

20 specifications and requirements for such re21 placement. 

22 (C) Expected actions needed to implement 

23 the recommendations of the report published by 

24 the Environmental Information Services Work25 ing Group of the Science Advisory Board of the 


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1 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra2 tion in November 2023 and entitled ‘‘A 

3 NESDIS Observing System Backbone Frame4 work’’ to assist in defining a radar backbone 

5 architecture that will best serve the United 

6 States. 

7 (D) Establishment of a weather surveil8 lance radar testbed for the following: 

9 (i) Evaluation of commercial radars 

10 with the potential to replace or supplement 

11 the NEXRAD system. 

12 (ii) providing technical assistance for 

13 the use of small, gap-filling radars with 

14 private and local partners in regions where 

15 geographical topography prevents the full 

16 use of large systems or in locations where 

17 such systems may not be commercially via18 ble. 

19 (E) Consultation and input solicited from 

20 academia, meteorologists, emergency managers, 

21 and public safety or utility officials regarding 

22 the specifications and requirements for replace23 ment of the NEXRAD system. 


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1 (F) Prioritized locations for initial deploy2 ment of the system that will replace the 

3 NEXRAD system. 

4 (G) Expected locations of the system that 

5 will replace the NEXRAD system, including 

6 sites located more than 75 miles away from an 

7 existing NEXRAD system station and addi8 tional appropriate locations. 

9 (H) Expected or planned improvements to 

10 data available for weather and water-related 

11 forecasts and warnings from the system that 

12 will replace the NEXRAD system. 

13 (3) PROCUREMENT DEADLINE.—The Under 

14 Secretary shall take such actions as may be nec15 essary to ensure the plan developed under this sub16 section is fully implemented and executed by not 

17 later than September 30, 2040. 

18 (d) RADAR-AS-A-SERVICE.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary may 

20 partner or contract with entities outside of the Na21 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 

22 fill data gaps in weather radar coverage using di23 verse weather radars and data assimilation tech24 nologies in order to— 


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1 (A) supplement data gaps in weather radar 

2 coverage, including at low levels and wide areas, 

3 in existence as of the date of the enactment of 

4 this Act; 

5 (B) ensure the continued performance of 

6 the United States’ weather radar network; and 

7 (C) better detect significant precipitation 

8 and severe weather over a greater area across 

9 a population. 

10 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out para11 graph (1), the Under Secretary may consider— 

12 (A) partnering or contracting with entities 

13 that have participated in the testbed described 

14 in subsection (c)(3), the National Mesonet Pro15 gram, or Cooperative Research and Develop16 ment Agreements; and 

17 (B) weather camera systems and services, 

18 including in consultation with the Federal Avia19 tion Administration, as viable technologies to 

20 supplement weather forecasting and prediction 

21 needs. 

22 (e) UPDATES TO CONGRESS.—The Under Secretary 

23 shall provide to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

24 Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com25 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 


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1 Senate periodic updates on the implementation of this sec2 tion. 

3 SEC. 203. DATA VOIDS IN HIGHLY VULNERABLE AREAS OF 

4 THE UNITED STATES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in coordi6 nation with the Director of the National Weather Service 

7 and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Manage8 ment Agency, in consultation with the United States 

9 weather industry, academic partners, and in accordance 

10 with activities implemented through existing regional at11 mospheric, coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes observing sys12 tems, shall carry out activities to ensure equitable and 

13 comprehensive weather observation coverage, impact14 based decision support services, and emergency informa15 tion sharing in the United States, including the following 

16 (1) Identifying regions in the United States and 

17 the territories of the United States that are under18 observed or highly vulnerable to weather impacts 

19 that threaten human life, health, and the economy. 

20 (2) Identifying any challenges that contribute to 

21 the lack of operations under paragraph (1). 

22 (3) Increasing weather observations and devel23 oping new weather observational capabilities, such as 

24 urban heat island mapping campaigns, with respect 

25 to the regions identified under paragraph (1). 


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1 (4) Establishing or supporting testbeds and de2 ployments of decision-support services to Federal, 

3 State, and local emergency operations centers to de4 velop and integrate new weather, water, and climate 

5 observation or emergency information sharing tools, 

6 with respect to the regions identified under para7 graph (1). 

8 (5) To the maximum extent practicable, ad9 vancing weather and water forecasting and climate 

10 modeling capabilities for the regions identified under 

11 paragraph (1). 

12 (6) Undertaking workforce development efforts 

13 for emergency management officials and meteorolo14 gists in the regions identified under paragraph (1). 

15 (7) Using data-void-filling observations to bet16 ter resolve extreme rainfall in complex topography. 

17 (8) Contributing to a national integrated heat 

18 health information system. 

19 (b) INTERAGENCY PARTNERSHIP TO SUPPORT PILOT

20 PROJECTS.—In carrying out this section, the Under Sec21 retary, acting through the Director of the National Weath22 er Service and in collaboration with the Administrator of 

23 the Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall estab24 lish an interagency partnership to support pilot projects 

25 that accelerate coordination and use of localized weather, 


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1 water, and climate data and impact-based communications 

2 in infrastructure and emergency management decisions by 

3 Federal, State, and local officials. 

4 (c) PRIORITY.—At least one pilot project under sub5 section (b) shall address key science challenges to using 

6 mesonet data in local decision making and development 

7 of new tools and training for owners and operators of crit8 ical infrastructure (as such term is defined in section 

9 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e))), 

10 such as dams, energy generation and distribution facili11 ties, nuclear power plants, and transportation networks. 

12 SEC. 204. ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS FORECAST IMPROVEMENT 

13 PROGRAM. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo15 ration with the United States weather industry and aca16 demic partners and in coordination with the precipitation 

17 forecast improvement program under section 603 of the 

18 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 

19 2017, as added by section 115 of this Act, shall establish 

20 an atmospheric river forecast improvement program (in 

21 this section referred to as the ‘‘program’’). 

22 (b) GOAL.—The goal of the program shall be to re23 duce the loss of life and property and economic losses from 

24 atmospheric rivers through the research, development, and 


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1 extension of accurate, effective, and actionable forecasts 

2 and warnings including by— 

3 (1) establishing atmospheric river forecast skill 

4 metrics that include assessing the benefits of dynam5 ical modeling, data assimilation, and machine learn6 ing improvements in the probabilistic forecasts of 

7 landfall location, extreme wind and precipitation, 

8 and cascading impacts; 

9 (2) developing an atmospheric river forecast 

10 system within a unified forecast system, and advanc11 ing next-generation coupled modeling systems, with 

12 the capability of providing seasonal to short-range 

13 atmospheric river forecasts that include forecast of 

14 snow accumulation and other hydrologic compo15 nents; 

16 (3) advancing scientific understanding of the 

17 roles of atmospheric rivers in subseasonal to sea18 sonal precipitation and probabilistic predictions at 

19 subseasonal and seasonal scales; 

20 (4) developing tools and improved forecast 

21 products to predict periods of active or inactive at22 mospheric river landfalls and inland penetration over 

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1 prehending, and responding to atmospheric river 

2 forecast improvements; 

3 (5) enhancing the transition of research to op4 erations through the National Oceanic and Atmos5 pheric Administration’s testbeds, including the eval6 uation of physical and social science, technology, and 

7 other research to develop products and services for 

8 implementation and use by relevant stakeholders; 

9 and 

10 (6) incorporating into atmospheric river mod11 eling and forecasting, as appropriate, social, behav12 ioral, risk, communication, and economic sciences. 

13 (c) INNOVATIVE OBSERVATIONS, DATA ASSIMILA14 TION, AND MODELING.—The Under Secretary shall en15 sure the program periodically examines, tests, and evalu16 ates the value of incorporating innovative observations, 

17 data, and measurements with respect to the improvement 

18 of atmospheric river analysis, modeling, forecasts, pre19 dictions, and warnings. 

20 (d) PROGRAM PLAN.—Not later than 270 days after 

21 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Sec22 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Air Force 

23 or the Commander of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance 

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1 ment, data acquisition, partnerships with the weather in2 dustry and academic partners, and technology transfer ac3 tivities, as well as corresponding resources, and timelines, 

4 necessary to achieve the goal of the program under sub5 section (b). Such plan shall be made available to the public 

6 on release. 

7 (e) ANNUAL BUDGET FOR PLAN SUBMITTAL.—After 

8 the development of the plan pursuant to subsection (d), 

9 the Under Secretary shall, not less frequently than annu10 ally, submit to Congress a proposed budget corresponding 

11 with the activities identified in such plan. 

12 (f) IMPROVED MODELING.—In carrying out the pro13 gram, the Under Secretary may— 

14 (1) develop, test, and operationalize prototype 

15 high-resolution Atmospheric River Analysis and 

16 Forecasting System models through research and 

17 operations partnerships with institutions of higher 

18 education and other partners outside the National 

19 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; 

20 (2) enhance data assimilation of current and 

21 new satellite and ocean observations that is useful 

22 for atmospheric river analysis and forecasting pre23 dictions; 


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1 (3) improve data processing techniques related 

2 to atmospheric river analysis and forecasting pre3 dictions; 

4 (4) use artificial intelligence and machine learn5 ing methods as applicable to atmospheric river anal6 ysis and forecasting predictions; 

7 (5) ensure the surface and subsurface observa8 tions of the ocean meet the needs of atmospheric 

9 river analysis and forecasting predictions on dif10 ferent time scales; and 

11 (6) to the maximum extent practicable, improve 

12 or establish baseline weather monitoring services in 

13 areas that have historically experienced, or are pre14 dicted to experience, atmospheric rivers. 

15 (g) CONDUCT OF RECONNAISSANCE.—The Under 

16 Secretary shall acquire and sustain adequate aircraft, sci17 entific equipment, and personnel to meet mission require18 ments of the National Hurricane Operations Plan and the 

19 National Winter Seasons Operation plan, and to— 

20 (1) ensure atmospheric river air reconnaissance 

21 observations are available throughout the expected 

22 seasons of tropical cyclones and atmospheric rivers; 

23 (2) to the maximum extent practicable and in 

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1 formation collected are made available for research 

2 and operations purposes; 

3 (3) participate in research and operations part4 nerships that guide flight planning and use research 

5 methods to improve and expand the capabilities and 

6 effectiveness of atmospheric river reconnaissance 

7 over time; 

8 (4) develop data management strategies to en9 sure that data and metadata are adequately 

10 stewarded, maintained, and archived; and 

11 (5) undertake such other additional activities as 

12 the Under Secretary, in consultation with the Sec13 retary of the Air Force, considers appropriate to im14 prove and grow the hurricane hunter and atmos15 pheric river reconnaissance mission. 

16 (h) IMPROVED ATMOSPHERIC RIVER HAZARD COM17 MUNICATION.—The Under Secretary may conduct reach 

18 and development activities in coordination with the pro19 gram established under section 403(a) to— 

20 (1) as appropriate, develop and refine methods 

21 to categorize the intensity of weather and oceans 

22 hazards, including tropical cyclones and atmospheric 

23 rivers, on a quantitative scale and the effectiveness 

24 of such scale in hazard communication; 


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1 (2) develop best practices for communication of 

2 atmospheric river events and hazards across regions 

3 of the United States; 

4 (3) gather information from areas prone to hur5 ricanes and atmospheric rivers regarding levels of 

6 knowledge and preparedness, including responses to 

7 early forecasts and warnings by the National Oce8 anic and Atmospheric Administration; and 

9 (4) explore strategies and effectiveness of com10 municating that hurricane and atmospheric river 

11 events are beneficial at lower intensities versus haz12 ardous at higher intensity. 

13 SEC. 205. COASTAL FLOODING AND STORM SURGE FORE14 CAST IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo16 ration with the United States weather industry and aca17 demic partners, shall establish a coastal flooding and 

18 storm surge forecast improvement program (in this section 

19 referred to as the ‘‘program’’). 

20 (b) GOAL.—The goal of the program shall be to re21 duce the loss of life or property from coastal flooding, in22 cluding high tide flooding, and storm surge events through 

23 the development and extension of accurate, effective, ac24 tionable, and probable forecasts and warnings. 


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1 (c) PRIORITY.—In implementing the program, the 

2 Under Secretary shall prioritize activities that carry out 

3 the following: 

4 (1) Improving understanding and capacity for 

5 real-time operational prediction of the ocean’s role in 

6 coastal flooding, including high tide flooding, and 

7 storm surge events. 

8 (2) Improving the capacity to mitigate, adapt 

9 to, or prevent the impacts of coastal flooding, includ10 ing high tide flooding, and storm surge events, in11 cluding by improving the understanding and capac12 ity of coastal communities to perceive, comprehend, 

13 and respond to forecast information. 

14 (3) Incorporating data from in situ distributed 

15 sensors into predictive models and re-analyses. 

16 (4) Developing probabilistic coastal flooding, in17 cluding high tide flooding, and storm surge esti18 mates to complement worst-case scenario estimates, 

19 including for use in long-term planning and risk 

20 management by States, Tribal governments, local21 ities, and emergency managers in coordination with 

22 the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as ap23 propriate. 

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1 namical modeling, data assimilation, and machine 

2 learning improvements in the probabilistic forecast 

3 of coastal flooding, including high tide flooding, and 

4 storm surge risk and impacts. 

5 (6) Improving operational regional storm surge 

6 models and, in collaboration with the United States 

7 Geological Survey, wave prediction models to en8 hance probabilistic guidance and messaging. 

9 (d) INNOVATIVE OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING.— 

10 The Under Secretary shall ensure the program periodically 

11 examines, tests, and evaluates the value of incorporating 

12 enhanced model physics, hybrid dynamical or machine 

13 learning based prediction systems, and innovative observa14 tions, such as novel sensor technologies, observation net15 works, crewed or uncrewed systems, and hosted instru16 ments on commercial aircrafts, vessels, and satellites, with 

17 respect to the improvement of coastal flooding, including 

18 high tide flooding, and storm surge forecasts, predictions, 

19 and warnings. 

20 (e) PROGRAM PLAN.—Not later than 180 days after 

21 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

22 shall develop a plan that details the specific research, de23 velopment, data acquisition, and technology transfer ac24 tivities, as well as corresponding resources and timelines, 


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1 necessary to achieve the goal of the program under sub2 section (b). 

3 (f) ANNUAL BUDGET FOR PLAN SUBMITTAL.—After 

4 the development of the plan pursuant to subsection (e), 

5 the Under Secretary shall, not less frequently than annu6 ally, submit to Congress a proposed budget corresponding 

7 with the activities identified in such plan. 

8 SEC. 206. AVIATION WEATHER AND DATA INNOVATION. 

9 (a) PROGRAM.—The Under Secretary shall maintain 

10 an airborne observation program (in this section referred 

11 to as the ‘‘program’’) for the acquisition of atmospheric 

12 sensor data and the deployment of critical atmospheric 

13 sensors, including in partnership with the weather enter14 prise. 

15 (b) ACTIVITIES.—The program shall include activi16 ties that carry out the following: 

17 (1) Procurement of weather data available from 

18 commercial aircraft, as determined by the Under 

19 Secretary. 

20 (2) Acquisition of additional vertical profile ob21 servations that provide spatial and temporal density, 

22 as determined by the Under Secretary. 

23 (3) Analysis of procured data when incor24 porated into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 


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1 Administration’s unified forecast system in order to 

2 provide improved forecast information for aircraft. 

3 (c) BUDGET.—The Under Secretary shall, not less 

4 frequently than annually, submit to Congress a proposed 

5 budget corresponding with the activities described in sub6 section (b), including and analysis of activities that can 

7 be complemented by National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

8 Administration aircraft. 

9 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

10 amounts authorized to be appropriated for the Commercial 

11 Data Program under section 302 of the Weather Research 

12 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, there shall be 

13 available not more than $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 

14 years 2025 through 2029 to carry out the program. 

15 (e) AVIATION WEATHER AND TURBULENCE FORE16 CASTING.—The Director of the National Weather Service 

17 shall include turbulence events, icing conditions, or other 

18 phenomena in the forecasting capabilities of the Aviation 

19 Weather Center and the Center Weather Service Units, 

20 and deliver operational forecasts with consistent, timely, 

21 and accurate weather and turbulence information for the 

22 airspace system and the protection of lives and property. 

23 (f) COORDINATION.—In carrying out subsection (e), 

24 the Director of the National Weather Service shall give 

25 consideration to recommendations from the Administrator 


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1 of the Federal Aviation Administration in furtherance of 

2 section 44720 of title 49, United States Code, and improve 

3 weather and turbulence forecasting capabilities by— 

4 (1) designating or establishing within the Fed5 eral Government an interagency working group to 

6 determine weather and environmental data or obser7 vation requirements, needs, and potential solutions 

8 related to aviation weather and turbulence modeling 

9 or forecasting; 

10 (2) identifying current and future potential 

11 data gaps related to turbulence events or phenomena 

12 that can— 

13 (A) identify or inform route specific flight 

14 planning; and 

15 (B) be supplemented or filled by commer16 cial aviation tools; 

17 (3) transitioning research initiatives and pilot 

18 programs, including a pilot program of instrumenta19 tion for observing greenhouse gases and other at20 mospheric factors deployed on commercial aircraft 

21 and support for the evaluation of a sustained observ22 ing network using such instrumentation, into oper23 ations that improve the forecasting capabilities of 

24 the Aviation Weather Center; 


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1 (4) developing and deploying improved prob2 abilistic aviation weather forecast guidance tech3 nology; and 

4 (5) updating interagency agreements as appro5 priate, including to address reimbursable agree6 ments. 

7 (g) NEXT GENERATION AVIATION RESEARCH.— 

8 Paragraph (3) of section 102(b) of the Weather Research 

9 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

10 8512(b)), is amended— 

11 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and 

12 (G) as subparagraphs (G) and (H), respectively; and 

13 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol14 lowing new subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(F) aviation weather phenomena, includ16 ing atmospheric composition and turbulence, to 

17 improve scientific understanding and forecast 

18 capabilities for the airspace system;’’. 

19 (h) AVIATION INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.—The 

20 Under Secretary shall ensure the Aviation Weather Center 

21 is able, to the maximum extent possible, to disseminate 

22 in a timely manner full resolution aviation weather data, 

23 forecasts, and information to meet the needs of aviation 

24 users. 


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1 (i) PROVISION OF WEATHER SERVICES TO THE FED2 ERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION.— 

3 (1) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

4 Congress that the aviation weather services provided 

5 to the Federal Aviation Administration by the Na6 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are 

7 critical to the functions of the Federal Aviation Ad8 ministration and the safety of the flying public. 

9 (2) INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT.—The Under 

10 Secretary and the Administrator of the Federal 

11 Aviation Administration shall enter into or otherwise 

12 participate in an interagency agreement for a period 

13 of not less than 5 years under which the National 

14 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides 

15 weather services to the Federal Aviation Administra16 tion. 

17 (3) BRIEFINGS.—Not less frequently than once 

18 per quarter through 2030, the Under Secretary and 

19 the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis20 tration shall provide a briefing to the Committee on 

21 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen22 ate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech23 nology of the House of Representatives on the status 

24 of the provision by the National Oceanic and Atmos25 pheric Administration of weather services to the 


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1 Federal Aviation Administration and the interagency 

2 agreement under paragraph (2) 

3 SEC. 207. NESDIS PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM, TRANSITION 

4 PROGRAM, AND OPERATIONAL PLANNING. 

5 (a) PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Administrator 

7 of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and 

8 Information Service (in this section referred to as 

9 the ‘‘Assistant Administrator’’) shall maintain a 

10 partnership program to enhance engagement with 

11 the private sector, academia, and other Federal de12 partments and agencies (in this section referred to 

13 as the ‘‘partnership program’’). 

14 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—The Assistant Adminis15 trator, in consultation with the Administrator of the 

16 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 

17 shall administer broad agency announcements and 

18 other transactional authority or contracting mecha19 nisms, on an annual or more frequent basis, to sup20 port the partnership program. 

21 (b) TRANSITION PROGRAM.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—To support the development 

23 of next-generation technologies, missions, data sys24 tems, spacecraft, and instrument design, the Assist25 ant Administrator, in consultation with the AdminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00093 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5601.IS S5601

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1 trator of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad2 ministration, shall maintain a program to transition 

3 selected awards from research and study phases into 

4 demonstration (in this section referred to as the 

5 ‘‘transition program’’). 

6 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In selecting awardees 

7 for demonstrations under the transition program, 

8 the Assistant Administrator shall consider tech9 nologies, missions, data systems, spacecraft, and in10 strument design that— 

11 (A) improve upon the National Oceanic 

12 and Atmospheric Administration’s satellite ar13 chitecture; 

14 (B) have a direct impact on implementing 

15 the recommendations of the Administration’s 

16 2018 Satellite Observing System Architecture 

17 Study entitled, ‘‘Building a Plan for NOAA’s 

18 21st Century Satellite Observing System’’; and 

19 (C) meet current or future mission require20 ments. 

21 (c) OPERATIONAL PLANNING.—In carrying out the 

22 transition program , the Assistant Administrator shall 

23 monitor demonstration phase progress and plan for prom24 ising results that meet mission requirements to be 


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1 transitioned into the operational satellite architecture of 

2 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

3 (d) ANNUAL PLAN.—Not less frequently than annu4 ally until 2029, the Assistant Administrator shall submit 

5 to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 

6 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com7 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate an an8 nual plan that outlines the progress made in the partner9 ship program under subsection (a), the transition program 

10 under section (b), and operational planning under sub11 section (c). 

12 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

13 amounts authorized to be appropriated to the National 

14 Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, 

15 there shall be available $20,000,000 for fiscal years 2025 

16 through 2029 to carry out to this section. 

17 SEC. 208. ADVANCED WEATHER INTERACTIVE PROCESSING 

18 SYSTEM. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 30, 

20 2030, the Under Secretary, acting through the Director 

21 of the National Weather Service, shall develop a strategy 

22 to transition operations of the Advanced Weather Inter23 active Processing System to an operational cloud-based 

24 environment in order to enable a more nimble, flexible, 

25 and mobile workforce. 


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1 (b) SERVICES.—The Under Secretary shall ensure 

2 that the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System 

3 in an operational cloud-based environment referred to in 

4 subsection (a) provides impact-based decision support 

5 services to emergency managers at the Federal, State, 

6 local, and Tribal levels, and continues to provide the fol7 lowing services: 

8 (1) Integrating and displaying forecast data, in9 cluding meteorological, hydrological, climate, ocean, 

10 satellite, and radar data, for National Weather Serv11 ice field offices and national centers. 

12 (2) Acquiring and processing observational data 

13 from sensors and local sources. 

14 (3) Providing an interactive communications 

15 system, including any relevant capabilities of the ex16 isting satellite broadcast network, to connect rel17 evant National Weather Service employees and sites. 

18 (4) Initiating the dissemination of weather, 

19 water, marine, ecological, climate, aviation, and 

20 space warnings and forecasts in a rapid and highly 

21 reliable manner. 

22 (c) ELEMENTS.—The transition of operations re23 quired under subsection (a) may include the following: 


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1 (1) Establishment or support of testbeds, pilot 

2 projects, and functional testing activities to facilitate 

3 remote evaluation and automated testing. 

4 (2) Coordinated training efforts needed for 

5 Federal and non-Federal users and operators of the 

6 Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System in 

7 an operational cloud-based environment referred to 

8 in subsection (a). 

9 (3) Evaluation of bandwidth requirements to 

10 achieve a quality user experience. 

11 (4) Installation of circuits to reduce lapses in 

12 network operations and support backup functions. 

13 (5) Establishment of a cloud-based, remotely 

14 accessible repository for data referred to in sub15 section (b)(2). 

16 (6) Development and deployment of virtualized 

17 systems to replace physical hardware at operational 

18 sites. 

19 (7) Evaluation of commercial cloud providers, 

20 including hybrid approaches, to meet mission needs. 

21 (8) Development, testing, demonstration, eval22 uation, and operationalization of forecast and warn23 ing products, consistent with the mission and sci24 entific expertise of the National Oceanic and Atmos25 pheric Administration. 


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1 (d) UPDATES TO CONGRESS.—The Under Secretary 

2 shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

3 Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com4 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

5 Senate periodic updates on the implementation of this sec6 tion. 

7 (e) CONTINUED INNOVATION.—Nothing in this sec8 tion may be construed as prohibiting the development of 

9 new forecast capabilities, sub-systems, or implementing 

10 modeling advancements on the operational computing sys11 tems of the Administration. 

12 SEC. 209. REANALYSIS AND REFORECASTING. 

13 The Under Secretary may support reanalysis and re14 forecasting activities within the National Oceanic and At15 mospheric Administration, including through weather 

16 testbeds of the Administration, for— 

17 (1) improving weather forecasts, extreme 

18 weather predictions, and weather and climate 

19 datasets; and 

20 (2) serving as training data for artificial intel21 ligence and machine learning data-driven models. 

22 SEC. 210. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WORKFORCE. 

23 (a) HIRING.—The Director of the National Weather 

24 Service shall annually submit to the Under Secretary and 

25 Congress an assessment of the milestones, timelines, and 


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1 service level expectations required for the expeditious hir2 ing and timely on-boarding of employees of the National 

3 Weather Service. Each such assessment may include the 

4 following: 

5 (1) Recommendations to outsource hiring to 

6 any entity other than the National Weather Service 

7 in order to meet such milestones, timelines, and 

8 service level expectations. 

9 (2) Determinations of the number of staff and 

10 designated positions required at each forecasting of11 fice to provide services to protect lives and property 

12 in the geographic region of responsibility. 

13 (b) HEALTH AND MORALE ASSESSMENT.—The Di14 rector of the National Weather Service shall contract or 

15 continue to partner with an entity other than the National 

16 Weather Service to conduct an assessment of medical im17 pacts, including stress and long-term health impacts, on 

18 National Weather Service employees related to required 

19 rotating shift work. Such assessment may include options 

20 for mitigating such impacts on employees and rec21 ommendations for improving benefits related to required 

22 rotating shift work. 

23 (c) ROLE OF THE DIRECTOR.—Notwithstanding the 

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1 tor of the National Weather Service shall establish service 

2 level standards based on staffing levels. 

3 (d) DESIGNATION OF SERVICE HYDROLOGIST.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

5 Weather Service may designate at least one service 

6 hydrologist at each Weather Forecast Office of the 

7 National Weather Service. 

8 (2) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this section may 

9 be construed to authorize or require a change in the 

10 authorized number of full time equivalent employees 

11 of the National Weather Service or otherwise result 

12 in the employment of any additional employees. 

13 (3) PERFORMANCE BY OTHER EMPLOYEES.— 

14 Notwithstanding paragraphs (4) and (5), the Direc15 tor of the National Weather Service may assign the 

16 performance of the responsibilities described in this 

17 subsection to such other staff of the National 

18 Weather Service as the Director considers appro19 priate 

20 (4) RESPONSIBILITIES.—In order to increase 

21 impact-based decision support services, each service 

22 coordination hydrologist designated under paragraph 

23 (1) shall, with respect to hydrology, carry out the 

24 following: 


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1 (A) Be responsible for providing service to 

2 the geographic area of responsibility covered by 

3 the Weather Forecast Office at which the serv4 ice coordination hydrologist is employed to help 

5 ensure that users of products and services of 

6 the National Weather Service can respond ef7 fectively to improve outcomes from flood events. 

8 (B) Liaise with users of products and serv9 ices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

10 Administration, such as emergency managers, 

11 the public, academia, media outlets, users in the 

12 hydropower, transportation, recreation, and ag13 ricultural communities, and forestry, land, fish14 eries, and water management interests, to 

15 evaluate the adequacy and usefulness of the 

16 products and services referred to in subpara17 graph (A), including extended range streamflow 

18 forecasts, water supply forecasts, drought out19 looks, flood inundation mapping, coastal inun20 dation, and flood warnings. 

21 (C) Collaborate with the National Water 

22 Center, River Forecast Centers, other Weather 

23 Forecast Offices, the National Integrate 

24 Drought Information System, Administration 

25 offices, and Federal, State, local, and Tribal 


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1 government agencies, as the Director considers 

2 appropriate, in developing, proposing, and im3 plementing plans to develop, modify, or tailor 

4 such products and services to improve the use5 fulness of such products and services. 

6 (D) Engage in interagency partnerships 

7 with Federal, State, local, and Tribal govern8 ment agencies to explore the use of forecast-in9 formed reservoir operations to reduce flood risk 

10 and inform decisions related to water resources 

11 management. 

12 (E) Ensure the maintenance and accuracy 

13 of flooding and water resource management 

14 partner call lists, appropriate office hydrologic 

15 service policy or procedures, and other hydro16 logic information or dissemination methodolo17 gies or strategies. 

18 (F) Work closely with Federal, State, local, 

19 and Tribal emergency and floodplain manage20 ment agencies, and other agencies relating to 

21 disaster management, to ensure a planned, co22 ordinated, and effective preparedness and re23 sponse effort. 


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1 (5) ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—A service 

2 coordination hydrologist designated under this sub3 section may, with respect to hydrology— 

4 (A) work with a State agency to develop 

5 plans for promoting more effective use of prod6 ucts and services of the National Weather Serv7 ice throughout the State concerned; 

8 (B) identify priority community prepared9 ness objectives; 

10 (C) develop plans to carry out the respon11 sibilities described in paragraph (4); and 

12 (D) conduct flooding event preparedness 

13 planning and citizen education efforts with and 

14 through various State, local, and Tribal govern15 ment agencies and other disaster management16 related organizations. 

17 (e) PILOT PROJECTS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

19 Weather Service shall— 

20 (A) perform pilot projects for trans21 formational services related to decision support 

22 services and technology, transitioning data and 

23 services to the cloud, provision of on-site deci24 sion support for emergency management oper25 ations, and transition to and communication of 


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1 probabilistic models, forecasts, and hazard in2 formation; and 

3 (B) conduct a study to assess the capabili4 ties needed to scale those pilot projects toward 

5 a new, more efficient and effective operations 

6 model. 

7 (2) SUNSET.—The authority under paragraph 

8 (1) shall terminate two years after the date of the 

9 enactment of this Act. 

10 SEC. 211. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR WEATHER FORE11 CASTING. 

12 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 (1) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘ar14 tificial intelligence’’— 

15 (A) has the meaning given that term in 

16 section 5002 of the National Artificial Intel17 ligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401); 

18 and 

19 (B) includes machine learning, neural net20 works, and natural language processing. 

21 (2) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WEATHER

22 MODEL.—The term ‘‘artificial intelligence weather 

23 model’’ means a weather model based primarily on 

24 artificial intelligence technology to project future 


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1 Earth system conditions based on machine learning 

2 using weather forecasting training datasets. 

3 (3) CURATE.—The term ‘‘curate’’, with respect 

4 to a dataset, means— 

5 (A) to collect and maintain the dataset— 

6 (i) to ensure and document its quality; 

7 and 

8 (ii) to provide metadata on its prove9 nance; and 

10 (B) to update the dataset periodically, as 

11 appropriate and practicable. 

12 (4) NUMERICAL WEATHER MODEL.—The term 

13 ‘‘numerical weather model’’ means a weather model 

14 based primarily on coupled Earth System processes 

15 that uses numerical computation to forecast future 

16 Earth system conditions. 

17 (5) OBSERVATIONAL DATA.—The term ‘‘obser18 vational data’’ means data and metadata from ac19 tual observations of environmental conditions, in20 cluding remote sensing and in situ platforms. 

21 (6) SYNTHETIC DATA.—The term ‘‘synthetic 

22 data’’ means data produced from a model or statis23 tical method in order to fill gaps in observational 

24 data. 


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1 (7) WEATHER FORECASTING TRAINING

2 DATASET.—The term ‘‘weather forecasting training 

3 dataset’’— 

4 (A) means a dataset that contains contin5 uous global observational data and synthetic 

6 data for Earth system variables relevant to 

7 weather forecasting, aviation weather, marine 

8 weather, and hydrology and water management; 

9 and 

10 (B) may include model reanalysis and fore11 casts initialized through a data assimilation sys12 tem. 

13 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to— 

14 (1) improve accuracy and timeliness of weather, 

15 water, and space weather forecasts and effective dis16 semination of critical information; 

17 (2) strengthen analytic capacity to inform re18 source deployments in response to and to mitigate 

19 harm from weather, water, and space weather haz20 ards through the mandated exploration and use of 

21 artificial intelligence by Federal agencies; 

22 (3) strengthen public-private partnerships to ac23 celerate adoption and outcomes of the use of artifi24 cial intelligence in response to and to mitigate such 

25 harm; and 


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1 (4) strengthen public-private partnerships in 

2 highly technical, high-risk, and high-reward fields re3 lated to weather, water, and space weather forecasts. 

4 (c) EARTH SYSTEM FORECASTING AND INFORMA5 TION DELIVERY.— 

6 (1) TRAINING DATASETS.—Not later than 4 

7 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

8 Under Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary 

9 of Energy, the Administrator of the National Aero10 nautics and Space Administration, the Director of 

11 the National Science Foundation, the Director of the 

12 National Center for Atmospheric Research, the 

13 Interagency Council on Advancing Meteorological 

14 Services, other appropriate Federal advisory commit15 tees as determined by the Under Secretary, and such 

16 other technical experts as the Under Secretary con17 siders appropriate, shall develop and curate com18 prehensive weather forecasting training datasets 

19 with relevant Earth system data, quality informa20 tion, and metadata necessary for weather fore21 casting. 

22 (2) USE OF EXISTING DATASETS.—In order to 

23 speed the development of the weather forecasting 

24 training datasets required under paragraph (1), the 

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1 tent practicable build on, existing Earth system rea2 nalysis datasets of the Federal Government. 

3 (3) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WEATHER

4 MODEL.— 

5 (A) GLOBAL MODEL.—In carrying out this 

6 subsection, the Under Secretary, in consultation 

7 with appropriate Federal advisory committees 

8 as determined by the Under Secretary, may de9 velop and test a global weather model based on 

10 artificial intelligence technologies utilizing data 

11 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad12 ministration to the extent possible. 

13 (B) REGIONAL AND LOCAL MODELS.—In 

14 addition to a global weather model under sub15 paragraph (A), the Under Secretary may exper16 iment with regional and local weather models 

17 based on artificial intelligence technologies. 

18 (4) USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO DIS19 SEMINATE INFORMATION.—In coordination with an 

20 artificial intelligence weather model or models devel21 oped under paragraph (3), the Under Secretary may 

22 explore the use of artificial intelligence to enhance 

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1 nication for improved public understanding and pre2 paredness. 

3 (5) CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR OBSERVATIONS, 

4 BASIC RESEARCH, AND NUMERICAL WEATHER MOD5 ELS.—Notwithstanding the requirements of this sub6 section, the Under Secretary shall continue to sup7 port and advance the activities of the National Oce8 anic and Atmospheric Administration— 

9 (A) to collect and acquire traditional and 

10 novel observational data relevant for artificial 

11 intelligence and numerical weather, water, and 

12 space weather forecasting; 

13 (B) to advance research on the Earth sys14 tem and numerical weather model forecasting; 

15 (C) to develop and advance numerical 

16 Earth system modeling for predictions; 

17 (D) to develop weather model data post18 processing techniques; and 

19 (E) to improve data assimilation tech20 niques. 

21 (6) OBSERVING SYSTEM COVERAGE.—In car22 rying out this subsection, the Under Secretary may 

23 evaluate the use of cost functions in data-driven ma24 chine learning model training to balance inequities 

25 in observing system coverage and data poor areas. 


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1 (7) UNCERTAINTY QUANTIFICATION RE2 SEARCH.—In carrying out this subsection, the Under 

3 Secretary may develop uncertainty quantification re4 search for the purpose of accurate environmental 

5 risk and hazard communications of probabilistic pre6 dictions and forecasts. 

7 (8) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, and not less fre9 quently than every 2 years thereafter through 2035, 

10 the Under Secretary shall submit to the Committee 

11 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

12 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and 

13 Technology of the House of Representatives a report 

14 on the activities conducted under this subsection. 

15 (d) ADVANCED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPLICA16 TIONS FOR WEATHER AND INFORMATION DELIVERY.— 

17 The Under Secretary shall explore advanced applications 

18 of artificial intelligence to improve weather forecasts and 

19 information delivery, such as by— 

20 (1) improving data assimilation; 

21 (2) accounting for coupled Earth system proc22 esses; 

23 (3) using artificial intelligence weather models 

24 to generate ensemble forecasts to more accurately 

25 assess flow-dependent forecast uncertainties; and 


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1 (4) improving impact-based decision support to 

2 diverse users and communities for greater societal 

3 benefits based on those forecasts. 

4 (e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON USE OF ARTIFICIAL

5 INTELLIGENCE WEATHER, WATER, AND SPACE WEATH6 ER MODELS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

8 provide— 

9 (A) technical assistance, data access, and 

10 support for forecasters, scientists, social sci11 entists, and engineers to test and evaluate the 

12 use and effectiveness of the artificial intel13 ligence models of the National Oceanic and At14 mospheric Administration, including within the 

15 testbeds of the Administration; 

16 (B) best practices on providing forecasts 

17 based on outputs from artificial intelligence 

18 weather models and numerical weather models, 

19 or a combination thereof; and 

20 (C) support for emergency managers to 

21 make operational decisions based on outputs 

22 from artificial intelligence weather models and 

23 numerical weather models, or a combination 

24 thereof. 

25 (2) ASSESSMENT OF WEATHER MODELS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary 

2 shall support the development of a common 

3 framework for the assessment of numerical 

4 weather models and artificial intelligence weath5 er models by comparing model output and ob6 servational data over a period of time in the 

7 past through the use of such methodologies as 

8 the Under Secretary considers appropriate. 

9 (B) BEST PRACTICES.—In carrying out 

10 this paragraph, the Under Secretary may de11 velop and disseminate best practices in collabo12 ration with— 

13 (i) the National Institute of Standards 

14 and Technology, the National Aeronautics 

15 and Space Administration, the National 

16 Science Foundation, and the Department 

17 of Energy; 

18 (ii) academic and research institu19 tions; and 

20 (iii) the private sector. 

21 (3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—In carrying out 

22 this subsection, the Under Secretary may provide 

23 technical assistance, best practices, and support re24 quired under paragraph (1) through the National 

25 Weather Service. 


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1 (4) INDEPENDENT STUDY ON THE IMPACTS OF

2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WEATHER, WATER, AND

3 SPACE WEATHER MODELS.—The Under Secretary 

4 may enter into an agreement with the National 

5 Academy of Sciences or another entity as determined 

6 appropriate by the Under Secretary to assess the 

7 impacts of artificial intelligence weather models on 

8 the weather enterprise and make recommendations 

9 to improve the integration of such models in oper10 ational forecasting. 

11 (f) PARTNERSHIPS FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL INNO12 VATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary may 

14 explore novel structures for partnerships with pri15 vate, academic, and international entities for re16 search and development of transformative innovation 

17 in weather forecasting and other environmental fore18 casts— 

19 (A) to further the understanding of weath20 er, water, and space weather, and their societal 

21 impact; 

22 (B) to advance the science of weather and 

23 water forecasting, including seasonal and sub24 seasonal forecasting; and 


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1 (C) to develop, evaluate, and transition ar2 tificial intelligence weather, water, and hazard 

3 forecasting applications to operations. 

4 (2) CO-INVESTMENT.—Subject to applicable 

5 law, the Under Secretary may consider and adopt 

6 novel co-investment strategies with the private aca7 demic and international sectors to carry out para8 graph (1), including— 

9 (A) non-Federal Government contributions 

10 to resource and support high-risk, high-return 

11 research and development in environmental 

12 forecasting, data science, artificial intelligence, 

13 and related fields; 

14 (B) shared rights to intellectual property 

15 from research and development activities under 

16 this subsection; and 

17 (C) other approaches to sharing resources 

18 and results under this subsection. 

19 (g) AVAILABILITY OF DATASET.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

21 develop and implement a plan to make available to 

22 the public, at no cost and subject to applicable law 

23 and policy, the following: 


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1 (A) Operational artificial intelligence 

2 weather models developed by the National Oce3 anic and Atmospheric Administration. 

4 (B) Artificial intelligence weather models 

5 that are not operational models, including ex6 perimental and developmental models, as the 

7 Under Secretary determines appropriate. 

8 (C) Applicable information and documenta9 tion for artificial intelligence weather models 

10 described in subparagraphs (A) and (B), includ11 ing a description of intended model outputs. 

12 (D) Subject to subsection (i), all data 

13 owned by the Federal Government and data 

14 that the Under Secretary has the legal right to 

15 redistribute that are associated with artificial 

16 intelligence weather models made available to 

17 the public pursuant to the plan and used in 

18 operational forecasting by the Administration, 

19 including— 

20 (i) relevant metadata; and 

21 (ii) data used for operational artificial 

22 intelligence weather models used by the 

23 Administration. 

24 (2) ACCOMMODATIONS.—In developing and im25 plementing the plan under paragraph (1), the Under 


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1 Secretary may make such accommodations as the 

2 Under Secretary considers appropriate to ensure 

3 that the public release of any artificial intelligence 

4 weather model, information, documentation, or data 

5 pursuant to the plan does not jeopardize— 

6 (A) national security; 

7 (B) intellectual property or redistribution 

8 rights, including under titles 17 and 35, United 

9 States Code; 

10 (C) any trade secret or commercial or fi11 nancial information subject to section 552(b)(4) 

12 of title 5, United States Code; 

13 (D) any models or data that are otherwise 

14 restricted by contract or other written agree15 ment; or 

16 (E) the mission of the Administration to 

17 protect lives and property. 

18 (3) REPORT.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

21 Under Secretary shall submit to Congress a re22 port, in both unclassified and classified form, 

23 regarding the risks to the economic and intellec24 tual security of the United States from foreign 


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1 countries of concern through access by those 

2 countries to weather data in the United States. 

3 (B) ELEMENTS.—The report required 

4 under subparagraph (A) shall include— 

5 (i) a full analysis of the national, in6 tellectual, and economic security implica7 tions for the United States with respect to 

8 intellectual property theft or cyber or 

9 human espionage through access to weath10 er data; and 

11 (ii) conclusions of the Under Sec12 retary and recommendations for legislative 

13 and administrative action, if any. 

14 (C) FOREIGN COUNTRY OF CONCERN DE15 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘‘foreign 

16 country of concern’’ has the meaning given that 

17 term in section 9901 of the William M. (Mac) 

18 Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act 

19 for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 4651). 

20 (h) RETENTION OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EXPER21 TISE.—Subject to applicable law, the Under Secretary 

22 may consider novel methods to recruit, retrain, and retain 

23 expert personnel to support activities under this section, 

24 including by— 


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1 (1) using methods to be competitive with sala2 ries outside the Federal Government; 

3 (2) developing staff exchange programs and 

4 training programs; and 

5 (3) leveraging diverse hiring strategies. 

6 (i) PROTECTION OF NATIONAL SECURITY INTER7 ESTS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

9 provision of this section, the Under Secretary, in 

10 consultation with the Secretary of Defense, as ap11 propriate, may withhold models or data used under 

12 this section if the Under Secretary determines doing 

13 so to be necessary to protect the national security 

14 interests of the United States. 

15 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

16 section shall be construed to supersede any other 

17 provision of law governing the protection of the na18 tional security interests of the United States. 

19 SEC. 212. COMPOSITION OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND ATMOS20 PHERIC OBSERVATIONS. 

21 (a) ASSESSMENTS.—Not later than 2 years after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

23 shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 

24 a report that includes the following: 


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1 (1) An identification of Federal observation ca2 pabilities and data gaps related to the composition 

3 of Earth’s atmosphere, including the troposphere 

4 and stratosphere. 

5 (2) An analysis of Federal efforts that advance 

6 scientific understanding of the effects on the Earth’s 

7 radiation budget of direct or indirect actions that 

8 may change the composition of Earth’s atmosphere. 

9 (3) The current and projected use of ground 

10 based, space based, and maritime based remote and 

11 in situ sensing capabilities, autonomous and manned 

12 aerial platforms, and other commercially available 

13 technologies and platforms of opportunity to accel14 erate research and increase observations and moni15 toring of Earth’s atmosphere. 

16 (4) Recommendations for the adaptation or ex17 pansion of technologies and platforms identified 

18 under paragraph (3). 

19 (5) An identification and prioritization of addi20 tional observation and analysis capabilities needed to 

21 ensure comprehensive monitoring that detects future 

22 changes in atmospheric composition. 

23 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In preparing an assessment 

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1 ducted by Federal agencies, the National Research Coun2 cil, or other entities. 

3 (c) PILOT PROJECTS.— 

4 (1) PILOT PROJECTS.—The Under Secretary 

5 may conduct pilot projects of atmospheric composi6 tion observational systems and platforms including— 

7 (A) the use of atmospheric observing in8 struments on commercial and uncrewed air9 craft; 

10 (B) the use of atmospheric and oceanic ob11 serving instruments on uncrewed ocean surface 

12 platforms or deployed on commercial or other 

13 nondedicated ocean vessels; and 

14 (C) in-situ observation capability to con15 duct regular atmospheric observations of the 

16 troposphere and stratosphere. 

17 (2) CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—The 

18 Under Secretary shall consult and coordinate with 

19 relevant Federal agencies to develop processes for 

20 the appropriate deployment of systems and plat21 forms pursuant to pilot projects required by para22 graph (1). 

23 (d) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS.— 

24 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Under 

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1 essary to carry out this section, with governmental and 

2 nongovernmental entities— 

3 (1) for the purchase of atmospheric composition 

4 data from commercial providers; 

5 (2) for the hosting of observational instruments 

6 on government or private platforms; and 

7 (3) to leverage data from international plat8 forms as appropriate. 

9 (e) DEFINITION OF APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF

10 CONGRESS.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate com11 mittees of Congress’’ means— 

12 (1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

13 Transportation of the Senate; and 

14 (2) the Committee on Science, Space, and 

15 Technology of the House of Representatives. 

16 SEC. 213. PROJECT TO IMPROVE FORECASTS OF COASTAL 

17 MARINE FOG. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall con19 duct a project to improve forecasts of coastal marine fog. 

20 (b) GOAL.—The goal of the project required under 

21 subsection (a) is to enhance vessel safety and reduce the 

22 economic impact of coastal marine fog events, with a focus 

23 on— 

24 (1) increasing the number of marine-based ob25 servations through additional Federal platforms and 


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1 commercially acquired observations in locations 

2 where impacts from marine fog and reduced visi3 bility have major safety and economic impacts, in4 cluding through the use of— 

5 (A) buoys; 

6 (B) meteorological stations measuring visi7 bility, temperature, dewpoint, and wind speed 

8 and direction as a stand-alone or co-located 

9 with water level sensors, such as those that are 

10 part of the physical oceanographic observation 

11 system program of the National Oceanic and 

12 Atmospheric Administration; 

13 (C) stationary platforms or drifting instru14 ments; 

15 (D) vessels; 

16 (E) unmanned systems; 

17 (F) remote sensing technologies, including 

18 rapid refresh hyperspectral satellite imagery; 

19 and 

20 (G) advanced algorithms that extract ac21 tionable information from observational data, 

22 including early detection and regular moni23 toring of marine fog; 

24 (2) advancing geographic coverage, resolution, 

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1 ing, when feasible, additional locations and advance2 ments in marine channel forecast capability; 

3 (3) improving communication of marine fog 

4 advisories by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

5 Administration; 

6 (4) communicating risks posed by hazardous 

7 marine fog events in a way that maximizes informed 

8 decision making by the public; and 

9 (5) providing decision support services based on 

10 environmental information that is actionable to the 

11 recipient of a marine fog advisory. 

12 (c) STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.—In implementing 

13 the project required under subsection (a), the Under Sec14 retary shall meet with public and private stakeholders re15 garding the planning, development, and implementation of 

16 the project. 

17 (d) TRIBAL ENGAGEMENT.—The Under Secretary 

18 shall meet with Indian tribes (as defined in section 4 of 

19 the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

20 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)) regarding the planning, develop21 ment, and implementation of the project required under 

22 subsection (a). 

23 (e) PROJECT PLAN.—Not later than one year after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

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1 section (a) that details the specific research, development, 

2 and technology transfer activities, as well as corresponding 

3 resources and timelines, necessary to achieve the goal set 

4 forth under subsection (b). 

5 TITLE III—COMMERCIAL WEATH6 ER AND ENVIRONMENTAL OB7 SERVATIONS 

8 SEC. 301. COMMERCIAL DATA PROGRAM. 

9 The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

10 Act of 2017 is amended by striking section 302 (15 U.S.C. 

11 8532) and inserting the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 302. COMMERCIAL DATA PROGRAM. 

13 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Sec14 retary, in coordination with the heads of appropriate of15 fices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis16 tration, shall maintain a Commercial Data Program to co17 ordinate and execute acquisition of weather and environ18 mental data and services from private sector entities for 

19 operational use. 

20 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The Under Secretary 

21 may acquire satellite, ground-based, airborne, or marine22 based in situ, remote sensing, or crowd-sourced data and 

23 services for operational use relating to weather and envi24 ronmental forecasting and modeling. 


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1 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION AND COLLABORATION.—The 

2 Under Secretary shall ensure the Commercial Data Pro3 gram coordinates, collaborates, and ensures access to data 

4 across the Administration, including among the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) The National Mesonet Program. 

6 ‘‘(2) The Aircraft Based Observation Program. 

7 ‘‘(3) The National Integrated Drought Informa8 tion System, including the National Coordinated Soil 

9 Moisture Monitoring Network. 

10 ‘‘(4) The National Integrated Flood Informa11 tion System. 

12 ‘‘(5) The Global Ocean Monitoring and Observ13 ing Program. 

14 ‘‘(6) The National Data Buoy Center. 

15 ‘‘(7) The Uncrewed Systems Operation Center. 

16 ‘‘(8) The Ocean Exploration Program. 

17 ‘‘(9) Any other program or office the Under 

18 Secretary determines appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(d) STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS.—Not later 

20 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this sec21 tion and on a continuous basis thereafter, the Under Sec22 retary shall publish data, metadata, and service standards 

23 and specifications required for acquired observation serv24 ices and data for use, licensing, and attribution to ensure 

25 quality, impact, and compatibility of such services and 


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1 data with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra2 tion modeling capabilities, meteorological situational 

3 awareness, and forecasting. 

4 ‘‘(e) PRIORITIZATION.—In acquiring data and serv5 ices from private sector entities, the Under Secretary shall 

6 prioritize obtaining surface-based, airborne-based, space7 based, and coastal- and ocean-based data, metadata, and 

8 services for operational use from entities that participate 

9 in the Commercial Data Pilot Program or other programs 

10 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

11 that acquire commercial data or observations. 

12 ‘‘(f) NOAA OBSERVING SYSTEMS AND FLEET COUN13 CILS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

15 maintain the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad16 ministration Observing Systems Council and the 

17 NOAA Fleet Council (in this subsection referred to 

18 as the ‘Councils’) to provide strategic recommenda19 tions and guidance regarding the prioritization, de20 sign, development, acquisition, upgrading, lifecycle, 

21 performance monitoring, and retiring of major com22 ponents of observing systems and portfolios, includ23 ing related to the acquisition of commercial weather 

24 and environmental data and services. 


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1 ‘‘(2) LINE OFFICE COORDINATION.—The Coun2 cils shall ensure coordination and adherence to uni3 form policies by providing guidance to all line offices 

4 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis5 tration engaged in observing systems portfolio de6 sign, technology, development, execution, and oper7 ation. 

8 ‘‘(3) COMMITTEE.—The Under Secretary shall 

9 maintain a Committee within the Councils to develop 

10 and approve procedural directives, guides, or hand11 books relevant to management of data and informa12 tion, including commercial data, and coordinate data 

13 governance and management practices across the 

14 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

15 to promote consistent processes. 

16 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

18 appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

19 2025 through 2029 to carry out this section. 

20 ‘‘(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

21 Congress that the Under Secretary should seek to 

22 enter into contracts or other appropriate agreements 

23 that enable the expenditure, to the maximum extent 

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1 priated or otherwise made available in a fiscal year 

2 to carry out this section. 

3 ‘‘(h) DATA AND HOSTED PAYLOADS.—Notwith4 standing any other provision of law, the Secretary of Com5 merce may enter into agreements relating to the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) The purchase of weather and environ7 mental data and services through contracts with pri8 vate sector commercial data and service providers. 

9 ‘‘(2) The placement of weather instruments on 

10 co-hosted Federal, international, or private space, 

11 airborne, maritime, or ground platforms. 

12 ‘‘(i) OMBUDSMAN.—The Under Secretary shall estab13 lish or designate at least one Ombudsman position within 

14 the Commercial Data Program to implement the rec15 ommendations of the Observing System Council under 

16 subsection (e) related to commercial weather and environ17 mental data and services acquisitions. Such an Ombuds18 man shall act as the liaison between private sector data 

19 and service providers and the National Oceanic and At20 mospheric Administration with respect to receiving rec21 ommendations and resolving issues related to engagement, 

22 testing, contracting, or other areas related to the Adminis23 tration’s efforts to acquire commercial weather and envi24 ronmental data and services. 


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1 ‘‘(j) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the 

2 date of the enactment of this section, the Under Secretary 

3 shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

4 Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com5 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

6 Senate a report evaluating the activities and needed au7 thorities related to data governance and management 

8 practices, including acquisition, collection, documentation, 

9 quality control, validation, reprocessing, storage, retrieval, 

10 dissemination, and long-term preservation activities across 

11 all National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration line, 

12 staff, and corporate offices.’’. 

13 SEC. 302. COMMERCIAL DATA PILOT PROGRAM. 

14 The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

15 Act of 2017 is amended by striking section 303 (15 U.S.C. 

16 8533) and inserting the following new section: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 303. COMMERCIAL DATA PILOT PROGRAM. 

18 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT.—Within the Com19 mercial Data Program under section 302, there shall, to 

20 the maximum extent practicable, be a Commercial Data 

21 Pilot Program to engage with external partners and pro22 viders to test and develop shared standards and meth23 odologies for quality, use, licensing, and attribution of ob24 servation services and data, and to ensure quality, impact, 

25 and compatibility of such services and data with National 


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1 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration modeling capa2 bilities, meteorological situational awareness, and fore3 casting. The Program is authorized to test and evaluate 

4 all sources and types of observation services, imagery, 

5 products, and data from private sector entities, including 

6 new and innovative surface-based, airborne-based, space7 based, and coastal- and ocean-based data, metadata, and 

8 model components. 

9 ‘‘(b) CRITERIA.—The Under Secretary shall ensure 

10 that data acquired through the Commercial Data Pilot 

11 Program described in subsection (a) meets the most recent 

12 standards and specifications required for observation serv13 ices and data as published pursuant to section 302(c). 

14 ‘‘(c) PILOT CONTRACTS.—The Under Secretary shall, 

15 through an open competition, regularly enter into pilot 

16 contracts with private sector entities capable of providing 

17 observation services and data referred to in subsection (a) 

18 that meet the standards and specifications published pur19 suant to section 302(c) for so providing such services and 

20 data in a manner that allows the Under Secretary to cali21 brate and evaluate such services and data for use in Na22 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration activities. 

23 ‘‘(d) ASSESSMENT OF VIABILITY.—The Under Sec24 retary shall annually assess and submit to the Committee 

25 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 


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1 and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 

2 the House of Representatives a summary of the pilot con3 tracts entered into pursuant to subsection (c), an assess4 ment of the extent to which such contracts meet the stand5 ards and specifications published pursuant to section 

6 302(c), and any additional information determined nec7 essary related to the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) The viability of integrating observation 

9 services and data from private sector entities into 

10 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

11 forecasts and models. 

12 ‘‘(2) The expected value added or improvements 

13 from such services and data if integrated into Na14 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fore15 casts and models. 

16 ‘‘(3) The accuracy, quality, timeliness, validity, 

17 reliability, usability, information technology security, 

18 and cost-effectiveness of obtaining observation serv19 ices and data from private sector entities. 

20 ‘‘(4) If the Under Secretary determines it is 

21 viable to integrate such services and data into the 

22 forecasts and models of the National Oceanic and 

23 Atmospheric Administration, the steps to integrate, 

24 not later than one year after the date of the deter25 mination, such services and data into operational use 


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1 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis2 tration or any associated challenges in doing so. 

3 ‘‘(e) OBTAINING FUTURE DATA.—If an assessment 

4 under subsection (d) demonstrates the ability of services 

5 and data from private sector entities to meet the stand6 ards and specifications published pursuant to section 

7 302(c), the Under Secretary shall— 

8 ‘‘(1) when cost-effective and feasible, obtain ob9 servation services and data from private sector enti10 ties through the Commercial Data Program under 

11 section 302; 

12 ‘‘(2) as early as possible in the acquisition proc13 ess for any future National Oceanic and Atmos14 pheric Administration satellite system, determine 

15 whether there is a suitable, cost-effective, commer16 cial capability available or that will be available to 

17 meet applicable instrument, spacecraft, or system re18 quirements before completion of the critical design 

19 phase of such planned satellite system; 

20 ‘‘(3) if the Under Secretary determines under 

21 paragraph (2) that a suitable, cost-effective, com22 mercial capability is or will be available, determine 

23 whether and how such capability is in the national 

24 interest if developed as a solely governmental sys25 tem; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

2 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 

3 Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

4 House of Representatives a report detailing any de5 terminations made under paragraphs (2) and (3). 

6 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

7 amounts authorized to be appropriated pursuant to sec8 tion 302 to carry out such section, not less than 15 per9 cent of such amounts each fiscal year are authorized to 

10 be appropriated to carry out this section.’’. 

11 SEC. 303. CONTRACTING AUTHORITY AND AVOIDANCE OF 

12 DUPLICATION. 

13 Title III of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

14 Innovation Act of 2017 is amended by adding at the end 

15 the following new section: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 304. CONTRACTING AUTHORITY AND AVOIDANCE OF 

17 DUPLICATION. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with the authorities 

19 of other Federal agencies that contract and partner with 

20 private sector entities, including under section 3903 of 

21 title 41, United States Code, the Under Secretary is au22 thorized to use contracting mechanisms and enter into 

23 agreements that use multiyear contract options. In car24 rying out sections 302 and 303, the Under Secretary shall, 

25 to the greatest extent possible— 


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1 ‘‘(1) enter into year-long or multiyear contracts 

2 using contracting mechanisms that foster resiliency 

3 of service and data purchased; 

4 ‘‘(2) partner and contract with multiple obser5 vation service and data providers simultaneously to 

6 reduce risks of data gaps and improve mission 

7 robustness; and 

8 ‘‘(3) use authorities, such as additional forms of 

9 transaction agreements under section 301, that 

10 allow for innovative partnerships with private sector 

11 entities. 

12 ‘‘(b) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this title may be 

13 construed as infringing on the acquisition authority or 

14 strategy of Federal entities authorized under title 10, 

15 United States Code. 

16 ‘‘(c) UNNECESSARY DUPLICATION.—In meeting the 

17 requirements under this title, the Under Secretary shall 

18 avoid unnecessary duplication between the National Oce19 anic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aero20 nautics and Space Administration, other Federal depart21 ments and agencies, and private sector entities, including 

22 relating to corresponding expenditures of funds and em23 ployment of personnel by— 

24 ‘‘(1) coordinating existing activities with other 

25 civilian Federal departments and agencies which 


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1 provide, contract, or partner with private sector enti2 ties to acquire, weather and environmental observa3 tions and data; and 

4 ‘‘(2) coordinating and soliciting weather and en5 vironmental observations and data requirements and 

6 needs from other civilian Federal departments and 

7 agencies to be acquired by the Commercial Data 

8 Program under section 302. 

9 ‘‘(d) FAIR COMPENSATION FOR INTERAGENCY

10 NEEDS.—The Under Secretary, to the maximum extent 

11 practicable, shall ensure that Federal departments and 

12 agencies utilizing services and data under sections 302 

13 and 303 fairly compensate the National Oceanic and At14 mospheric Administration, or the non-Federal entities pro15 viding such services or data, as appropriate, for use.’’. 

16 SEC. 304. DATA ASSIMILATION, MANAGEMENT, AND SHAR17 ING PRACTICES. 

18 Title III of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

19 Innovation Act of 2017, as amended by section 303 of this 

20 Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following 

21 new section: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 305. DATA ASSIMILATION, MANAGEMENT, AND SHAR23 ING PRACTICES. 

24 ‘‘(a) DATA STANDARDS.—The Under Secretary, in 

25 collaboration with the weather enterprise, shall seek to esVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00135 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5601.IS S5601

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1 tablish consistent and open data and metadata standards 

2 to support open science, including simple cloud-optimized 

3 data formats and application programming interfaces that 

4 support findability, accessibility, usability, and 

5 preservability. 

6 ‘‘(b) DATA INFRASTRUCTURE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in 

8 consultation with the Chief Information Officer and 

9 appropriate program heads, shall consolidate and ar10 range data infrastructure needs to ensure efficient 

11 and effective data transfer between National Oceanic 

12 and Atmospheric Administration offices by consid13 ering the use of commercial cloud technologies, or 

14 similar hybrid structures, to host and transmit data 

15 and metadata. 

16 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL PARTNERSHIPS.—In carrying 

17 out paragraph (1), the Under Secretary may partner 

18 with the heads of other Federal departments and 

19 agencies, including the National Aeronautics and 

20 Space Administration, the Department of Energy, 

21 the United States Space Force, the United States 

22 Coast Guard, the United States Navy, the Federal 

23 Aviation Administration, the United States Forest 

24 Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the 

25 National Science Foundation, and the United States 


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1 Geological Survey, to collocate data with joint utility 

2 and support a transition to cloud architectures, in3 cluding commercial cloud networks. 

4 ‘‘(3) LONG TERM DATA ARCHIVE.—The Under 

5 Secretary shall ensure the long-term management, 

6 maintenance, and stewardship of archival data and 

7 metadata acquired through the Commercial Data 

8 Program under section 302 is conducted within the 

9 National Centers for Environmental Information. 

10 ‘‘(c) DATA SHARING WITH THE WEATHER ENTER11 PRISE.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the greatest extent 

13 practicable, the Under Secretary shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) continue to ensure the delivery of 

15 data through sound and robust infrastructure, 

16 such as data sharing capabilities of the industry 

17 proving grounds; and 

18 ‘‘(B) make accessible to members of the 

19 weather enterprise that are United States per20 sons data that is— 

21 ‘‘(i) not subject to redistribution con22 tract permissions; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) purchased through the Commer24 cial Data Program under section 302 or 


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1 shared through international government 

2 partners. 

3 ‘‘(2) DATA ASSIMILATED INTO MODELS OR

4 FORECASTS.—If data described in paragraph (1)(B) 

5 must be assimilated into numerical weather pre6 diction models or automated forecast guidance to 

7 satisfy terms of a redistribution contract, the Under 

8 Secretary shall make accessible without delay to 

9 members of the weather enterprise that are United 

10 States persons the numerical weather prediction 

11 model or automated forecast guidance output, as the 

12 case may be. 

13 ‘‘(d) DATA ASSIMILATION.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in 

15 coordination with the Commercial Data Program 

16 under section 302, the National Centers for Envi17 ronmental Prediction, the National Centers for Envi18 ronmental Information, the Office of Oceanic and 

19 Atmospheric Research, and any other relevant of20 fices within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

21 Administration, shall establish a program to test, 

22 advance, and implement data assimilation methods, 

23 which may include artificial intelligence, machine 

24 learning, data pre- and post-processing, efficient 

25 input and output, and next-generation algorithms. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DATA ASSIMILATION UNIVERSITY CONSOR2 TIUM.—Through the program established pursuant 

3 to paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall estab4 lish a consortium consisting of institutions of higher 

5 education (as such term is defined in section 101 of 

6 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

7 1001)) to address critical research challenges for 

8 data assimilation and foster a growing data assimi9 lation workforce. The consortium shall seek to— 

10 ‘‘(A) solve critical research issues for data 

11 assimilation through innovative research; 

12 ‘‘(B) increase significantly the number of 

13 students, including Ph.D. candidates and other 

14 graduate level students, in data assimilation; 

15 ‘‘(C) use modern software and frameworks, 

16 such as the Joint Effort for Data Assimilation 

17 Integration, or emerging technologies, such as 

18 artificial intelligence and machine learning tech19 niques, to conduct data assimilation research 

20 and development and facilitate research- to- op21 erations efforts to improve weather modeling 

22 and prediction; 

23 ‘‘(D) identify and prioritize critical re24 search areas in data assimilation and facilitate 

25 operations to research efforts; 


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1 ‘‘(E) establish and enable an effective col2 laboration infrastructure between National Oce3 anic and Atmospheric Administration facilities, 

4 such as laboratories, centers, or joint agency in5 stitutes, and the research community, including 

6 a mechanism for external partners to host Ad7 ministration employees; and 

8 ‘‘(F) establish mechanisms to enable all 

9 members of the consortium to archive and ac10 cess data required to support the work under 

11 this subsection. 

12 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this sub13 section, the Under Secretary shall ensure the Na14 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 

15 its associated activities focus on research-to-oper16 ations and operations-to-research efforts, including 

17 by coordinating and collaborating with the Joint 

18 Center for Satellite Data Assimilation. 

19 ‘‘(4) DATA ASSIMILATION, MANAGEMENT, AND

20 SHARING PRACTICES SECURITY.—The activities au21 thorized under this subsection shall be conducted in 

22 a manner consistent with subtitle D of title VI of 

23 the Research and Development, Competition, and 

24 Innovation Act (enacted as division B of Public Law 

25 117–167; 42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.). 


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1 ‘‘(e) STUDY ON DATA MANAGEMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

3 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

4 Under Secretary shall seek to enter into an agree5 ment with a non-Federal entity to conduct a study 

6 on matters concerning data practices and manage7 ment needs at the National Oceanic and Atmos8 pheric Administration. In conducting the study, the 

9 outside entity shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) assess the costs and benefits of cur11 rent data management needs for observational 

12 and operational mission requirements; 

13 ‘‘(B) develop recommendations regarding 

14 how to make more robust and cost-effective the 

15 data portfolio of the Administration; 

16 ‘‘(C) identify data infrastructure tech17 nologies and needs that are essential to the per18 formance of modeling systems of the Adminis19 tration; 

20 ‘‘(D) assess the sharing needs and prac21 tices of the Administration for both internal 

22 and external dissemination; 

23 ‘‘(E) develop recommendations for methods 

24 of data infrastructure sharing, including data 

25 purchased from the commercial sector; and 


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1 ‘‘(F) develop recommendations for data 

2 standards, formats, and protocols to support ar3 tificial intelligence and machine learning tech4 niques. 

5 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Of 

6 amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Com7 mercial Data Program under section 302, 

8 $1,000,000 shall be available to carry out the study 

9 under paragraph (1) to remain available until ex10 pended.’’. 

11 SEC. 305. CLERICAL AMENDMENT. 

12 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Weather 

13 Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is 

14 amended by striking the items relating to sections 302 and 

15 303 and inserting the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 302. Commercial Data Program. 

‘‘Sec. 303. Commercial Data Pilot Program. 

‘‘Sec. 304. Contracting authority and avoidance of duplication. 

‘‘Sec. 305. Data assimilation, management, and sharing practices.’’. 

16 TITLE IV—COMMUNICATING 

17 WEATHER TO THE PUBLIC 

18 SEC. 401. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this title: 

20 (1) HAZARDOUS WEATHER OR WATER

21 EVENTS.—The term ‘‘hazardous weather or water 

22 events’’ means weather or water events that have a 


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1 high risk of loss of life or property, including the fol2 lowing: 

3 (A) Severe storms, such as hurricanes and 

4 short-fused, small-scale hazardous weather or 

5 hydrologic events produced by thunderstorms, 

6 including large hail, damaging winds, torna7 does, and flash floods. 

8 (B) Winter storms, such as freezing or fro9 zen precipitation (including freezing rain, sleet, 

10 and snow), or combined effects of freezing or 

11 frozen precipitation and strong winds. 

12 (C) Other weather hazards, such as ex13 treme heat or cold, wildfire, drought, dense fog, 

14 high winds, and river, coastal, or lakeshore 

15 flooding. 

16 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

17 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

18 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High19 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

20 (3) NOAA WEATHER RADIO.—The term 

21 ‘‘NOAA Weather Radio’’ means the National Oce22 anic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Radio 

23 All Hazards network. 

24 (4) PUBLIC CLOUD.—The term ‘‘public cloud’’ 

25 means an information technology model in which 


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1 service providers make computing services, including 

2 compute and storage and develop-and-deploy envi3 ronments and applications, available on-demand to 

4 organizations and individuals over the public inter5 net or other means that allows for the widest dis6 semination of information. 

7 (5) WATCH; WARNING.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘‘watch’’ and 

9 ‘‘warning’’, with respect to a hazardous weather 

10 or water event, mean products issued by the 

11 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra12 tion, intended for consumption by the general 

13 public, to alert the general public to the poten14 tial for or presence of such event and to inform 

15 action to prevent loss of life or property. 

16 (B) EXCEPTION.—The terms ‘‘watch’’ and 

17 ‘‘warning’’ do not include technical or special18 ized meteorological or hydrological forecasts, 

19 outlooks, or model guidance products. 

20 SEC. 402. HAZARDOUS WEATHER OR WATER EVENT RISK 

21 COMMUNICATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall main23 tain and improve the system of the National Oceanic and 

24 Atmospheric Administration by which the risks of haz25 ardous weather and water events are communicated to the 


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1 general public, with the goal of informing action and en2 couraging response to prevent loss of life and property. 

3 (b) HAZARD RISK COMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENT

4 AND SIMPLIFICATION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

6 maintain a hazard risk communication program (in 

7 this subsection referred to as the ‘‘Program’’), for 

8 the purposes of simplifying and improving the com9 munication of hazardous weather and water event 

10 risks. 

11 (2) TERMINOLOGY.—The Program shall iden12 tify, eliminate, or modify unnecessary, redundant, or 

13 confusing terms for hazardous weather and water 

14 event communications and add new terminology, as 

15 appropriate. 

16 (3) COMMUNICATIONS IMPROVEMENT.—The 

17 Program shall improve the form, content, and meth18 ods of hazardous weather and water event commu19 nications to more clearly inform action and increase 

20 the likelihood that the public takes such action to 

21 prevent the loss of life or property. 

22 (4) EVALUATIONS.—The Program shall, in co23 ordination with the performance branch of the Na24 tional Weather Service, develop metrics for that 

25 branch to track and evaluate the degree to which 


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1 hazardous weather and water event communications 

2 inform action and encourage response. 

3 (5) SUPPORT PLAN.—The Program shall de4 velop a plan for the purpose of supporting the activi5 ties described in paragraph (3). The plan shall be 

6 periodically updated and informed by internal and 

7 extramural research and the results of the evalua8 tion of hazardous weather and water event commu9 nications conducted under paragraph (4). 

10 (6) METHODS.—In carrying out this subsection, 

11 the Program shall develop and implement rec12 ommendations that— 

13 (A) are based on the best and most recent 

14 understanding from social, behavioral, risk, and 

15 communication science research; 

16 (B) are validated by social, behavioral, 

17 risk, and communication science, taking into ac18 count the importance of methods that support 

19 reproduction and replication of scientific stud20 ies, use of rigorous statistical analyses, and, as 

21 applicable, data analysis supported by artificial 

22 intelligence and machine learning technologies; 

23 (C) account for the needs of various demo24 graphics, vulnerable populations, and geo25 graphic regions; 


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1 (D) account for the differences between 

2 various types of weather and water hazards; 

3 (E) respond to the needs of Federal, State, 

4 and local government partners and media part5 ners; and 

6 (F) account for necessary changes in the 

7 infrastructure, technology, and protocols for 

8 creating and disseminating Federally operated 

9 watches and warnings. 

10 (7) COORDINATION.—The Program shall co11 ordinate with— 

12 (A) Federal partners, including National 

13 Laboratories, cooperative institutes, and re14 gional integrated sciences and assessments pro15 grams; 

16 (B) State and local government partners; 

17 (C) Indian Tribes; 

18 (D) institutions of higher education; and 

19 (E) media partners. 

20 (8) TIMELINESS AND CONSISTENCY.—The Pro21 gram shall develop best practices and guidance for 

22 ensuring timely and consistent communication 

23 across public facing platforms that disseminate haz24 ardous weather and water event information. 


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1 SEC. 403. HAZARD COMMUNICATION RESEARCH AND EN2 GAGEMENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary may main4 tain, as appropriate, a program to— 

5 (1) modernize the development and communica6 tion of risk-based, statistically reliable, probabilistic 

7 hazard information, with the goal of informing ap8 propriate responses to hazardous weather or water 

9 events; and 

10 (2) improve the fundamental social, behavioral, 

11 economic, risk, and communication science relating 

12 to communications, including by means of collecting 

13 voluntary data, regarding hazardous weather or 

14 water events. 

15 (b) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the program 

16 under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall coordinate 

17 and communicate with States, Tribal governments, local18 ities, and emergency managers regarding research prior19 ities and results. 

20 (c) PILOT PROGRAM FOR TORNADO HAZARD COMMU21 NICATIONS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in co23 ordination with the VORTEX-USA program under 

24 section 103 of the Weather Research and Fore25 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8513), as 

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1 ration with one or more eligible institutions (or con2 sortia thereof), shall establish a pilot program for 

3 tornado hazard communications to test incorporation 

4 of research into operations with respect to torna5 does. 

6 (2) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION DEFINED.—In this 

7 subsection, the term ‘‘eligible institution’’ means any 

8 of the following: 

9 (A) A historically Black college or univer10 sity located in an area of persistent poverty 

11 that is subjected to frequent severe weather, 

12 such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. 

13 (B) An institution of higher education in 

14 close proximity to a Weather Forecast Office of 

15 the National Weather Service. 

16 (d) PILOT STUDY FOR HURRICANE HAZARD COMMU17 NICATION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in co19 ordination with the hurricane forecast improvement 

20 program under section 104 of the Weather Research 

21 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

22 8514), as amended by section 104 of this Act, and 

23 in collaboration with one or more eligible institutions 

24 (or consortia thereof), shall enter into an agreement 

25 with an appropriate entity, as determined by the 


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1 Under Secretary, to conduct a pilot study using a 

2 mixed methods approach, including surveys, focus 

3 groups, and interviews, to gather information from 

4 hurricane prone population areas regarding the lev5 els of preparedness of such areas for hurricanes or 

6 in response to the National Oceanic and Atmos7 pheric Administration’s early forecasts and warn8 ings. 

9 (2) ELEMENTS.—The pilot study required 

10 under paragraph (1) shall evaluate the following: 

11 (A) Possession of disaster supplies. 

12 (B) Evacuation decisions. 

13 (C) Levels of trust of tropical cyclone in14 formation and hurricane path prediction from 

15 various sources. 

16 (D) Access to tropical cyclone and hurri17 cane forecasts and warnings in such study par18 ticipant’s first language. 

19 (E) Any reasoning or deliberation by the 

20 individuals interviewed as part of the study that 

21 may hinder the ability or willingness of the indi22 viduals to evacuate. 

23 (3) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.—The Under Sec24 retary shall publish the methodology of the pilot 

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1 sible website of the National Oceanic and Atmos2 pheric Administration. 

3 (4) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION DEFINED.—In this 

4 subsection, the term ‘‘eligible institution’’ means any 

5 of the following: 

6 (A) An institution of higher education, 

7 nonprofit organization, or other institution lo8 cated in a jurisdiction eligible to participate in 

9 the program under section 113 of the National 

10 Science Foundation Authorization Act of 1988 

11 (42 U.S.C. 1862g). 

12 (B) An institution of higher education, 

13 nonprofit organization, or other institution lo14 cated in proximity to a Weather Forecast Office 

15 of the National Weather Service. 

16 (e) HURRICANE SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND ECO17 NOMIC SCIENCES.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

19 carry out research and development activities to im20 prove how the public receives, interprets, responds 

21 to, and values hurricane forecasts and warnings. 

22 (2) ELEMENTS.—In conducting activities under 

23 paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall— 

24 (A) conduct a comprehensive review of the 

25 manner by which the public receives, interprets, 


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1 responds to, and makes decisions regarding 

2 hurricane forecasts and warnings, including— 

3 (i) how weather observations, down4 stream models, and processes affect the de5 cision tools or products derived from hurri6 cane forecasts and warnings; 

7 (ii) how hurricane forecasts and warn8 ings generated by decision tools and prod9 ucts are used by emergency managers, gov10 ernments, and other users to benefit the 

11 public and stakeholder groups; 

12 (iii) how past experiences with hurri13 canes impact the decision making of the 

14 general public; 

15 (iv) how the source of such hurricane 

16 forecasts and warnings affects interpreta17 tion; 

18 (v) how tropical cyclone forecasts and 

19 warnings are received and interpreted by 

20 the general public; 

21 (vi) how understanding of and re22 sponse to hurricane forecasts and warnings 

23 varies across demographic groups, includ24 ing the elderly, people with disabilities, and 

25 other vulnerable populations; 


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1 (vii) the effect of language barriers on 

2 the accessibility of hurricane forecasts and 

3 warnings; and 

4 (viii) how understanding of and re5 sponse to such hurricane forecasts and 

6 warnings varies across geographic areas, 

7 including rural, urban, and suburban 

8 areas; 

9 (B) identify communication data gaps 

10 based on the review conducted pursuant to sub11 paragraph (A); 

12 (C) carry out research, including data col13 lection and baseline assessments, in coordina14 tion with the hurricane forecast improvement 

15 program under section 104 of the Weather Re16 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 

17 (15 U.S.C. 8514), as amended by section 104 

18 of this Act, to evaluate and quantify the eco19 nomic value of extending lead times of tropical 

20 cyclone and hurricane forecasts and warnings, 

21 including identifying the most affected or vul22 nerable populations and potential impacts to 

23 those populations of extending leads times; 

24 (D) using the post-storm surveys and as25 sessments conducted under section 406 of this 


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1 Act to conduct retrospective or ex ante assess2 ments of previous hurricane forecasts and 

3 warnings to better understand the key compo4 nents of such forecasts and warnings that af5 fected actions or initiated behavior changes; 

6 (E) conduct cost- benefit analyses of fore7 casts and warnings improvement alternatives 

8 developed through the hurricane forecast im9 provement program under section 104 of the 

10 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

11 Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8514), as amended by 

12 section 104 of this Act; and 

13 (F) conduct assessments of the risk to the 

14 elderly for pre-, during, and post-storm periods 

15 in regions and communities with significant el16 derly populations, including retirement commu17 nities. 

18 SEC. 404. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COMMUNICATIONS 

19 IMPROVEMENT. 

20 (a) IMPROVEMENT OF NWS INSTANT MESSAGING

21 SERVICE.—The Director of the National Weather Service 

22 shall improve the instant messaging service used by per23 sonnel of the National Weather Service by implementing, 

24 not later than October 1, 2027, a commercial off-the-shelf 


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1 communications solution that replaces the instant mes2 saging service commonly referred to as ‘‘NWSChat’’. 

3 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The communications solution 

4 implemented under this section shall— 

5 (1) be hosted on the public cloud; and 

6 (2) satisfy requirements set forth by the Direc7 tor of the National Weather Service to ensure such 

8 solution— 

9 (A) best accommodates future growth; 

10 (B) performs successfully with increased 

11 numbers of users; 

12 (C) is easy to use for the majority of users; 

13 and 

14 (D) is similar to systems already in com15 mercial use. 

16 (c) FUNDING.—From amounts made available for 

17 Operations, Research, and Facilities, the Director of the 

18 National Weather Service shall allocate not more than 

19 $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2027 

20 to carry out this section. 

21 SEC. 405. NOAA WEATHER RADIO MODERNIZATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall, to the 

23 maximum extent practicable, expand coverage of the 

24 NOAA Weather Radio and ensure its reliability. In car25 rying out this subsection, the Under Secretary shall— 


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1 (1) maintain support for existing systems serv2 ing areas not covered by or having poor quality cel3 lular service; 

4 (2) ensure consistent maintenance and oper5 ations monitoring, with timely repairs to broadcast 

6 transmitter site equipment and antennas; 

7 (3) enhance the ability to amplify Non-Weather 

8 Emergency Messages via NOAA Weather Radio as 

9 necessary; and 

10 (4) acquire additional transmitters as required 

11 to expand coverage to rural and underserved com12 munities, units of the National Park System, and 

13 National Recreation Areas. 

14 (b) MODERNIZATION INITIATIVE.—To the maximum 

15 extent practicable, the Under Secretary shall modernize 

16 NOAA Weather Radio to ensure its capabilities and cov17 erage remain valuable to the public. In carrying out this 

18 subsection, the Under Secretary shall— 

19 (1) upgrade telecommunications infrastructure 

20 of NOAA Weather Radio to accelerate the transition 

21 of broadcasts to internet protocol-based communica22 tions over non-copper media; 

23 (2) accelerate software upgrades to the Ad24 vanced Weather Interactive Processing System, or 


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1 any relevant system successors, in order to imple2 ment partial county notifications and alerts; 

3 (3) enhance accessibility and usability of NOAA 

4 Weather Radio data and feeds with feedback from 

5 relevant stakeholders, including the private sector; 

6 (4) develop options, including satellite backup 

7 capability and commercial provider partnerships, for 

8 NOAA Weather Radio continuity of service in the 

9 event of Weather Forecast Office outages; 

10 (5) research and develop alternative options, in11 cluding microwave capabilities, to transmit NOAA 

12 Weather Radio signals to transmitters that are re13 mote or do not have internet protocol capability; and 

14 (6) transition critical applications to the Inte15 grated Dissemination Program, or any relevant pro16 gram successors. 

17 (c) PRIORITY.—In carrying out subsection (b), the 

18 Under Secretary shall prioritize practices, capabilities, and 

19 technologies recommended in accordance with the assess20 ment under subsection (d) to maximize the accessibility 

21 of NOAA Weather Radio, particularly in remote and un22 derserved areas of the United States. 

23 (d) ASSESSMENT FOR MANAGEMENT AND DISTRIBU24 TION.—Not later than one year after the date of the enact25 ment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall complete an 


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1 assessment of access to NOAA Weather Radio. In con2 ducting such assessment, the Under Secretary shall take 

3 into consideration and provide recommendations regarding 

4 the following: 

5 (1) The need for continuous, adequate, and 

6 operational real-time broadcasts of the NOAA 

7 Weather Radio in both urban and rural areas. 

8 (2) Input from relevant stakeholders on the 

9 compatibility of NOAA Weather Radio data with 

10 third party platforms that provide online services, 

11 such as websites and mobile device applications, or 

12 provide NOAA Weather Radio access. 

13 (3) The manner by which existing or new man14 agement systems may promote consistent, efficient, 

15 and compatible access to NOAA Weather Radio. 

16 (4) The ability of the National Oceanic and At17 mospheric Administration to aggregate real-time 

18 broadcast feeds at one or more central locations. 

19 (5) Effective coordination between agencies 

20 with responsibilities relating to emergencies and nat21 ural disasters. 

22 (6) The potential effects of an electromagnetic 

23 pulse or geomagnetic disturbance on NOAA Weather 

24 Radio. 


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1 (7) Any other function or element the Under 

2 Secretary considers appropriate. 

3 SEC. 406. POST-STORM SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall per5 form one or more post-storm surveys and assessments fol6 lowing every hazardous weather or water event determined 

7 by the Under Secretary to be of sufficient societal impor8 tance to warrant a post-storm survey and assessment. 

9 (b) COORDINATION.—The Under Secretary shall co10 ordinate with Federal, State, and local governments, pri11 vate entities, and relevant institutions of higher education 

12 (or a consortia thereof) when conducting post-storm sur13 veys and assessments under this section to optimize data 

14 collection, sharing, integration, archiving, and access, as 

15 appropriate for research needs. 

16 (c) DATA AVAILABILITY.—The Under Secretary shall 

17 make the appropriate data obtained from each post-storm 

18 survey or assessment conducted under this section avail19 able to the public as soon as practicable after conducting 

20 each such survey or assessment. 

21 (d) IMPROVEMENT.—In carrying out this section, the 

22 Under Secretary shall— 

23 (1) examine the role of uncrewed aerial and ma24 rine systems in data collection during post-storm 


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1 surveys and assessments conducted under this sec2 tion; 

3 (2) identify gaps in tactics and procedures and 

4 update such tactics and procedures to enhance the 

5 efficiency and reliability of data obtained from post6 storm surveys and assessments; 

7 (3) to the maximum extent practicable, increase 

8 the number of post-storm community impact studies, 

9 particularly among under-observed, underserved, or 

10 highly vulnerable populations, including— 

11 (A) surveying-individual responses; 

12 (B) conducting reviews of the accuracy of 

13 prior risk evaluations; 

14 (C) evaluating the efficacy of prior mitiga15 tion activity; and 

16 (D) gathering survivability statistics; and 

17 (4) as appropriate, integrate community-based, 

18 social, behavioral, risk, communication, and eco19 nomic sciences elements into existing post-storm sur20 veys and assessments, including elements related to 

21 the efficacy of forecast and warning information that 

22 was shared with the public, barriers that affected 

23 the ability of the public to take action, and any chal24 lenges with respect to messaging about the haz25 ardous weather or water event. 


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1 (e) SUPPORT FOR EMPLOYEES.—The Under Sec2 retary shall provide training, resources, and access to pro3 fessional counseling to support the emotional and mental 

4 health and well-being of employees conducting post-storm 

5 surveys and assessments under this section. 

6 (f) EXEMPTION.—Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 

7 44, United States Code, shall not apply to the collection 

8 of information during a survey or assessment conducted 

9 under subsection (a). 

10 SEC. 407. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT 

11 ON ALERT DISSEMINATION FOR HAZARDOUS 

12 WEATHER OR WATER EVENTS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

14 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

15 General of the United States shall submit to the Com16 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

17 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech18 nology of the House of Representatives a report that ex19 amines the information technology infrastructure of the 

20 National Weather Service, specifically regarding the sys21 tem for timely public notification via alerts and updates 

22 regarding hazardous weather or water events. 

23 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 

24 (a) shall include the following: 


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1 (1) An analysis of the information technology 

2 infrastructure of the National Weather Service, in3 cluding software and hardware capabilities and limi4 tations, including an examination of server and data 

5 storage methods, broadband, data management, and 

6 data sharing. 

7 (2) An identification of secondary and tertiary 

8 fail-safes for the timely distribution to the public of 

9 notifications via alerts and updates regarding haz10 ardous weather or water events. 

11 (3) A determination of the extent to which pub12 lic notifications via alerts and updates regarding 

13 hazardous weather or water events have been de14 layed and an identification of possible improvements 

15 or corrective measures to address latency in the noti16 fication process. 

17 (4) An assessment of whether collaboration with 

18 other Federal departments and agencies, States, or 

19 private entities could reduce delays in notifications 

20 to the public. 

21 (5) A description of actions being undertaken to 

22 better identify critical steps in public notification via 

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1 ure in the event of communication, technologic, or 

2 computational failure. 

3 (6) The geographical differences in availability 

4 and effectiveness of rural systems, including an esti5 mated number of rural areas affected by unreliable 

6 or unavailable systems and barriers to obtain or up7 grade such systems. 

8 SEC. 408. DATA COLLECTION MANAGEMENT AND PROTEC9 TION. 

10 (a) DATA COLLECTION.—The Under Secretary may 

11 collect social, behavioral, and economic data, including 

12 data relating to Federal communication of hazardous 

13 weather or water events and the public response to such 

14 communications. Where appropriate, the Under Secretary 

15 shall encourage the collection of secondary data, purchase 

16 data, or partner with the private sector to obtain data. 

17 (b) DATA MANAGEMENT.—The Under Secretary 

18 shall establish and maintain a central repository system 

19 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

20 for data related to the communication of and related pub21 lic response to hazardous weather or water events, includ22 ing data developed or received pursuant to this title. 

23 (c) PROTECTION OF DATA.—The Under Secretary 

24 shall ensure that data is collected, managed, and used by 

25 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 


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1 accordance with legal, regulatory, and contractual obliga2 tions, including chapter 31 of title 44, United States Code, 

3 and the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking 

4 Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–435). 

5 (d) DIGITAL WATERMARKING.—The Under Secretary 

6 shall develop methods to reduce the likelihood of unauthor7 ized tampering with online public notifications of haz8 ardous weather or water events, such as developing digital 

9 watermarks. 

10 (e) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.—The Under Sec11 retary shall establish policies and procedures for the collec12 tion, archiving, and managing of data related to commu13 nity response, including the response of effected or vulner14 able populations, to hazardous weather or water events. 

15 TITLE V—IMPROVING WEATHER 

16 INFORMATION FOR AGRI17 CULTURE AND WATER MAN18 AGEMENT 

19 SEC. 501. WEATHER AND CLIMATE INFORMATION IN AGRI20 CULTURE AND WATER MANAGEMENT. 

21 Section 1762 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (15 

22 U.S.C. 8521) is amended— 

23 (1) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol24 lows: 

25 ‘‘(c) FUNCTIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary 

2 shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) conduct and support research to im4 prove understanding of subseasonal to seasonal 

5 predictability for temperature, precipitation, 

6 and other Earth system variables and applica7 tions; 

8 ‘‘(B) collect and use data to make usable, 

9 reliable, and timely foundational forecasts of 

10 subseasonal-to-seasonal temperature and pre11 cipitation; 

12 ‘‘(C) support the advancement of multi13 model ensemble forecast systems and forecast 

14 verification and evaluation capacity, including 

15 by— 

16 ‘‘(i) developing advanced coupled data 

17 assimilation methods using robust Earth 

18 system observational data; 

19 ‘‘(ii) developing improved coupled sub20 seasonal-to-seasonal ensemble prediction 

21 systems; 

22 ‘‘(iii) improving exchanges and inter23 actions between datasets across different 

24 models and Earth system observations to 

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1 ships between and drivers of ocean, land, 

2 snow, and ice observations; and 

3 ‘‘(iv) developing data management 

4 strategies to support operations and re5 search activities; 

6 ‘‘(D) leverage existing research and models 

7 from the weather and Earth system enterprises 

8 to improve the forecasts under subparagraph 

9 (B); 

10 ‘‘(E) accelerate the operationalization of 

11 emerging modeling technologies developed to 

12 support and assist the cross development of 

13 fully coupled subseasonal-to-seasonal forecast 

14 systems, including during collaborations with 

15 other agencies and entities; 

16 ‘‘(F) determine and provide information on 

17 how subseasonal-to-seasonal temperature and 

18 precipitation may relate to— 

19 ‘‘(i) droughts; 

20 ‘‘(ii) fires; 

21 ‘‘(iii) tornadoes; 

22 ‘‘(iv) hurricanes; 

23 ‘‘(v) floods, storm surges, and coastal 

24 inundation; 


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1 ‘‘(vi) heat waves and marine heat 

2 waves; 

3 ‘‘(vii) winter storms, snowpack, and 

4 permafrost thaw; 

5 ‘‘(viii) sea ice conditions; and 

6 ‘‘(ix) other high impact weather or 

7 relevant weather disasters.’’; 

8 (2) by amending subsection (h) to read as fol9 lows: 

10 ‘‘(h) SUBSEASONAL TO SEASONAL FORECASTING

11 PILOT PROJECTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary 

13 shall establish not fewer than 2 pilot projects, in ac14 cordance with paragraph (2), within the United 

15 States Weather Research Program of the Office of 

16 Oceanic and Atmospheric Research of the National 

17 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to support 

18 improved subseasonal to seasonal precipitation fore19 casts for— 

20 ‘‘(A) water management in areas of the 

21 United States in which there is— 

22 ‘‘(i) a high level of drought; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) a reliance on reservoirs for water 

24 storage; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) agriculture in the central United 

2 States. 

3 ‘‘(2) OBJECTIVES.—In carrying out this sub4 section, the Under Secretary shall ensure the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(A) A pilot project under subparagraph 

7 (A) of paragraph (1) addresses key science 

8 challenges to improving forecasts and devel9 oping related products for water management, 

10 including the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) Improving operational model reso12 lution, both horizontal and vertical, to re13 solve issues associated with mountainous 

14 terrain, such as intensity of precipitation 

15 and relative fraction of rain versus snow 

16 precipitation. 

17 ‘‘(ii) Improving modeling of interstate 

18 or cross-boundary water movement and 

19 storage through rivers, tributaries, and 

20 aquifers with relation to water availability. 

21 ‘‘(iii) Improving fidelity in the oper22 ational modeling of the atmospheric bound23 ary layer in mountainous regions. 

24 ‘‘(iv) Resolving challenges in pre25 dicting winter atmospheric circulation and 


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1 storm tracks, including periods of blocked 

2 versus unblocked flow over the eastern 

3 North Pacific Ocean and western United 

4 States. 

5 ‘‘(v) Utilizing outcomes from the at6 mospheric rivers forecast improvement pro7 gram under section 204 of the Weather 

8 Act Reauthorization Act of 2024 and the 

9 precipitation forecast improvement pro10 gram under section 603 of the Weather 

11 Research and Forecasting Innovation Act 

12 of 2017 to produce operational tools and 

13 services. 

14 ‘‘(vi) Improving the quality and tem15 poral and spatial resolution of observations 

16 and accurate operational modeling of air17 sea interactions, and the influence of 

18 oceans on subseasonal and seasonal fore19 casting. 

20 ‘‘(B) A pilot project under subparagraph 

21 (B) of paragraph (1) addresses key science 

22 challenges to improving forecasts and devel23 oping related products for agriculture in the 

24 central United States, including the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Improving the quality and tem2 poral and spatial resolution of observations 

3 and accurate operational modeling of the 

4 land surface and hydrologic cycle, includ5 ing soil moisture and flash drought proc6 esses. 

7 ‘‘(ii) Improving fidelity in the oper8 ational modeling of warm season precipita9 tion processes. 

10 ‘‘(iii) Understanding and predicting 

11 large-scale upper-level dynamical flow 

12 anomalies that occur in spring and sum13 mer. 

14 ‘‘(iv) Improving modeling of interstate 

15 or cross-boundary water movement and 

16 storage through rivers, tributaries, and 

17 aquifers with relation to water availability 

18 for agriculture. 

19 ‘‘(3) ACTIVITIES.—A pilot project under this 

20 subsection shall include activities that carry out the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(A) Best implement recommendations of 

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1 casting Innovation: Plans for the Twenty-First 

2 Century’. 

3 ‘‘(B) Achieve measurable objectives for 

4 operational forecast improvement. 

5 ‘‘(C) Engage with, and leverage the re6 sources of— 

7 ‘‘(i) institutions of higher education 

8 (as such term is defined in section 101 of 

9 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

10 U.S.C. 1001)); 

11 ‘‘(ii) a consortia of institutions as de12 scribed under clause (i); 

13 ‘‘(iii) entities within the National Oce14 anic and Atmospheric Administration in 

15 existence as of the date of the enactment 

16 of this subsection, including Regional Cli17 mate Centers and the National Centers for 

18 Environmental Information; and 

19 ‘‘(iv) other Federal agencies, as ap20 propriate. 

21 ‘‘(D) Are carried out in coordination with 

22 the Assistant Administrator for the Office of 

23 Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Di24 rector of the National Weather Service. 


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1 ‘‘(4) SUNSET.—The authority under this sub2 section shall terminate on the date that is 5 years 

3 after the date of the enactment of this subsection.’’; 

4 and 

5 (3) by amending subsection (j) to read as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated $50,300,000 for each 

9 of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 to carry out the activi10 ties under this section.’’. 

11 SEC. 502. NATIONAL INTEGRATED DROUGHT INFORMATION 

12 SYSTEM. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the National Inte14 grated Drought Information System Act of 2006 (15 

15 U.S.C. 313d) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘, through the 

17 National Weather Service and other appropriate 

18 weather and climate programs in the National Oce19 anic and Atmospheric Administration,’’; 

20 (2) in subsection (b)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

22 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

23 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

24 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 

25 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new subparagraph: 

3 ‘‘(C) incorporates flash drought research 

4 and tools to enhance timely response;’’; 

5 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘im6 provements in seasonal precipitation and tem7 perature, subseasonal precipitation and tem8 perature, and low flow water prediction; and’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘support improvements in subsea10 sonal to seasonal precipitation and temperature, 

11 and low flow water prediction;’’; 

12 (C) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe13 riod and inserting a semicolon; and 

14 (D) by adding at the end the following new 

15 paragraphs: 

16 ‘‘(7) advance and deploy next generation tech17 nologies related to drought, such as monitoring, pre18 paredness, and forecasting capabilities utilizing arti19 ficial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud tech20 nologies; 

21 ‘‘(8) use observational networks, including the 

22 National Weather Service cooperative observer pro23 gram and State or regional hydrological monitoring 

24 projects; 


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1 ‘‘(9) refine drought indicators across multiple 

2 spatial and temporal scales; 

3 ‘‘(10) improve decision-support products; 

4 ‘‘(11) optimize data and resources from across 

5 the Federal Government; 

6 ‘‘(12) investigate and address data gaps, includ7 ing snowpack monitoring, space-based or in-situ soil 

8 moisture monitoring, groundwater data, and data re9 lated to rapid intensification events; and 

10 ‘‘(13) engage with, and leverage the resources 

11 of, entities within the National Oceanic and Atmos12 pheric Administration in existence as of the date of 

13 the enactment of the Weather Act Reauthorization 

14 Act of 2024 to improve coordination of water moni15 toring, forecasting, and management.’’; 

16 (3) in subsection (c)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

18 after the semicolon; 

19 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe20 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

21 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

22 paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(4) in partnership with the National Mesonet 

24 Program, establish memoranda of understanding to 

25 provide coordinated, high-quality data.’’; and 


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1 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(g) MODELING UPDATE.—Not later than one year 

3 after the date of the enactment of the Weather Act Reau4 thorization Act of 2024, the Under Secretary, acting 

5 through the National Integrated Drought Information 

6 System and the Climate Prediction Center of the National 

7 Weather Service, shall develop a plan to incorporate exist8 ing drought products of the National Oceanic and Atmos9 pheric Administration and improved dynamical and statis10 tical forecast modeling tools into probabilistic forecasts.’’. 

11 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

12 4 of the National Integrated Drought Information System 

13 Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–430; 15 U.S.C. 313d note) 

14 is amended to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

17 this Act— 

18 ‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

19 ‘‘(2) $15,500,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

20 ‘‘(3) $16,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

21 ‘‘(4) $16,500,000 for fiscal year 2028. 

22 ‘‘(5) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2029.’’. 


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1 SEC. 503. NATIONAL MESONET PROGRAM. 

2 (a) PROGRAM.—The Under Secretary shall maintain 

3 the National Mesonet Program (referred to in this section 

4 as the ‘‘Program’’), which shall— 

5 (1) obtain observations to improve under6 standing of and forecast capabilities for atmospheric, 

7 drought, fire, and water events, with a prioritization 

8 on leveraging available commercial, academic, and 

9 other non-Federal Government environmental data 

10 to enhance coordination across the private, public, 

11 and academic sectors of the weather enterprise in 

12 the United States; 

13 (2) establish means to integrate greater density 

14 and more types of environmental observations into 

15 the Program on an annual basis, including by en16 couraging local and regional networks of environ17 mental monitoring stations and in situ sensor net18 works, including soil moisture and ground-based 

19 profilers, to participate in the Program; 

20 (3) establish memoranda of understanding with 

21 networks outside of the scope of the Program in fur22 therance of this section; and 

23 (4) coordinate with satellite data and services 

24 acquired through the Commercial Data Program 

25 under section 302 of the Weather Research and 


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1 Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

2 8532), as amended by section 401 of this Act. 

3 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—In carrying out the Pro4 gram, the Under Secretary shall— 

5 (1) increase data density by— 

6 (A) improving and increasing the quantity 

7 and density of environmental observations used 

8 by the Administration and the National Weath9 er Service to support baseline forecasts, includ10 ing nowcasts, warnings, and hyper local fore11 casts that protect individuals, businesses, agri12 cultural production, food security, military, and 

13 government agencies in the United States, and 

14 enabling such individuals and entities to operate 

15 in a safe, efficient, and orderly manner; 

16 (B) yielding increased quantities of bound17 ary-layer data to improve numerical weather 

18 prediction performance, including in subsea19 sonal to seasonal timescales; 

20 (C) identifying available terrestrial or ma21 rine environmental data, or quantifiable gaps in 

22 such data, to improve the understanding of air23 sea interactions; and 

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1 ing time for severe weather through better pre2 dictive model algorithms driven by increasingly 

3 effective observations; 

4 (2) monitor local meteorological conditions by— 

5 (A) acquiring soil and moisture data to 

6 monitor soil moisture, vegetation water content, 

7 and moisture loss from evaporation, in support 

8 of operational forecasting, the National Inte9 grated Drought Information System, and local 

10 commercial, agricultural, and emergency man11 agement needs; 

12 (B) supporting the National Coordinated 

13 Soil Moisture Monitoring Network in acquiring 

14 soil moisture and related data to support the 

15 development of decision-support products and 

16 other information services; and 

17 (C) expanding and enhancing environ18 mental observational networks in the roadway 

19 environment to provide real-time road weather 

20 and surface conditions for surface transpor21 tation and related economic sectors; and 

22 (3) administer the Program by— 

23 (A) obtaining data in furtherance of this 

24 section only when demonstrably cost effective 

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1 ards available to the National Oceanic and At2 mospheric Administration (referred to in this 

3 section as the ‘‘Administration’’); 

4 (B) subject to the requirement in subpara5 graph (A), leveraging existing networks of envi6 ronmental monitoring stations, including sup7 plemental radar systems, to increase the quan8 tity and density of environmental observations 

9 and data available to the Administration; 

10 (C) providing the critical technical and ad11 ministrative infrastructure needed to facilitate 

12 rapid integration and sustained use of new and 

13 emerging networks of environmental monitoring 

14 stations anticipated in coming years from non15 Federal Government sources; 

16 (D) coordinating with existing data devel17 oped by the Administration and used for fore18 casts, including data from the National Envi19 ronmental Satellite, Data, and Information 

20 Service, the Integrated Ocean Observing Sys21 tem, the Global Ocean Monitoring and Observ22 ing Program, the National Data Buoy Center, 

23 and the National Ocean Service; and 

24 (E) identifying and communicating to the 

25 Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research 


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1 and other partners priorities of research and 

2 development needed to advance observations in 

3 the Program. 

4 (c) FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of the Pro6 gram, in a fiscal year, the Under Secretary may 

7 award not less than 15 percent of the amount appro8 priated for the Program for that fiscal year for fi9 nancial assistance to State, Tribal, private, and aca10 demic entities seeking to build, expand, or upgrade 

11 equipment and capacity of mesonet systems. 

12 (2) OTHER FEDERAL AWARDS.—Financial as13 sistance under this subsection may be made in co14 ordination with and in addition to awards from 

15 other Federal agencies. 

16 (3) AGREEMENTS.—Before receiving financial 

17 assistance under paragraph (1), the State, Tribal, 

18 private, or academic entity seeking financial assist19 ance under this subsection shall enter into an agree20 ment with the Under Secretary to provide data to 

21 the Program, subject to verification by the Program 

22 of the relative operational value and evaluation of 

23 the cost of such data, for use in weather prediction, 

24 severe weather warnings, and emergency response. 


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1 (4) ASSISTANCE AND OTHER SUPPORT.—The 

2 Under Secretary may provide— 

3 (A) technical assistance, project implemen4 tation support, and guidance to State, Tribal, 

5 private, and academic entities seeking financial 

6 assistance under this subsection; and 

7 (B) technical and financial assistance for 

8 maintenance of monitoring stations in under9 represented or remote areas of the country 

10 where it is financially unfeasible for 1 entity to 

11 operate such stations without such assistance. 

12 (5) TERMS.—In providing financial assistance 

13 under this subsection, the Under Secretary shall es14 tablish terms to ensure that each State, Tribal, pri15 vate, or academic entity that receives financial as16 sistance under this subsection receives a level of sup17 port commensurate with the quality and other char18 acteristics of the data to be provided. 

19 (6) DETERMINATION.—A State, Tribal, private, 

20 or academic entity may only receive financial assist21 ance under this subsection if the Under Secretary 

22 determines such entity will provide sufficient finan23 cial support from non-Federal Government sources 

24 and fully maintain the quality of the mesonet system 


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1 and associated data standards required by the Pro2 gram for a period of not less than 5 years. 

3 (7) PRIORITY.—The Under Secretary shall 

4 prioritize providing assistance under paragraph (1) 

5 to not fewer than 1 entity in a remote area or an 

6 area that has a lack of environmental monitoring 

7 stations described in subsection (a)(2). 

8 (d) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

10 ensure the Program has an active advisory com11 mittee of subject matter experts to make rec12 ommendations to the Administration on the identi13 fication, implementation, procurement, and tracking 

14 of data needed to supplement the Program, and rec15 ommend improvements, expansions, and acquisitions 

16 of available data. 

17 (2) DESIGNATION OF EXISTING COMMITTEE.— 

18 The Under Secretary may designate an existing ad19 visory committee, subcommittee, or working group of 

20 the Federal Government, including the Science Advi21 sory Board of the Administration, to carry out the 

22 requirement under paragraph (1). 

23 (3) ACADEMIC EXPERTISE.—The advisory com24 mittee under paragraph (1), in consultation with the 

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1 stitutions of higher education (as defined in section 

2 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

3 U.S.C. 1001)) to assist the advisory committee to 

4 identify, evaluate, and recommend potential partner5 ships, regional or subregional consortia, and collabo6 rative methods that would expand the number of 

7 participants and volume of data in the Program. 

8 (e) REGULAR BRIEFINGS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than an10 nually through 2035, the Under Secretary shall pro11 vide regular briefings to the Committee on Com12 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

13 and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech14 nology of the House of Representatives on all activi15 ties under the Program. 

16 (2) BRIEFING CONTENT.—Each briefing re17 quired under paragraph (1) shall include informa18 tion relating to the following: 

19 (A) Efforts to implement the activities de20 scribed in subsection (b). 

21 (B) Any financial or technical assistance 

22 provided pursuant to subsection (c). 

23 (C) Efforts to address recommendations 

24 received from the advisory committee under 

25 subsection (d), if any. 


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1 (D) The potential need and associated ben2 efits of a coastal and ocean mesonet, or other 

3 emerging areas of weather data needs. 

4 (E) Progress toward eliminating gaps in 

5 weather observation data in States and regions 

6 of the United States. 

7 (F) Any other topic the Under Secretary 

8 determines relevant. 

9 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

10 amounts authorized to be appropriated to the National 

11 Weather Service, there shall be available not more than 

12 the following amounts to carry out this section: 

13 (1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

14 (2) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

15 (3) $61,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

16 (4) $68,000,000 for fiscal year 2028. 

17 (5) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2029. 

18 SEC. 504. NATIONAL COORDINATED SOIL MOISTURE MONI19 TORING NETWORK. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo21 ration with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Director of 

22 the United States Geological Survey, the Administrator of 

23 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and 

24 the heads of other relevant Federal agencies and depart25 ments, shall support the development, deployment, and 


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1 maintenance of soil moisture monitoring networks by man2 aging the National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring 

3 Network (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Network’’) 

4 within the National Integrated Drought Information Sys5 tem. 

6 (b) ACTIVITIES.—The Under Secretary shall ensure 

7 the Network includes activities that carry out the fol8 lowing: 

9 (1) Establishing a visible, user-friendly website. 

10 (2) Developing a set of criteria for high-quality 

11 data sources. 

12 (3) Supporting research necessary to develop or 

13 improve soil moisture monitoring products at a na14 tional scale. 

15 (4) Increasing the number of long-term, high16 quality, in situ and remote sensing soil moisture 

17 monitoring stations across the United States. 

18 (5) Sharing methodologies and validation proto19 cols with the private sector. 

20 (6) Engaging with the citizen science commu21 nity. 

22 (7) Developing, releasing, and promoting new, 

23 nationwide point-based and gridded soil moisture 

24 data products that meet the needs of diverse end25 user groups. 


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1 (8) Supporting community building and out2 reach to the network of individuals engaged with soil 

3 moisture information delivery, from data provision to 

4 end-user decision making. 

5 SEC. 505. NATIONAL WATER CENTER. 

6 Section 301 of the Coordinated Ocean Observations 

7 and Research Act of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 10371) is amend8 ed— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

11 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

12 by inserting ‘‘, within the Office of Water 

13 Prediction of the National Weather Serv14 ice,’’ after ‘‘shall establish’’; 

15 (ii) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

16 after the semicolon; 

17 (iii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe18 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (iv) by adding at the end the following 

20 new clause: 

21 ‘‘(iii) to lead the transition of water 

22 research by the Federal Government, in23 cluding model development, into operations 

24 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 


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1 Administration and the National Weather 

2 Service.’’; and 

3 (B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end 

4 the following new subparagraphs: 

5 ‘‘(F) Serving as the primary Center within 

6 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin7 istration for research, development, collabora8 tion, and coordination of the water research 

9 and forecast activities of the Administration 

10 and other centers and networks of the Federal 

11 Government, including those of the Department 

12 of Agriculture, the Army Corps of Engineers, 

13 the Bureau of Reclamation, the United States 

14 Geological Survey, and the Federal Emergency 

15 Management Agency. 

16 ‘‘(G) Integrating and promoting consist17 ency among national and regional hydrological 

18 forecast operations and service delivery.’’; and 

19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(3) INCORPORATION INTO UNIFIED FORECAST

21 SYSTEM.—The Under Secretary shall use the Weath22 er and Climate Operational Supercomputing System, 

23 or any other successor system, to support the devel24 opment and implementation of advanced water re25 sources modeling capabilities under paragraph 


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1 (2)(B) and shall incorporate those modeling capabili2 ties into the unified forecast system.’’; 

3 (2) by striking subsection (b); 

4 (3) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub5 section (b); 

6 (4) by inserting after subsection (b), as redesig7 nated by paragraph (3), the following: 

8 ‘‘(c) ORGANIZATION.—The Under Secretary, acting 

9 through the Director of the Office of Water Prediction of 

10 the National Weather Service, shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) supervise and oversee the administration, 

12 management, and operations of each River Forecast 

13 Center of the National Weather Service and coordi14 nate those operations with the National Water Cen15 ter; and 

16 ‘‘(2) administer the duties and activities of the 

17 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

18 related to the Cooperative Institute for Research to 

19 Operations in Hydrology, or any successor entity, 

20 and coordinate the activities of the Institute with the 

21 National Water Center.’’; and 

22 (5) in subsection (d)(4), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 

23 2024’’ and inserting ‘‘each of fiscal years 2024 

24 through 2029’’. 


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1 SEC. 506. SATELLITE TRANSFERS BRIEFING. 

2 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall brief 

4 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

5 of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and 

6 Technology of the House of Representatives on the De7 partment of Commerce’s authorities and policies and Fed8 eral Government-wide policies related to transferring any 

9 portion of the weather satellite systems operated by the 

10 Department of Commerce to any other Federal depart11 ment or agency, including— 

12 (1) a description of the process for decommis13 sioning a Department of Commerce operational 

14 weather satellite, any existing agreements related to 

15 transfers of weather satellites, whether decommis16 sioned or not, and any reimbursable agreements re17 lated to the transfer of physical property or the op18 eration of Department of Commerce weather sat19 ellites on behalf of any other Federal department or 

20 agency; and 

21 (2) a summary of any Department of Com22 merce plans for potential transfer of existing or fu23 ture weather satellite systems to any other Federal 

24 department or agency. 


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1 TITLE VI—HARMFUL ALGAL 

2 BLOOM AND HYPOXIA RE3 SEARCH AND CONTROL 

4 AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2024 

5 SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE. 

6 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Harmful Algal Bloom 

7 and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 

8 2024’’. 

9 SEC. 602. AMENDMENTS TO THE HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS 

10 AND HYPOXIA RESEARCH AND CONTROL ACT 

11 OF 1998. 

12 (a) ASSESSMENTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 603 of the Harmful 

14 Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control 

15 Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 4001) is amended— 

16 (A) in the section heading, by striking 

17 ‘‘ASSESSMENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘TASK

18 FORCE, ASSESSMENTS, AND ACTION

19 STRATEGY’’; 

20 (B) in subsection (a)— 

21 (i) by redesignating paragraphs (13) 

22 and (14) as paragraphs (14) and (15), re23 spectively; and 

24 (ii) by inserting after paragraph (12) 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(13) the Department of Energy;’’; 

2 (C) by striking subsections (b), (c), (d), 

3 (e), (g), (h), and (i) and redesignating sub4 section (f) as subsection (b); 

5 (D) in subsection (b), as so redesignated— 

6 (i) in paragraph (1), in the first sen7 tence, by striking ‘‘coastal waters including 

8 the Great Lakes’’ and inserting ‘‘marine, 

9 estuarine, and freshwater systems’’; and 

10 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 

11 (I) by amending subparagraph 

12 (A) to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(A) examine— 

14 ‘‘(i) the causes and ecological con15 sequences of hypoxia on marine and aquat16 ic species in their environments; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) the costs of hypoxia, including 

18 impacts on food safety and security;’’; 

19 (II) by redesignating subpara20 graphs (B), (C), and (D) as subpara21 graphs (D), (E), and (F), respectively; 

22 (III) by inserting after subpara23 graph (A) the following: 

24 ‘‘(B) examine the effect of other environ25 mental stressors on hypoxia; 


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1 ‘‘(C) evaluate alternatives for reducing, 

2 mitigating, and controlling hypoxia and its envi3 ronmental impacts;’’; 

4 (IV) in subparagraph (D), as re5 designated by subclause (II), by in6 serting ‘‘, social,’’ after ‘‘ecological’’; 

7 and 

8 (V) in subparagraph (E), as re9 designated by subclause (II), by strik10 ing ‘‘hypoxia modeling and monitoring 

11 data’’ and inserting ‘‘hypoxia mod12 eling, forecasting, and monitoring and 

13 observation data’’; and 

14 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(c) ACTION STRATEGY AND SCIENTIFIC ASSESS16 MENT FOR MARINE AND FRESHWATER HARMFUL ALGAL

17 BLOOMS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 

19 once every 5 years, the Task Force shall complete 

20 and submit to Congress an action strategy for harm21 ful algal blooms in the United States. 

22 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—Each Action Strategy 

23 shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) examine, and include a scientific as2 sessment of, marine and freshwater harmful 

3 algal blooms, including such blooms— 

4 ‘‘(i) in the Great Lakes; 

5 ‘‘(ii) in the upper reaches of estuaries; 

6 ‘‘(iii) in freshwater lakes and rivers; 

7 ‘‘(iv) in coastal and marine waters; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(v) that originate in freshwater lakes 

10 or rivers and migrate to coastal waters; 

11 ‘‘(B) examine the causes, ecological con12 sequences or physiological consequences on fish 

13 function, and economic or socio-cultural im14 pacts, including food safety and security, of 

15 harmful algal blooms; 

16 ‘‘(C) examine the effect of other environ17 mental stressors on harmful algal blooms; 

18 ‘‘(D) examine potential methods to pre19 vent, control, and mitigate harmful algal blooms 

20 and the potential ecological, social, cultural, and 

21 economic costs and benefits of such methods; 

22 ‘‘(E) identify priorities for research needed 

23 to advance techniques and technologies to de24 tect, predict, monitor, respond to, and minimize 

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1 ful algal blooms, including recommendations to 

2 eliminate significant gaps in harmful algal 

3 bloom forecasting, monitoring, and observation 

4 data; 

5 ‘‘(F) evaluate progress made by, and the 

6 needs of, activities and actions of the Task 

7 Force to prevent, control, and mitigate harmful 

8 algal blooms; 

9 ‘‘(G) identify ways to improve coordination 

10 and prevent unnecessary duplication of effort 

11 among Federal agencies with respect to re12 search on harmful algal blooms; and 

13 ‘‘(H) include regional chapters relating to 

14 the requirements described in this paragraph in 

15 order to highlight geographically and eco16 logically diverse locations with significant eco17 logical, social, cultural, and economic impacts 

18 from harmful algal blooms. 

19 ‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out subsections 

20 (b) and (c), the Task Force shall consult with— 

21 ‘‘(1) States, Indian tribes, and local govern22 ments; and 

23 ‘‘(2) appropriate industries (including fisheries, 

24 agriculture, and fertilizer), academic institutions, 


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1 and nongovernmental organizations with relevant ex2 pertise.’’. 

3 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con4 tents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Authorization 

5 Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383; 112 Stat. 3412; 

6 136 Stat. 1268) is amended by striking the item re7 lating to section 603 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 603. Task Force, assessments, and Action Strategy.’’. 

8 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 102 

9 of the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Amend10 ments Act of 2004 (33 U.S.C. 4001a) is amended 

11 by striking ‘‘In developing’’ and all that follows 

12 through ‘‘management.’’. 

13 (b) NATIONAL HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM AND HY14 POXIA PROGRAM.—Section 603A of the Harmful Algal 

15 Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 

16 (33 U.S.C. 4002) is amended— 

17 (1) in subsection (a)— 

18 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

19 (i) by striking ‘‘predicting,’’ and in20 serting ‘‘monitoring, observing, fore21 casting,’’; and 

22 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semi23 colon; and 

24 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert25 ing the following: 


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1 ‘‘(2) the scientific assessment submitted under 

2 section 603(b); and 

3 ‘‘(3) the Action Strategy.’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (c)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘ocean 

6 and Great Lakes science and management pro7 grams and centers’’ and inserting ‘‘programs 

8 and centers relating to the science and manage9 ment of marine, estuarine, and freshwater sys10 tems’’; and 

11 (B) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘while 

12 recognizing each agency is acting under its own 

13 independent mission and authority’’ before the 

14 semicolon; 

15 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘Except as 

16 provided in subsection (h), the’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘The’’; 

18 (4) in subsection (e)— 

19 (A) by striking paragraph (2) and insert20 ing the following: 

21 ‘‘(2) examine the causes, ecological con22 sequences, and costs of harmful algal blooms and 

23 hypoxia;’’; 

24 (B) in paragraph (3)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 

2 ‘‘, including the annual Gulf of Mexico hy3 poxia zone mapping cruise’’ after ‘‘Pro4 gram’’; 

5 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

6 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 

7 (iii) by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(E) to identify opportunities to improve 

10 monitoring of harmful algal blooms and hy11 poxia, with a particular focus on waters that 

12 may affect fisheries, public health, or subsist13 ence harvest; 

14 ‘‘(F) to evaluate adaptation and mitigation 

15 strategies to address the impacts of harmful 

16 algal blooms and hypoxia; 

17 ‘‘(G) to support the resilience of the sea18 food industry to harmful algal blooms and to 

19 expand access to testing for harmful algal 

20 bloom toxins, including for subsistence and rec21 reational harvesters, through innovative meth22 ods that increase the efficiency and effective23 ness of such testing in rural and remote areas; 

24 ‘‘(H) to support sustained observations to 

25 provide State and local entities, Indian tribes, 


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1 and other entities access to real-time or near 

2 real-time observations data for decision-making 

3 to protect human and ecological health and 

4 local economies; and 

5 ‘‘(I) to assess the combined effects of 

6 harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, and stressors 

7 such as runoff and infrastructure changes on 

8 marine, freshwater, or estuarine ecosystems and 

9 living resources;’’; 

10 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘agen11 cies’’ and inserting ‘‘entities, regional coastal 

12 observing systems (as defined in section 12303 

13 of the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observa14 tion System Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3602)),’’; 

15 (D) in paragraph (6), by inserting ‘‘and 

16 communities’’ after ‘‘ecosystems’’; 

17 (E) in paragraph (8), by inserting ‘‘and 

18 Indian tribes’’ after ‘‘managers’’; 

19 (F) in paragraph (9)(A), by striking ‘‘, 

20 tribal, and local stakeholders’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘and local stakeholders and Indian tribes, Trib22 al organizations, and Native Hawaiian organi23 zations’’; 

24 (G) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), 

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1 graphs (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (12), 

2 and (13), respectively; 

3 (H) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(3) consult with entities that are most depend6 ent on coastal and water resources that may be im7 pacted by marine and freshwater harmful algal 

8 blooms and hypoxia, including— 

9 ‘‘(A) State and local entities; 

10 ‘‘(B) Indian tribes, Tribal organizations, 

11 and Native Hawaiians organizations; 

12 ‘‘(C) island communities; 

13 ‘‘(D) low-population rural communities; 

14 ‘‘(E) subsistence communities; and 

15 ‘‘(F) fisheries and recreation industries;’’; 

16 and 

17 (I) by inserting after paragraph (10), as 

18 redesignated by subparagraph (G), the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(11) expand access to testing for harmful algal 

21 bloom toxins, including for subsistence and rec22 reational harvesters, through innovative methods 

23 that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of such 

24 testing in rural and remote areas;’’; 


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1 (5) by amending subsections (f) to read as fol2 lows: 

3 ‘‘(f) COOPERATION; DUPLICATION OF EFFORT.—The 

4 Under Secretary shall work cooperatively with and avoid 

5 duplication of effort of other agencies on the Task Force 

6 and States, Indian tribes, Tribal organizations, Native 

7 Hawaiian organizations, and nongovernmental organiza8 tions concerned with marine and freshwater issues.’’; and 

9 (6) by striking subsection (g), (h), and (i). 

10 (c) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN11 ISTRATION ACTIVITIES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 603B of the Harm13 ful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control 

14 Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 4003) is amended to read 

15 as follows: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 603B. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC AD17 MINISTRATION ACTIVITIES. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) carry out response activities for marine, 

20 coastal, and Great Lakes harmful algal bloom and 

21 hypoxia events; 

22 ‘‘(2) develop and enhance operational harmful 

23 algal bloom observing and forecasting programs, in24 cluding operational observations and forecasting, 


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1 monitoring, modeling, data management, and infor2 mation dissemination; 

3 ‘‘(3) develop forecast modeling that includes the 

4 effect of hurricanes and other weather events on the 

5 resuspension of bioavailable nutrients in sediments 

6 and related interactions with harmful algal blooms; 

7 ‘‘(4) enhance communication and coordination 

8 among Federal agencies carrying out activities and 

9 research relating to marine and freshwater harmful 

10 algal bloom and hypoxia; 

11 ‘‘(5) leverage existing resources and expertise 

12 available from local research universities and institu13 tions; and 

14 ‘‘(6) use cost effective methods in carrying out 

15 this section. 

16 ‘‘(b) INTEGRATED COASTAL AND OCEAN OBSERVA17 TION SYSTEM.—The collection of monitoring and observ18 ing data under this section shall comply with all data 

19 standards and protocols developed pursuant to the Inte20 grated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 

21 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.). Such data shall be made 

22 available through the National Integrated Coastal and 

23 Ocean Observation System established under section 

24 12304 of that Act (33 U.S.C. 3603).’’. 


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1 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con2 tents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Authorization 

3 Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383; 112 Stat. 3412; 

4 136 Stat. 1268) is amended by striking the item re5 lating to section 603B and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 603B. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration activities.’’. 

6 (d) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ACTIVI7 TIES.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Harmful Algal Bloom 

9 and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 is 

10 amended by inserting after section 603B (33 U.S.C. 

11 4003) the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 603C. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AC13 TIVITIES. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) carry out research on the ecology and 

16 human health impacts of freshwater harmful algal 

17 blooms and hypoxia events; 

18 ‘‘(2) develop and enhance operational fresh19 water harmful algal bloom monitoring, observing, 

20 and forecasting programs in lakes, rivers, and res21 ervoirs, and coordinate with the National Oceanic 

22 and Atmospheric Administration on such programs 

23 in the Great Lakes and estuaries (including tribu24 taries thereof), including operational observations 

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1 ment, and information dissemination, to support 

2 event response, prioritization, prevention, adapta3 tion, and mitigation activities; 

4 ‘‘(3) enhance communication and coordination 

5 among Federal agencies carrying out freshwater 

6 harmful algal bloom and hypoxia activities and re7 search; 

8 ‘‘(4) to the greatest extent practicable, leverage 

9 existing resources and expertise available from Fed10 eral and State partners and local research univer11 sities and institutions; and 

12 ‘‘(5) use cost-effective methods in carrying out 

13 this section. 

14 ‘‘(b) NONDUPLICATION.—The Administrator shall 

15 ensure that activities carried out under subsection (a) 

16 focus on new approaches to addressing freshwater harmful 

17 algal blooms and are not duplicative of existing research 

18 and development programs authorized by this title or any 

19 other law.’’. 

20 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con21 tents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Authorization 

22 Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383; 112 Stat. 3412; 

23 136 Stat. 1268) is amended by inserting after the 

24 item relating to section 603B the following: 

‘‘Sec. 603C. Environmental Protection Agency activities.’’. 


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1 (e) NATIONAL HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM AND HY2 POXIA OBSERVING NETWORK.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 606 of the Harmful 

4 Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control 

5 Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 4005) is amended to read 

6 as follows: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 606. NATIONAL HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM OBSERVING 

8 NETWORK. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, acting 

10 through the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science 

11 and the Integrated Ocean Observing System of the Na12 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shall in13 tegrate Federal, State, regional, and local observing capa14 bilities to establish a national network of observing sys15 tems for the monitoring, detection, and forecasting of 

16 harmful algal blooms by leveraging the capacity of re17 gional associations of the Integrated Ocean Observing Sys18 tem, including through the incorporation of emerging tech19 nologies and new data integration methods. 

20 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION AND DATA ASSEMBLY.—In car21 rying out subsection (a), the Program Office of the Inte22 grated Ocean Observing System shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) coordinate with the National Centers for 

24 Coastal Ocean Science regarding observations, data 

25 integration, and information dissemination; 


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1 ‘‘(2) organize, integrate, disseminate, and pro2 vide a central architecture to support ecological fore3 casting of harmful algal blooms; and 

4 ‘‘(3) coordinate with the Water Quality Portal 

5 to store and serve discrete data related to the moni6 toring of freshwater, estuarine, and coastal harmful 

7 algal blooms.’’. 

8 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con9 tents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Authorization 

10 Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383; 112 Stat. 3412; 

11 136 Stat. 1268) is amended by striking the item re12 lating to section 606 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 606. National harmful algal bloom observing network.’’. 

13 (f) NATIONAL-LEVEL INCUBATOR PROGRAM.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Harmful Algal Blooms 

15 and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 is 

16 amended by inserting after section 606 (33 U.S.C. 

17 4005) the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 606A. NATIONAL-LEVEL INCUBATOR PROGRAM. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo20 ration with the Administrator and research universities 

21 and institutions, shall establish a national-level incubator 

22 program (in this section referred to as the ‘program’) to 

23 increase the number of strategies, technologies, and meas24 ures available to prevent, mitigate, and control harmful 

25 algal blooms. 


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1 ‘‘(b) FRAMEWORK.—The program shall establish a 

2 framework for preliminary assessments of novel strategies, 

3 technologies, and measures to prevent, mitigate, and con4 trol harmful algal blooms in order to determine the poten5 tial effectiveness and scalability of such technologies. 

6 ‘‘(c) FUNDING.—The program shall provide merit7 based funding, using amounts otherwise available to the 

8 Under Secretary for the award of grants, for strategies, 

9 technologies, and measures that eliminate or reduce, 

10 through biological, chemical, or physical means, the levels 

11 of harmful algae and associated toxins resulting from 

12 harmful algal blooms. 

13 ‘‘(d) DATABASE.—The program shall include a data14 base for cataloging the licensing and permitting require15 ments, economic costs, feasibility, effectiveness, and 

16 scalability of novel and established strategies, tech17 nologies, and measures to prevent, mitigate, and control 

18 harmful algal blooms. 

19 ‘‘(e) PRIORITIZATION.—In carrying out the program, 

20 the Under Secretary shall prioritize proposed strategies, 

21 technologies, and measures that would, to the maximum 

22 extent practicable— 

23 ‘‘(1) protect key habitats for fish and wildlife; 

24 ‘‘(2) maintain biodiversity; 

25 ‘‘(3) protect public health; 


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1 ‘‘(4) protect coastal resources of national, his2 torical, and cultural significance; or 

3 ‘‘(5) benefit low-income communities, Indian 

4 tribes, and rural communities.’’. 

5 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con6 tents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Authorization 

7 Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383; 112 Stat. 3412; 

8 136 Stat. 1268) is amended by inserting after the 

9 item relating to section 606 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 606A. National-level incubator program.’’. 

10 (g) DEFINITIONS.—Section 609 of the Harmful Algal 

11 Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 

12 (33 U.S.C. 4008) is amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘means the 

14 comprehensive research plan and action strategy es15 tablished under section 603B’’ and inserting ‘‘means 

16 the action strategy for harmful algal blooms in the 

17 United States most recently submitted under section 

18 603(c)’’; 

19 (2) by amending paragraph (3) to read as fol20 lows: 

21 ‘‘(3) HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM.—The term 

22 ‘harmful algal bloom’ means a high concentration of 

23 marine or freshwater algae (including diatoms), 

24 macroalgae (including Sargassum), or cyanobacteria 

25 resulting in nuisance conditions or harmful impacts 


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1 on marine and freshwater ecosystems, subsistence 

2 resources, communities, or human health through 

3 the production of toxic compounds or other biologi4 cal, chemical, or physical impacts of the bloom.’’; 

5 (3) by striking paragraph (9); 

6 (4) by redesignating paragraphs (4), (5), (6), 

7 (7), and (8) as paragraphs (5), (8), (9), (11), and 

8 (13), respectively; 

9 (5) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(4) HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM AND HYPOXIA

12 EVENT.—The term ‘harmful algal bloom and hy13 poxia event’ means the occurrence of a harmful algal 

14 bloom or hypoxia as a result of a natural, anthropo15 genic, or undetermined cause.’’; 

16 (6) in paragraph (5), as redesignated by para17 graph (4)— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘aquatic’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘marine or freshwater’’; and 

20 (B) by striking ‘‘resident’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘marine or freshwater’’; 

22 (7) by inserting after paragraph (5), as redesig23 nated by paragraph (4), the following: 

24 ‘‘(6) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian tribe’ 

25 has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 


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1 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

2 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

3 ‘‘(7) NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION.—The 

4 term ‘Native Hawaiian organization’ has the mean5 ing given that term in section 6207 of the Elemen6 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

7 U.S.C. 7517) and includes the Department of Ha8 waiian Home Lands and the Office of Hawaiian Af9 fairs.’’; 

10 (8) by inserting after paragraph (9), as redesig11 nated by paragraph (4), the following: 

12 ‘‘(10) SUBSISTENCE USE.—The term ‘subsist13 ence use’ means the customary and traditional use 

14 of fish, wildlife, or other freshwater, coastal, or ma15 rine resources by any individual or community to 

16 meet personal or family needs, including essential 

17 economic, nutritional, or cultural applications.’’; and 

18 (9) by inserting after paragraph (11), as redes19 ignated by paragraph (4), the following: 

20 ‘‘(12) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘Trib21 al organization’ has the meaning given that term in 

22 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu23 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).’’. 


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1 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

2 610 of the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research 

3 and Control Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 4009) is amended— 

4 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol5 lows: 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro7 priated to carry out this title, for each of fiscal years 2025 

8 through 2029— 

9 ‘‘(1) $19,500,000 to the Under Secretary; and 

10 ‘‘(2) $8,000,000 to the Administrator.’’; and 

11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(c) TRANSFER AUTHORITY.—As specifically pro13 vided in advance in appropriations Acts, the Under Sec14 retary or the Administrator may transfer funds made 

15 available to carry out this title to the head of any Federal 

16 department or agency, with the concurrence of such head, 

17 to carry out, as appropriate, relevant provisions of this 

18 title and section 9(g) of the National Integrated Drought 

19 Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018 (33 

20 U.S.C. 4010).’’. 

21 SEC. 603. OTHER HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM MATTERS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(g) of the National Inte23 grated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act 

24 of 2018 (33 U.S.C. 4010) is amended— 

25 (1) in paragraph (1)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (B), by adding at the 

2 end the following new sentence: ‘‘The appro3 priate Federal official may waive the non-Fed4 eral share requirements of the preceding sen5 tence if such official determines no reasonable 

6 means are available through which the recipient 

7 of the Federal share can meet the non-Federal 

8 share requirement.’’; and 

9 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(D) CONTRACT, COOPERATIVE AGREE11 MENT, AND GRANT AUTHORITY.—The appro12 priate Federal official may enter into contracts, 

13 cooperative agreements, and grants with States, 

14 Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, Native Ha15 waiian organizations, local governments, or 

16 other entities to pay for or reimburse costs in17 curred by such entities for the purposes of sup18 porting the determination of, and assessing the 

19 environmental, economic, social, subsistence 

20 use, and public health effects of, a harmful 

21 algal bloom or hypoxia event of national signifi22 cance.’’; 

23 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

24 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘a 

25 leadership official of an affected Indian Tribe, 


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1 the executive official of the District of Colum2 bia, or the executive official of an affected terri3 tory or possession of the United States,’’ after 

4 ‘‘State,’’; and 

5 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘con6 sider’’ and all that follows through ‘‘boundary.’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘consider factors such as— 

8 ‘‘(i) the risk to public health and the 

9 potential severity of the detrimental envi10 ronmental effects of the harmful algal 

11 bloom or hypoxia event, as indicated by— 

12 ‘‘(I) data on shellfish or water 

13 quality obtained through sampling 

14 programs, including baseline data, 

15 and regulatory or advisory thresholds 

16 established to explain management ac17 tions related to the event; 

18 ‘‘(II) toxin levels in fish, marine 

19 mammals, seabirds, shellfish, or water 

20 during the event; 

21 ‘‘(III) toxic aerosols produced 

22 during the event, including potential 

23 human exposures to toxic aerosols; 


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1 ‘‘(IV) reports of human or ani2 mal illnesses or mortalities during the 

3 event; 

4 ‘‘(V) any closures of fishing or 

5 shellfish harvesting locations or rec6 reational public waters, including 

7 beaches, during the event; 

8 ‘‘(VI) the duration and spatial 

9 extent of the event; or 

10 ‘‘(VII) impacts to habitats or 

11 ecosystems associated with the event; 

12 ‘‘(ii) the potential economic, social, 

13 and subsistence impacts associated with 

14 the harmful algal bloom or hypoxia event, 

15 including to fisheries and aquaculture, 

16 recreation and tourism, monitoring and 

17 management, social or cultural resource 

18 use, and event response activities, assessed 

19 in comparison with historical data from 

20 when a State or region did not experience 

21 such an event, as possible, as indicated 

22 by— 

23 ‘‘(I) increases in public health ex24 penditures; 


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1 ‘‘(II) losses to commercial fish2 eries and aquaculture industries, 

3 recreation and tourism, real estate, 

4 and other impacted industries or busi5 nesses; 

6 ‘‘(III) increases in monitoring 

7 and management expenditures, includ8 ing costs incurred for event response 

9 and clean-up (such as for beach clean10 up following an influx of biomass or a 

11 fish-kill) by public or private sectors; 

12 or 

13 ‘‘(IV) impacts to subsistence re14 sources, including nutritional, cul15 tural, and economic effects on subsist16 ence communities; 

17 ‘‘(iii) the relative magnitude of those 

18 impacts in relation to past occurrences of 

19 harmful algal bloom or hypoxia events that 

20 occur on a recurrent or annual basis; and 

21 ‘‘(iv) the geographic scope of the 

22 harmful algal bloom or hypoxia event, in23 cluding the potential of the event to affect 

24 several municipalities, to affect more than 


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1 1 State, or to cross an international 

2 boundary.’’; 

3 (3) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(D) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian 

6 Tribe’ has the meaning given that term in sec7 tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 

8 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

9 ‘‘(E) NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION.— 

10 The term ‘Native Hawaiian organization’ has 

11 the meaning given that term in section 6207 of 

12 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

13 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7517) and includes the De14 partment of Hawaiian Home Lands and the Of15 fice of Hawaiian Affairs. 

16 ‘‘(F) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term 

17 ‘Tribal organization’ has the meaning given 

18 that term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter19 mination and Education Assistance Act (25 

20 U.S.C. 5304).’’; and 

21 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

23 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

24 this subsection $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 


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1 2025 through 2029, to remain available until ex2 pended.’’. 

3 (b) PROTECT FAMILIES FROM TOXIC ALGAL

4 BLOOMS.—Section 128 of the Water Resources Develop5 ment Act of 2020 (33 U.S.C. 610 note) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub7 section (f); and 

8 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol9 lowing new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(e) HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM TECHNOLOGIES.—In 

11 carrying out the demonstration program under subsection 

12 (a), the Secretary may enter into agreements with water 

13 and irrigation districts located in the focus areas described 

14 in subsections (c) and (d) for the use or sale of any new 

15 technologies developed under the program to expedite the 

16 removal of harmful algal blooms in such areas.’’. 

17 TITLE VII—PREVENTING 

18 HEALTH EMERGENCIES AND 

19 TEMPERATURE-RELATED ILL20 NESS AND DEATHS ACT OF 

21 2024 

22 SEC. 701. SHORT TITLE. 

23 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Health 

24 Emergencies And Temperature-related Illness and Deaths 


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1 Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘Preventing HEAT Illness and 

2 Deaths Act of 2024’’. 

3 SEC. 702. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this title: 

5 (1) EXTREME HEAT.—The term ‘‘extreme 

6 heat’’ means heat that substantially exceeds local 

7 temperature norms in terms of any combination of 

8 the following: 

9 (A) Duration. 

10 (B) Intensity. 

11 (C) Season length. 

12 (D) Frequency. 

13 (2) HEAT.—The term ‘‘heat’’ means any com14 bination of the atmospheric parameters associated 

15 with modulating human thermoregulation, such as 

16 air temperature, humidity, solar exposure, and wind 

17 speed. 

18 (3) HEAT EVENT.—The term ‘‘heat event’’ 

19 means an occurrence of extreme heat of 2 days or 

20 more that may have heat-health implications. 

21 (4) HEAT-HEALTH.—The term ‘‘heat-health’’ 

22 means health effects to humans from heat, during or 

23 outside of heat events, including from vulnerability 

24 and exposure, or the risk of such effects. 


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1 (5) PLANNING.—The term ‘‘planning’’ means 

2 activities performed across timescales (including 

3 days, weeks, months, years, and decades) with sce4 nario-based, probabilistic or deterministic informa5 tion to identify and take actions to proactively miti6 gate heat-health risks. 

7 (6) PREPAREDNESS.—The term ‘‘preparedness’’ 

8 means activities performed across timescales with 

9 decision support tools to manage risk in advance of 

10 a heat event and increased ambient temperature. 

11 (7) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Tribal 

12 government’’ means the recognized governing body 

13 of any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, 

14 pueblo, village, community, component band, or com15 ponent reservation, individually identified (including 

16 parenthetically) in the list published most recently as 

17 of the date of enactment of this Act pursuant to sec18 tion 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe 

19 List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131). 

20 SEC. 703. NATIONAL INTEGRATED HEAT HEALTH INFORMA21 TION SYSTEM INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMITTEE.—There is es23 tablished within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

24 Administration an interagency committee, to be known as 

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1 tem Interagency Committee’’ (in this section referred to 

2 as the ‘‘Committee’’). 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The Committee shall coordinate 

4 agencies represented on the Committee to execute, as ap5 propriate, activities across such agencies to ensure a 

6 united Federal approach to reducing health risks from 

7 heat. 

8 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to carry out and 

10 achieve the purpose described in subsection (b), the 

11 Committee shall include the following: 

12 (A) The Director of the National Inte13 grated Heat Health Information System. 

14 (B) Not fewer than 1 representative from 

15 each of the following: 

16 (i) From the Department of Com17 merce, the following: 

18 (I) From the National Oceanic 

19 and Atmospheric Administration, the 

20 following: 

21 (aa) The National Weather 

22 Service. 

23 (bb) The Office of Oceanic 

24 and Atmospheric Research. 


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1 (cc) The National Environ2 mental Satellite, Data, and Infor3 mation Service. 

4 (II) The National Institute of 

5 Standards and Technology. 

6 (III) The Bureau of the Census. 

7 (ii) From the Department of Health 

8 and Human Services, the following: 

9 (I) The Centers for Disease Con10 trol and Prevention, including the Na11 tional Institute for Occupational Safe12 ty and Health. 

13 (II) The Office of the Assistant 

14 Secretary of Health and Human Serv15 ices for Preparedness and Response. 

16 (III) The Substance Abuse and 

17 Mental Health Services Administra18 tion. 

19 (IV) The National Institutes of 

20 Health. 

21 (V) The Indian Health Service. 

22 (iii) From the Department of the In23 terior, the following: 

24 (I) The Bureau of Indian Affairs. 


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1 (II) The Bureau of Land Man2 agement. 

3 (III) The National Park Service. 

4 (IV) The Office of Hawaiian Re5 lations. 

6 (iv) From the Environmental Protec7 tion Agency, the following: 

8 (I) The Office of Air and Radi9 ation, if the Administrator of the En10 vironmental Protection Agency deter11 mines appropriate. 

12 (II) The Office of Research and 

13 Development, if the Administrator de14 termines appropriate. 

15 (III) The Office of International 

16 and Tribal Affairs. 

17 (v) The Federal Emergency Manage18 ment Agency. 

19 (vi) The Department of Defense. 

20 (vii) The Department of Agriculture. 

21 (viii) The Department of Housing and 

22 Urban Development. 

23 (ix) The Department of Transpor24 tation. 

25 (x) The Department of Energy. 


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1 (xi) The Department of Labor, includ2 ing the Occupational Safety and Health 

3 Administration. 

4 (xii) The Department of Veteran Af5 fairs. 

6 (xiii) The Department of Education. 

7 (xiv) The Department of State. 

8 (xv) The United States Agency for 

9 International Development. 

10 (xvi) Such other Federal agencies as 

11 the Under Secretary of Commerce for 

12 Oceans and Atmosphere considers appro13 priate. 

14 (2) SELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES.—The 

15 head of an agency specified in paragraph (1)(B) 

16 shall, in appointing representatives of the agency to 

17 the Committee, select representatives who have ex18 pertise in areas relevant to the responsibilities of the 

19 Committee, such as weather prediction, health im20 pacts, behavioral science, public health hazard pre21 paredness and response, or mental health services. 

22 (3) CO-CHAIRS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The members of the 

24 Committee shall select 3 individuals from 

25 among such members to serve as co-chairs of 


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1 the Committee, subject to the approval of the 

2 Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and 

3 Atmosphere. 

4 (B) SELECTION.— 

5 (i) INITIAL SELECTION.—Of the co6 chairs first selected, one shall be from the 

7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin8 istration, one shall be from the Depart9 ment of Health and Human Services, and 

10 one shall be from the Federal Emergency 

11 Management Agency. 

12 (ii) SUBSEQUENT SELECTION.—Sub13 sequent co-chairs shall be selected from 

14 among the members of the Committee, ex15 cept the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

16 Administration shall have the opportunity 

17 to maintain a co-chair position. 

18 (C) TERMS.—Each co-chair shall serve for 

19 a term of not more than 5 years. 

20 (D) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CO-CHAIRS.— 

21 The co-chairs of the Committee shall, in con22 sultation with the Director of the National Inte23 grated Heat Health Information System— 


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1 (i) determine the agenda of the Com2 mittee, in consultation with other members 

3 of the Committee; 

4 (ii) direct the work of the Committee; 

5 and 

6 (iii) convene meetings of the Com7 mittee not less frequently than once each 

8 fiscal quarter. 

9 (d) RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMITTEE.—The Com10 mittee shall coordinate an integrated, Federal Govern11 ment-wide approach to reducing health risks and impacts 

12 of heat, including by— 

13 (1) developing the strategic plan required by 

14 subsection (e); 

15 (2) coordinating across Federal agencies on 

16 heat-health communication, engagement, research, 

17 service delivery, and workforce development; and 

18 (3) building capacity and partnerships with 

19 Federal and non-Federal entities. 

20 (e) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Committee 

23 shall submit to Congress and make available on a 

24 public website a 5-year strategic plan that outlines 

25 the goals and projects of the Committee, including 


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1 how the Committee will improve coordination and in2 tegration of interagency Federal capacity and capa3 bilities to address health risks of heat, including— 

4 (A) a strategy for improving and coordi5 nating existing Federal data collection and data 

6 management to include sharing of data and sta7 tistics on heat-related illnesses and mortalities 

8 and other impacts to inform heat-related activi9 ties; 

10 (B) a strategy for improving and coordi11 nating Federal activities to understand user 

12 gaps and needs, conduct research, foster inno13 vative solutions, and provide actionable infor14 mation and services; and 

15 (C) mechanisms for financing heat plan16 ning and preparedness within such agencies as 

17 the Committee considers appropriate. 

18 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—The head of an agency 

19 represented on the Committee may implement the 

20 portions of the strategic plan required by paragraph 

21 (1) that are relevant to that agency. 

22 (3) UPDATES.—Not later than 5 years after the 

23 submission of the strategic plan required by para24 graph (1), and every 5 years thereafter, the Com25 mittee shall brief Congress on an update of the plan, 


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1 which shall include progress made toward goals out2 lined in the previous plan and new priorities that 

3 emerge. 

4 (f) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the responsibil5 ities of the Committee, the Committee shall consult with 

6 relevant— 

7 (1) regional, State, Tribal, and local govern8 ments; 

9 (2) international organizations and partners; 

10 (3) research institutions; 

11 (4) nongovernmental organizations and associa12 tions; 

13 (5) medical experts with expertise in emergency 

14 response; and 

15 (6) environmental health, economic or business 

16 development, or other stakeholders. 

17 SEC. 704. NATIONAL INTEGRATED HEAT HEALTH INFORMA18 TION SYSTEM. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary of Com20 merce for Oceans and Atmosphere shall establish within 

21 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration a 

22 system, to be known as the ‘‘National Integrated Heat 

23 Health Information System’’ (NIHHIS) (in this section 

24 referred to as the ‘‘System’’). 


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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the System is to re2 duce heat-related impacts by— 

3 (1) improving the delivery of data, information, 

4 forecasts, warnings, predictions, and projections re5 lated to temperature and extreme heat and related 

6 impacts; 

7 (2) through the Office of Oceanic and Atmos8 pheric Research, developing science-based solutions 

9 and tools to improve impact-based decision support 

10 services for heat impacts to human life, property, 

11 and the United States economy; and 

12 (3) supporting a research program on heat 

13 health, in coordination with the agencies represented 

14 on the National Integrated Heat Health Information 

15 System Interagency Committee. 

16 (c) DATA MANAGEMENT.— 

17 (1) AVAILABILITY.—The data and metadata as18 sociated with the System shall be fully and openly 

19 available, within the legal right to redistribute, in ac20 cordance with chapter 31 of title 44, United States 

21 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Federal Records Act 

22 of 1950’’), and the Federal Evidence-Based Policy23 making Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–435;132 Stat. 

24 5529) and the amendments made by that Act, to 


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1 maximize use of such data to support the goals of 

2 the System. 

3 (2) NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL

4 INFORMATION.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary of 

6 Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere shall 

7 manage, maintain, and steward archival data 

8 and metadata associated with the System with9 in the National Centers for Environmental In10 formation. 

11 (B) WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLO12 GIST.—The Under Secretary of Commerce for 

13 Oceans and Atmosphere shall designate at least 

14 one warning coordination meteorologist, as de15 scribed in section 405 of the Weather Research 

16 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 

17 U.S.C. 8545), at the National Centers for Envi18 ronmental Information. 

19 SEC. 705. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Na21 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry 

22 out sections 703 and 704, including for any administrative 

23 costs for the National Integrated Heat Health Information 

24 System Interagency Committee and the National InteVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00228 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5601.IS S5601

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1 grated Heat Health Information System, $5,000,000 for 

2 each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029. 

3 TITLE VIII—NATIONAL LAND4 SLIDE PREPAREDNESS ACT 

5 REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 

6 2024 

7 SEC. 801. SHORT TITLE. 

8 This title may be cited as the ‘‘National Landslide 

9 Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2024’’. 

10 SEC. 802. CERTAIN DEFINITIONS UNDER FLOOD LEVEL OB11 SERVATION, OPERATIONS, AND DECISION 

12 SUPPORT ACT. 

13 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 12(a) of the Flood Level 

14 Observation, Operations, and Decision Support Act (15 

15 U.S.C. 9707(a)) is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 

17 paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and 

18 (2) by inserting before paragraph (4) (as so re19 designated) the following: 

20 ‘‘(1) ATMOSPHERIC RIVER.—The term ‘atmos21 pheric river’ means a transient corridor of strong 

22 water vapor in the atmosphere that— 

23 ‘‘(A) produces significant quantities of rain 

24 or snow; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) may be primarily beneficial to the 

2 water supply or hazardous due to flooding. 

3 ‘‘(2) ATMOSPHERIC RIVER FLOODING EVENT.— 

4 The term ‘atmospheric river flooding event’ means 

5 an atmospheric river that— 

6 ‘‘(A) results in flooding of rivers and 

7 streams or other hazards to human life, prop8 erty, or the economy; and 

9 ‘‘(B) is of particular concern to human 

10 health, property, and the economy, as deter11 mined by the Secretary of Commerce. 

12 ‘‘(3) EXTREME PRECIPITATION EVENT.—The 

13 term ‘extreme precipitation event’ means precipita14 tion quantities exceeding the 5-year annual recur15 rence interval for a specific location.’’. 

16 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 12(d)(1) of the Flood 

17 Level Observation, Operations, and Decision Support Act 

18 (15 U.S.C. 9707(d)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, such 

19 as precipitation resulting from hurricanes, atmospheric 

20 river flooding events, and extreme precipitation events’’ 

21 before the period at the end. 

22 SEC. 803. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONAL LANDSLIDE 

23 PREPAREDNESS ACT. 

24 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2 of the National Land25 slide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 3101) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through 

2 (11) as paragraphs (7), (8), (10), (11), (13), (14), 

3 (15), and (16), respectively; 

4 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(4) ATMOSPHERIC RIVER.—The term ‘atmos7 pheric river’ has the meaning given the term in sec8 tion 12(a) of the Flood Level Observation, Oper9 ations, and Decision Support Act (15 U.S.C. 

10 9707(a)). 

11 ‘‘(5) ATMOSPHERIC RIVER FLOODING EVENT.— 

12 The term ‘atmospheric river flooding event’ has the 

13 meaning given the term in section 12(a) of the 

14 Flood Level Observation, Operations, and Decision 

15 Support Act (15 U.S.C. 9707(a)). 

16 ‘‘(6) EXTREME PRECIPITATION EVENT.—The 

17 term ‘extreme precipitation event’ has the meaning 

18 given the term in section 12(a) of the Flood Level 

19 Observation, Operations, and Decision Support Act 

20 (15 U.S.C. 9707(a)).’’; 

21 (3) by inserting after paragraph (8) (as so re22 designated) the following: 

23 ‘‘(9) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

24 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

25 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 


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1 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

2 1001(a)).’’; 

3 (4) by inserting after paragraph (11) (as so re4 designated) the following: 

5 ‘‘(12) NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION.—The 

6 term ‘Native Hawaiian organization’ has the mean7 ing given the term in section 6207 of the Elemen8 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

9 U.S.C. 7517), except that the term includes the De10 partment of Hawaiian Home Lands and the Office 

11 of Hawaiian Affairs.’’; and 

12 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(17) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘Trib14 al organization’ has the meaning given the term in 

15 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu16 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).’’. 

17 (b) NATIONAL LANDSLIDE HAZARDS REDUCTION

18 PROGRAM.— 

19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Section 3(a)(3) of the 

20 National Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 

21 3102(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘protect’’ and 

22 inserting ‘‘contribute to protecting’’. 

23 (2) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.—Section 

24 3(b)(1)(C)(ii) of the National Landslide Prepared25 ness Act (43 U.S.C. 3102(b)(1)(C)(ii)) is amended 


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1 by striking ‘‘implement’’ and inserting ‘‘dissemi2 nate’’. 

3 (3) NATIONAL STRATEGY.—Section 3(b)(2) of 

4 the National Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 

5 3102(b)(2)) is amended— 

6 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

7 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec8 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

9 (B) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 

10 so redesignated), by striking ‘‘Not later than’’ 

11 and inserting the following: 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than’’; and 

13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(B) ASSESSMENT.—For purposes of the 

15 first national strategy published after the date 

16 of enactment of the National Landslide Pre17 paredness Act Reauthorization Act of 2024 

18 under subparagraph (A), the Secretary, in con19 sultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall 

20 include an assessment of the risks that atmos21 pheric river flooding events and extreme pre22 cipitation events pose to the safety of life and 

23 property in the United States with respect to 

24 landslide hazards.’’. 


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1 (4) NATIONAL LANDSLIDE HAZARDS DATA2 BASE.—Section 3(b)(3) of the National Landslide 

3 Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 3102(b)(3)) is amend4 ed— 

5 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 

6 and (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respec7 tively; and 

8 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘(C) the identification of areas in need of 

11 additional hazard risk assessment, including 

12 areas that may be at risk due to— 

13 ‘‘(i) hydrology or changes in hydrology 

14 that may include erosion, drought, or other 

15 characteristics that could impact landslide 

16 risk; 

17 ‘‘(ii) atmospheric river flooding events 

18 and extreme precipitation events, as identi19 fied by the Secretary of Commerce and the 

20 Secretary; 

21 ‘‘(iii) geologic activity, such as vol22 canic eruptions, earthquakes, or tsunamis; 

23 or 


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1 ‘‘(iv) data-poor areas or hazards with 

2 poor monitoring that could contribute to 

3 increased landslide risk;’’. 

4 (5) LANDSLIDE HAZARD AND RISK PREPARED5 NESS FOR COMMUNITIES.—Section 3(b)(4) of the 

6 National Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 

7 3102(b)(4)) is amended— 

8 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

9 (A), by inserting ‘‘Native Hawaiian organiza10 tions and other stakeholders, as appropriate,’’ 

11 before ‘‘and Indian tribes’’; 

12 (B) in subparagraph (A)— 

13 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

14 by striking ‘‘local, and Tribal governments 

15 and decisionmakers’’ and inserting ‘‘and 

16 local governments, Indian tribes, Tribal or17 ganizations, Native Hawaiian organiza18 tions, and other decisionmakers’’; 

19 (ii) by striking clause (iii) and insert20 ing the following: 

21 ‘‘(iii) health and safety with respect to 

22 landslides;’’; 

23 (iii) by redesignating clause (iv) as 

24 clause (v); and 


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1 (iv) by inserting after clause (iii) the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(iv) reducing losses from landslides, 

4 including the threats caused by atmos5 pheric rivers and other extreme precipita6 tion events; and’’; and 

7 (C) in subparagraph (B)— 

8 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘local, 

9 and Tribal officials’’ and inserting ‘‘and 

10 local officials, Indian tribes, Tribal organi11 zations, and Native Hawaiian organiza12 tions’’; and 

13 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘local, 

14 and Tribal emergency managers’’ and in15 serting ‘‘and local emergency managers 

16 and emergency managers of Indian tribes, 

17 Tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian 

18 organizations’’. 

19 (6) DEBRIS FLOW EARLY WARNING SYSTEM.— 

20 Section 3(b)(5) of the National Landslide Prepared21 ness Act (43 U.S.C. 3102(b)(5)) is amended— 

22 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

23 ‘‘State, territorial, local, and Tribal govern24 ments’’ and inserting ‘‘State, territorial, and 


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1 local governments, Indian tribes, Tribal organi2 zations, and Native Hawaiian organizations’’; 

3 (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

4 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec5 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

6 (C) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 

7 so redesignated), by striking ‘‘In carrying out’’ 

8 and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out’’; and 

10 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(B) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out 

12 subparagraph (A), the Secretary may consult 

13 with an institution of higher education de14 scribed in subsection (d)(2)(B)(iv) and other 

15 stakeholders to establish and support emer16 gency response procedures, as appropriate.’’. 

17 (7) EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIVITIES.—Sec18 tion 3(b)(6) of the National Landslide Preparedness 

19 Act (43 U.S.C. 3102(b)(6)) is amended— 

20 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

21 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec22 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

23 (B) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 

24 so redesignated), by striking ‘‘In carrying’’ and 

25 inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying’’; 

2 (C) in subparagraph (A) (as so des3 ignated)— 

4 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i) 

5 (as so redesignated), by inserting ‘‘Native 

6 Hawaiian organizations,’’ before ‘‘and In7 dian tribes’’; 

8 (ii) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), 

9 by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

10 (iii) in clause (iii) (as so redesig11 nated), by striking the period at the end 

12 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (iv) by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(iv) to improve real-time risk man16 agement during landslide events, including 

17 with respect to landslide events caused 

18 by— 

19 ‘‘(I) hydrology or changes in hy20 drology that may include erosion, 

21 drought, or other characteristics that 

22 could impact landslide risk; 

23 ‘‘(II) atmospheric river flooding 

24 events and extreme precipitation 


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1 events, as identified by the Secretary 

2 of Commerce and the Secretary; 

3 ‘‘(III) geologic activity, such as 

4 volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, or 

5 tsunamis; 

6 ‘‘(IV) data-poor areas or hazards 

7 with poor monitoring that could con8 tribute to increased landslide risk; or 

9 ‘‘(V) thawing permafrost and gla10 cial retreat causing destabilization of 

11 slopes.’’; and 

12 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(B) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out 

14 subparagraph (A), the Secretary may consult 

15 with an institution of higher education de16 scribed in subsection (d)(2)(B)(iv) and the pri17 vate sector.’’. 

18 (8) INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE

19 ON LANDSLIDE HAZARDS.—Section 3(c)(2) of the 

20 National Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 

21 3102(c)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(J) The Administrator of the National 

24 Aeronautics and Space Administration.’’. 


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1 (9) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—Section 3(d)(2)(B) 

2 of the National Landslide Preparedness Act (43 

3 U.S.C. 3102(d)(2)(B)) is amended— 

4 (A) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘geological’’; 

5 and 

6 (B) in clause (vi), by striking ‘‘local, and 

7 Tribal emergency management agencies’’ and 

8 inserting ‘‘and local emergency management 

9 agencies and emergency management agencies 

10 of Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organiza11 tions’’. 

12 (10) REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS.—Section 3 of 

13 the National Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 

14 3102) is amended— 

15 (A) by redesignating subsections (e) 

16 through (i) as subsections (f) through (j), re17 spectively; and 

18 (B) by inserting after subsection (d) the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(e) REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable 

22 after the date of enactment of the National Land23 slide Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2024, 

24 the Secretary shall establish in the State of Alaska 

25 and other regions, as the Secretary determines to be 


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1 appropriate, a regional partnership with an eligible 

2 partner described in paragraph (2). 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE PARTNERS.—An organization or 

4 institution of higher education with expertise in 

5 landslide mapping, research, and monitoring shall be 

6 eligible for a regional partnership under paragraph 

7 (1). 

8 ‘‘(3) PURPOSES AND DUTIES.—A regional part9 nership established under paragraph (1) shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) allow the Secretary to leverage appli11 cable expertise in regional organizations; 

12 ‘‘(B) coordinate long-term landslide re13 search specific to the applicable region; and 

14 ‘‘(C) align interagency landslide moni15 toring efforts.’’. 

16 (11) GRANT PROGRAMS.—Section 3 of the Na17 tional Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 3102) 

18 is amended, in paragraph (1) of subsection (f) (as 

19 so redesignated)— 

20 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 

21 ‘‘local, and Tribal governments to research, 

22 map, assess’’ and inserting ‘‘and local govern23 ments, Indian tribes, Tribal organizations, and 

24 Native Hawaiian organizations to research, 

25 map, assess, monitor’’; 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

2 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘institu3 tions of higher education described in sub4 section (d)(2)(B)(iv),’’ before ‘‘and Indian 

5 tribes’’; and 

6 (ii) in clause (ii)— 

7 (I) by redesignating subclauses 

8 (II) through (IV) as subclauses (III) 

9 through (V), respectively; and 

10 (II) by inserting after subclause 

11 (I) the following: 

12 ‘‘(II) in regions that have re13 cently experienced loss of life due to 

14 landslides;’’; and 

15 (C) in subparagraph (C)— 

16 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘award17 ed’’ after ‘‘grants’’; and 

18 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘made’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘or other accomplishments 

20 resulting’’. 

21 (12) SIGNIFICANT EVENTS.—Section 3 of the 

22 National Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 

23 3102) is amended, in subsection (h)(3) (as so redes24 ignated), by striking ‘‘local, and Tribal partners’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘and local partners, Indian tribes, 


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1 Tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organiza2 tions’’. 

3 (13) FUNDING.—Section 3 of the National 

4 Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 3102) is 

5 amended, in subsection (i) (as so redesignated)— 

6 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

7 by striking ‘‘2024’’ and inserting ‘‘2029’’; and 

8 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘there is 

9 authorized to be appropriated to the United 

10 States Geological Survey, $25,000,000 to carry 

11 out this section’’ and inserting ‘‘from amounts 

12 appropriated or otherwise made available to the 

13 United States Geological Survey, $35,000,000 

14 shall be used to carry out this section, of which 

15 not less than $10,000,000 shall be used for the 

16 purchase, deployment, and repair of landslide 

17 early warning systems in high risk areas’’. 

18 (c) 3D ELEVATION PROGRAM.— 

19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Section 5(a) of the Na20 tional Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 

21 3104(a)) is amended— 

22 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘and 

23 derivative’’ after ‘‘3D elevation’’; and 

24 (B) in paragraph (2)(B)(i), by inserting ‘‘, 

25 process, and integrate’’ after ‘‘acquire’’. 


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1 (2) 3D ELEVATION FEDERAL INTERAGENCY CO2 ORDINATING COMMITTEE.—Section 5(b)(3) of the 

3 National Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 

4 3104(b)(3)) is amended— 

5 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 

6 and (E) as subparagraphs (E) and (F), respec7 tively; and 

8 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (C) 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘(D) the 3D Hydrography Program Work11 ing Group;’’. 

12 (3) GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREE13 MENTS.—Section 5(d)(3) of the National Landslide 

14 Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 3104(d)(3)) is amend15 ed by striking ‘‘publically’’ and inserting ‘‘publicly’’. 

16 (4) FUNDING.—Section 5(e) of the National 

17 Landslide Preparedness Act (43 U.S.C. 3104(e)) is 

18 amended by striking ‘‘2024’’ and inserting ‘‘2029’’. 

19 TITLE IX—ILLEGAL RED 

20 SNAPPER ENFORCEMENT ACT 

21 SEC. 901. SHORT TITLE. 

22 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Illegal Red Snapper 

23 Enforcement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 902. METHODOLOGY FOR IDENTIFYING THE COUNTRY 

2 OF ORIGIN OF RED SNAPPER IMPORTED 

3 INTO THE UNITED STATES. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis6 trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 

7 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

8 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON9 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con10 gress’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

12 and Transportation of the Senate; and 

13 (B) the Committee on Science, Space, and 

14 Technology of the House of Representatives. 

15 (3) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

16 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 

17 for Standards and Technology and the Director of 

18 the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

19 (b) STANDARD METHODOLOGY FOR IDENTIFICA20 TION.—The Under Secretary and the Administrator, in 

21 consultation with the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 

22 Border Protection and the Commandant of the Coast 

23 Guard, shall jointly develop a standard methodology based 

24 on chemical analysis for identifying the country of origin 

25 of red snapper imported into the United States that— 


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1 (1) is consistent with the needs of Federal and 

2 State law enforcement agencies in combating illegal, 

3 unreported, and unregulated fishing; 

4 (2) minimizes processing time; and 

5 (3) involves the use of a field kit that can be 

6 easily carried by one individual. 

7 (c) REPORT.—Not later 2 years after the date of the 

8 enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall submit 

9 to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that 

10 includes the following: 

11 (1) A summary of the methodology developed 

12 under subsection (b). 

13 (2) A plan for operationalizing the methodology 

14 developed under subsection (b). 

15 (3) Recommendations for further research on 

16 identification methods, including other potential ap17 plications of the methodology. 


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1 TITLE X—ACCELERATING NET2 WORKING, 

3 CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE, 

4 AND HARDWARE FOR OCE5 ANIC RESEARCH ACT 

6 SEC. 1001. SHORT TITLE. 

7 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating Net8 working, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic 

9 Research Act’’ or the ‘‘ANCHOR Act’’. 

10 SEC. 1002. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this title: 

12 (1) U.S. ACADEMIC RESEARCH FLEET.—The 

13 term ‘‘U.S. Academic Research Fleet’’ means the 

14 United States-flagged vessels that— 

15 (A) have been accepted into, and are active 

16 participants administered within, the Univer17 sity-National Oceanographic Laboratory Sys18 tem; 

19 (B) are operated as oceanographic research 

20 vessels by research universities and laboratories; 

21 (C) receive funding from the National 

22 Science Foundation; and 

23 (D) have achieved designation as a mem24 ber vessel through a standard evaluation proc25 ess. 


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1 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

2 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

3 (3) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSEL.—The 

4 term ‘‘oceanographic research vessel’’ has the mean5 ing given the term in section 2101 of title 46, 

6 United States Code. 

7 SEC. 1003. PLAN TO IMPROVE CYBERSECURITY AND TELE8 COMMUNICATIONS OF U.S. ACADEMIC RE9 SEARCH FLEET. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall, in con12 sultation with the head of any Federal agency, university, 

13 or laboratory that owns or operates a vessel of the U.S. 

14 Academic Research Fleet, submit to the Committee on 

15 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 

16 the Committee on Space, Science, and Technology of the 

17 House of Representatives a plan to improve the cybersecu18 rity and telecommunications of the U.S. Academic Re19 search Fleet. 

20 (b) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by subsection (a) 

21 shall include— 

22 (1) an assessment of the telecommunications 

23 and networking needs of the U.S. Academic Re24 search Fleet, consistent with the typical scientific 

25 mission of that vessel; 


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1 (2) in accordance with guidance issued by the 

2 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 

3 and the National Institute for Standards and Tech4 nology, an assessment of cybersecurity needs appro5 priate for— 

6 (A) the ownership of vessels within the 

7 U.S. Academic Research Fleet; and 

8 (B) the typical research functions and top9 ics of such vessels; 

10 (3) an assessment of the costs necessary to 

11 meet the needs described in paragraphs (1) and (2), 

12 including— 

13 (A) any necessary equipment, such as sat14 ellite communications equipment, software, 

15 high-performance computing clusters shipboard 

16 and shoreside, or enterprise hardware; and 

17 (B) estimated personnel costs in excess of 

18 current expenditures, including any necessary 

19 training, support, or logistics; 

20 (4) an assessment of the time required to im21 plement any upgrades required to meet the needs 

22 described in paragraphs (1) and (2) under varying 

23 budgets and funding scenarios; 

24 (5) the adoption of common solutions or 

25 consortial licensing agreements, or by centralizing 


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1 elements of fleet cybersecurity, telecommunications 

2 or data management at a single facility; and 

3 (6) in consultation with any non-Federal owners 

4 of a vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, a 

5 spending plan for the National Science Foundation, 

6 the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners of 

7 vessels of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, users 

8 of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, or any com9 bination thereof, to provide funding to cover the 

10 costs described in paragraph (3). 

11 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Director shall, in pre12 paring the plan required by subsection (a), consider— 

13 (1) the network capabilities, including speed 

14 and bandwidth targets, necessary to meet the sci15 entific mission needs of each class of vessel within 

16 the U.S. Academic Research Fleet for such purposes 

17 as— 

18 (A) executing the critical functions and 

19 communications of the vessel; 

20 (B) providing network access for the 

21 health and well-being of deployed personnel, in22 cluding communications to conduct telemedicine 

23 (including mental health care), counseling, 

24 interviews with crisis response providers, and 

25 other remote individual care and services; 


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1 (C) as necessary to meet operations, 

2 uploading any scientific data to a shoreside 

3 server, including the copying of data off ship 

4 for disaster recovery or risk mitigation pur5 poses; 

6 (D) as appropriate, conducting real-time 

7 streaming to enable shore-based observers to 

8 participate in ship-based maintenance or re9 search activities; 

10 (E) real-time coordinated viewing of— 

11 (i) scientific instrumentation so that it 

12 is possible to conduct scientific surveys and 

13 seafloor mapping with fully remote subject14 matter experts; and 

15 (ii) critical operational technology by 

16 manufacturers and vendors so that it is 

17 possible to carry out maintenance and re18 pairs to systems with limited expertise on 

19 the vessel, with fully remote subject-matter 

20 experts advising; and 

21 (F) as appropriate, enabling video commu22 nications to allow improved outreach to, and 

23 other educational services for, K–12 students, 

24 including occasional remote classroom teaching 


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1 for instructors at sea to improve oceanographic 

2 access for students; and 

3 (2) in consultation with the Director of the Cy4 bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the 

5 Director of the National Institute for Standards and 

6 Technology, and the heads of other Federal agen7 cies, as appropriate— 

8 (A) the cybersecurity recommendations in 

9 the report of the private scientific advisory 

10 group known as JASON entitled ‘‘Cybersecurity 

11 at NSF Major Facilities’’ (JSR–21–10E) and 

12 dated October 2021 as applied to the U.S. Aca13 demic Research Fleet; 

14 (B) aligning with international standards 

15 and guidance for information security, including 

16 the use of encryption for sensitive information, 

17 the detection and handling of security incidents, 

18 and other areas determined relevant by the Di19 rector; 

20 (C) facilitating access to cybersecurity per21 sonnel and training of research and support 

22 personnel; and 

23 (D) the requirements for controlled unclas24 sified or classified information. 


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1 TITLE XI—OTHER AUTHORITIES 

2 SEC. 1101. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE ARC3 TIC REGION. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSER5 VATION STATIONS IN THE ARCTIC REGION.—The Under 

6 Secretary may take such action as may be necessary in 

7 the development of an international basic meteorological 

8 observation network in the Arctic region of the Western 

9 Hemisphere, including the establishment, operation, and 

10 maintenance of observation stations in cooperation with— 

11 (1) the Department of State and other Federal 

12 agencies; 

13 (2) the meteorological services and space-based 

14 assets of the United States and foreign countries; 

15 (3) the commercial sector; 

16 (4) local communities and Indian Tribes in the 

17 Arctic region; and 

18 (5) persons engaged in air and marine com19 merce. 

20 (b) APPOINTMENT AND COMPENSATION OF EMPLOY21 EES FOR CONDUCT OF METEOROLOGICAL INVESTIGA22 TIONS IN ARCTIC REGION.—The Secretary of Commerce, 

23 acting through the Under Secretary, may— 

24 (1) appoint employees for the conduct of mete25 orological investigations in the Arctic region without 


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1 regard to the civil service laws and fix their com2 pensation without regard to chapter 51 and sub3 chapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States 

4 Code, and sections 5542, 5543, 5545, and 5546 of 

5 that title, at base rates not to exceed the maximum 

6 scheduled rate for GS–12 of the General Schedule 

7 under section 5332 of that title; and 

8 (2) grant extra compensation to employees of 

9 other Federal agencies for taking and transmitting 

10 meteorological observations without regard to section 

11 5533 of title 5, United States Code. 

12 (c) TRANSFER FROM OTHER GOVERNMENT DEPART13 MENTS OF SURPLUS EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES FOR

14 ARCTIC STATIONS.—Subject to approval of the President, 

15 and without charge to the National Oceanic and Atmos16 pheric Administration, the Secretary of the Army, the Sec17 retary of the Air Force, and the Secretary of the Navy 

18 may transfer to the National Weather Service equipment 

19 and supplies that are surplus to the needs of their respec20 tive Departments and necessary for the establishment, 

21 maintenance, and operation of Arctic observation stations 

22 in the United States. 

23 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con24 gress that observations in polar regions and remote areas 

25 are important for weather and environmental monitoring. 


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1 (e) REPEAL.—The first section of the Act of Feb2 ruary 12, 1946 (60 Stat. 4, chapter 4; 15 U.S.C. 313a) 

3 is hereby repealed. 

4 SEC. 1102. UNFUNDED PRIORITIES LIST, REPORTS, AND 

5 PLANS. 

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra8 tion’’ means the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

9 Administration. 

10 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis11 trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 

12 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

13 (3) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON14 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con15 gress’’ means— 

16 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

17 and Transportation of the Senate; 

18 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of 

19 the Senate; 

20 (C) the Committee on Natural Resources 

21 of the House of Representatives; 

22 (D) the Committee on Science, Space, and 

23 Technology of the House of Representatives; 

24 and 


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1 (E) the Committee on Appropriations of 

2 the House of Representatives. 

3 (4) CAPITAL BUDGETARY LINE ITEM.—The 

4 term ‘‘capital budgetary line item’’ means a line 

5 item in the budget justification materials submitted 

6 to Congress in support of the budget of the Presi7 dent for a fiscal year pursuant to section 1105 of 

8 title 31, United States Code, for any aircraft or ves9 sel for the Administration valued at more than 

10 $3,000,000. 

11 (5) INFRASTRUCTURE AND ASSETS.—The term 

12 ‘‘infrastructure and assets’’ means— 

13 (A) repair and construction of infrastruc14 ture, facilities, and laboratories; 

15 (B) instrumentation; 

16 (C) resources for data storage and anal17 ysis, including options for cloud-based and 

18 supercomputing services; and 

19 (D) with respect to the Office of Marine 

20 and Aviation Operations, aircraft, vessels, and 

21 uncrewed systems, associated facility construc22 tion and repair needs, instrumentation, and re23 quirements to operate new and existing assets 

24 to reliably meet the mission needs of the Ad25 ministration. 


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1 (6) UNFUNDED PRIORITY.—The term ‘‘un2 funded priority’’ means a program or mission re3 quirement that— 

4 (A) has not been selected for funding in 

5 the applicable proposed budget; 

6 (B) is necessary to fulfill a statutory or 

7 mission requirement; and 

8 (C) the Administrator would have rec9 ommended for inclusion in the applicable pro10 posed budget had additional resources been 

11 available or had the requirement emerged be12 fore the budget was submitted. 

13 (b) UNFUNDED PRIORITIES LIST.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days after 

15 the date on which the President submits to Congress 

16 the budget of the President for a fiscal year pursu17 ant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, 

18 the Administrator, in consultation with the Assistant 

19 Administrator for each line office of the Administra20 tion, shall submit to the appropriate committees of 

21 Congress a report that includes a list of unfunded 

22 priorities of the Administration. 

23 (2) INCLUSIONS.—The list required by para24 graph (1) shall include unfunded priorities related to 

25 the needs of the Administration— 


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1 (A) to meet statutory and mission require2 ments to— 

3 (i) protect human life, property, and 

4 the economy from the impacts of weather, 

5 water, and space weather; 

6 (ii) manage the Nation’s fisheries and 

7 ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources; 

8 and 

9 (iii) manage, steward, and make im10 provements to data storage, accessibility, 

11 interoperability, and utilization; 

12 (B) with respect to infrastructure and as13 sets to meet statutory and mission require14 ments, including— 

15 (i) needs with respect to— 

16 (I) repair and construction of in17 frastructure, facilities, and labora18 tories; 

19 (II) scientific support equipment 

20 and instrumentation; and 

21 (III) resources for data storage 

22 and analysis, including options for 

23 cloud-based and supercomputing serv24 ices; and 


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1 (ii) with respect to the Office of Ma2 rine and Aviation Operations, in coordina3 tion with the Assistant Administrator for 

4 Marine and Aviation Operations, needs 

5 with respect to aircraft and vessels, associ6 ated facility construction and repair needs, 

7 and resources required to operate new and 

8 existing assets; 

9 (C) with respect to operational shortfalls 

10 that compromise the ability of the Administra11 tion to meet the statutory and mission require12 ments described in subparagraph (A), including 

13 by compromising the ability of the Administra14 tion to meet those requirements in a timely 

15 manner; 

16 (D) with respect to mitigating fishery dis17 asters, including in accordance with the require18 ments under the heading ‘‘FISHERIES DISASTER

19 ASSISTANCE’’ in title II of the Disaster Relief 

20 Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023 (divi21 sion N of Public Law 117–328); and 

22 (E) with respect to transitioning successful 

23 experimental programs under the Office of Oce24 anic and Atmospheric Research as of the date 

25 of the enactment of this Act into an operational 


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1 capacity under another office of the Administra2 tion. 

3 (3) PRIORITIZATION.—The list required by 

4 paragraph (1) shall— 

5 (A) present the unfunded priorities of the 

6 Administration in order from highest to lowest 

7 priority, as determined by the Administrator; 

8 and 

9 (B) with respect to each unfunded priority, 

10 include— 

11 (i) a brief description of the unfunded 

12 priority and its relationship to the statu13 tory and mission requirements of the Ad14 ministration; 

15 (ii) an estimate of the funding level 

16 required; and 

17 (iii) an assessment of the status of the 

18 design or acquisition program, if applica19 ble. 

20 (c) STOCK ASSESSMENTS AND SURVEYS.— 

21 (1) PLANNED STOCK ASSESSMENTS AND SUR22 VEYS.—Not later than February 1 of each year, the 

23 Administrator, in consultation with the Assistant 

24 Administrator for Marine and Aviation Operations 

25 and the Assistant Administrator for the National 


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1 Marine Fisheries Service, shall make available on a 

2 publicly accessible website a list of planned stock as3 sessments and surveys for the upcoming fiscal year. 

4 (2) PRIORITY STOCK ASSESSMENTS IN UN5 FUNDED PRIORITIES LIST.—The list required by 

6 subsection (b)(1) shall include such priority stock as7 sessments described in subparagraph (B)(ii) of sec8 tion 304(e)(1) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

9 Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 

10 1854(e)(1)), as added by paragraph (3), that are 

11 unfunded priorities. 

12 (3) DATA POOR STOCKS.—Section 304(e)(1) of 

13 the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 

14 Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1854(e)(1)) is amend15 ed— 

16 (A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(1)’’; and 

17 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(B) The report required by subparagraph (A) 

19 shall include— 

20 ‘‘(i) an assessment of whether stock survey 

21 data is adequately available, not available, or 

22 not sufficiently available; 

23 ‘‘(ii) priority stock assessments and sur24 veys conducted for the purpose of— 


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1 ‘‘(I) significantly decreasing uncer2 tainty in stock assessments; 

3 ‘‘(II) maintaining continuity of data 

4 for species management; or 

5 ‘‘(III) increasing the ability of the Na6 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis7 tration to meet the statutory and mission 

8 requirements described in section 

9 1102(b)(2)(A) of the Weather Act Reau10 thorization Act of 2024; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) for the priority stock assessments 

12 under clause (ii), a description of the type, re13 source needs, and estimated cost of increased 

14 survey efforts to meet the goals under that 

15 clause.’’. 

16 (d) CAPITAL INVESTMENT PLAN.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

18 the date on which the President submits to Congress 

19 the budget of the President for a fiscal year pursu20 ant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, 

21 the Administrator, in consultation with the Assistant 

22 Administrator for Marine and Aviation Operations 

23 and the Assistant Administrators for the line offices 

24 of the Administration, as appropriate, shall submit 


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1 to the appropriate committees of Congress a future2 years capital investment plan. 

3 (2) INCLUSIONS.—The plan required by para4 graph (1) shall include— 

5 (A) the fleet replacement and moderniza6 tion plan required by section 604 of the NOAA 

7 Fleet Modernization Act (33 U.S.C. 891b); 

8 (B) the NOAA Aircraft Recapitalization 

9 Plan and any plan developed to carry out sec10 tion 11708 of the Don Young Coast Guard Au11 thorization Act of 2022 (33 U.S.C. 851 note 

12 prec.); and 

13 (C) any other plan the Administrator con14 siders appropriate. 

15 (3) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by para16 graph (1) shall identify, for each capital budgetary 

17 line item— 

18 (A) the proposed funding level included in 

19 the applicable proposed budget; 

20 (B) the total estimated cost of completion; 

21 (C) projected funding levels for each fiscal 

22 year for the next 5 fiscal years or until comple23 tion, whichever is earlier; 

24 (D) an estimated completion date at the 

25 projected funding levels; and 


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1 (E) changes, if any, in the total estimated 

2 cost of completion or estimated completion date 

3 from previous future-years capital investment 

4 plans submitted under this subsection. 

5 SEC. 1103. MISCELLANEOUS AUTHORITIES. 

6 (a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE IN THE PACIFIC.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 

8 appropriations, and at the discretion of the Sec9 retary of Commerce, in consultation with the Sec10 retary of State, the Under Secretary may provide to 

11 Pacific Island parties technical assistance and serv12 ices in line with the mission of the National Oceanic 

13 and Atmospheric Administration. 

14 (2) REGIONAL CAPACITY.— 

15 (A) USE OF EXISTING PROGRAMS, OF16 FICES, AND SITES.—To implement this sub17 section, the Under Secretary shall primarily use 

18 existing programs, offices, and sites of the Na19 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

20 in the Pacific Islands region. 

21 (B) COOPERATIVE INSTITUTE.—In order 

22 to further augment existing regional capacity in 

23 the Pacific Islands region, the Under Secretary 

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1 stitute to focus and advise on the unique needs 

2 of that region. 

3 (3) PACIFIC ISLAND PARTIES DEFINED.—In 

4 this subsection, the term ‘‘Pacific Island parties’’ 

5 means— 

6 (A) the Trust Territories of the Pacific Is7 lands; 

8 (B) the Republic of Palau, the Republic of 

9 the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States 

10 of Micronesia, which have each entered into a 

11 Compact of Free Association with the United 

12 States; and 

13 (C) such other parties as the Under Sec14 retary considers appropriate. 

15 (b) STATE ASSISTANCE.—The Under Secretary may 

16 provide technical assistance, data, and operational prod17 ucts or services in support of State governments, or enti18 ties and institutions partnering or collaborating with State 

19 governments, in the voluntary production of State climate 

20 or weather assessments. 

21 (c) INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, acting 

23 through the Director of the National Weather Serv24 ice, may establish and maintain partnerships and 

25 other relationships with national and regional weathVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00265 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5601.IS S5601

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1 er services around the world to support the co-devel2 opment and deployment of weather and climate in3 formation and instrumentation. 

4 (2) EXISTING AGREEMENTS AND PARTNER5 SHIPS.—Partnerships and other relationships estab6 lished and maintained under paragraph (1), includ7 ing those provided by the international desks of the 

8 National Centers for Environmental Prediction, shall 

9 build upon existing agreements and partnerships 

10 with the Department of State, the United States 

11 Agency for International Development, and the 

12 World Meteorological Organization. 

13 (d) APP- OR WEB-BASED TOOLS.—The Under Sec14 retary may, in alignment with the 21st Century Integrated 

15 Digital Experience Act (Public Law 115–336; 44 U.S.C. 

16 3501 note) and the memorandum of the Director of the 

17 Office of Management and Budget dated September 22, 

18 2023, and entitled ‘‘Delivering a Digital-First Public Ex19 perience’’ (M–23–22), develop and implement mobile ap20 plications, modern application programming interfaces, or 

21 web-based tools to increase the utility of and access to 

22 data, services, and products of the Administration. 

23 (e) BRIEFING.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

24 of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary, shall 

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1 portation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, 

2 Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives 

3 a briefing on the number and time commitment of intra4 agency and interagency meetings, councils, boards, and 

5 summits attended by each line office Assistant Adminis6 trator and Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic 

7 and Atmospheric Administration. 

Æ 


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