I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2306 

To provide for the establishment of a National Climate Service, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2009 

Mr. DICKS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of a National Climate 

Service, 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Climate Serv5 ice Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Weather, climate change, and climate varia9 bility affect public safety, environmental services and 

10 security, human health, agriculture, energy use, 


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1 water resources, and other factors vital to national 

2 security and human welfare. 

3 (2) Climate forecasts create opportunities for 

4 society to prepare, potentially reducing the costs of 

5 climate-related events, as well as serving national 

6 needs related to enhancing economic growth, man7 aging risk, protecting life and property, and pro8 moting environmental stewardship. 

9 (3) Information on predicted climate and cli10 mate impacts is not being fully disseminated or used 

11 well, despite the increasing predictability of climate. 

12 (4) The United States lacks adequate research, 

13 infrastructure, and coordinated outreach and com14 munication mechanisms to meet national climate 

15 monitoring, prediction, and decision support needs 

16 for adapting to and mitigating the impacts of cli17 mate change and climate variability. 

18 (5) Increasing societal resilience to climate im19 pacts requires understanding climate trends and 

20 variations as well as possible, understanding the im21 pacts of climate on human and nonhuman systems, 

22 providing decision-relevant tools based on that infor23 mation, and increasing society’s capacity to act on 

24 that information. 


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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

2 It is the purpose of this Act to establish a National 

3 Climate Service that will assist the Nation and the world 

4 in understanding, anticipating, and responding to climate, 

5 climate change, and climate variability and their impacts 

6 and implications. The Service shall inform the public 

7 through the sustained production and delivery of authori8 tative, timely, useful information about impacts on local, 

9 State, regional, tribal, national, and global scales. The 

10 Service shall be user-centric, by ensuring that the informa11 tion is accessible, consistent with users’ ability to respond, 

12 and based on user needs and limitations. The Service shall 

13 provide such usable information through a sustained net14 work of observations, modeling, and research activities. 

15 SEC. 4. NATIONAL CLIMATE SERVICE. 

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce 

18 shall establish within the Climate Program Office of 

19 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra20 tion a National Climate Service (in this Act referred 

21 to as the ‘‘Service’’) not later than one year after 

22 the date of enactment of this Act. The Service shall 

23 include a national center and a network of regional 

24 and local facilities for operational climate observa25 tion, modeling, and research. 


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1 (2) GENERAL PURPOSE.—The Service shall in2 form the public through the sustained production 

3 and delivery of authoritative, timely, useful informa4 tion about impacts on local, State, regional, tribal, 

5 national, and global scales. 

6 (3) SPECIFIC SERVICES.—The Service, at min7 imum, shall— 

8 (A) serve as a clearinghouse and technical 

9 access point to stakeholders for regionally and 

10 nationally relevant information on climate, cli11 mate impacts, and adaptation, developing com12 prehensive databases of information relevant to 

13 specific regional and national stakeholder needs; 

14 (B) provide education on climate impacts, 

15 vulnerabilities, and application of climate infor16 mation in decisionmaking; 

17 (C) design decision-support tools that fa18 cilitate use of climate information in stake19 holders’ near-term operations and long-term 

20 planning 

21 (D) facilitate user access to climate and 

22 climate impacts experts for technical assistance 

23 in use of climate information and to inform the 

24 climate forecast community of their information 

25 needs; 


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1 (E) provide researcher, modeler, and obser2 vations experts access to users to help guide di3 rection of research, modeling, and observation 

4 activities; and 

5 (F) propose and evaluate adaptation strat6 egies for climate variability and change. 

7 (4) SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS.—The Service, at 

8 minimum, shall— 

9 (A) integrate global, national, and regional 

10 observations to produce information and assess11 ments of use to stakeholders and researchers; 

12 (B) develop climate models for decision 

13 support; 

14 (C) perform basic and applied research on 

15 climate dynamics and impacts relevant to stake16 holder interests; 

17 (D) create and maintain an operational de18 livery system and facilitate transition of new cli19 mate applications products to Service member 

20 agencies; 

21 (E) establish an atmospheric monitoring 

22 and verification program utilizing aircraft, sat23 ellite, ground sensors, ocean and coastal observ24 ing systems, and modeling capabilities to mon25 itor, measure, and verify greenhouse gas conVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:51 May 09, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2306.IH H2306

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1 centrations and emissions throughout the global 

2 oceans and atmosphere; 

3 (F) develop and maintain a dialog among 

4 research teams, Federal agencies, and stake5 holders for developing information relevant for 

6 planning and decisionmaking; 

7 (G) identify climate-related vulnerabilities 

8 and build national capacity to increase resil9 ience; 

10 (H) articulate regional and national cli11 mate issues and concerns in regional and na12 tional policy arenas and facilitate regional-na13 tional communications on Service needs and 

14 performance; and 

15 (I) outreach to stakeholder groups. 

16 (b) ACTION PLAN.—Within 1 year after the date of 

17 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall 

18 submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

19 Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 

20 Science and Technology of the House of Representatives 

21 a plan of action for the National Climate Service. The 

22 plan, at a minimum, shall— 

23 (1) provide for the interpretation and commu24 nication of climate data, conditions, predictions, pro25 jections, and risks on an ongoing basis to decision 


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1 and policy makers at the local, regional, and na2 tional levels; 

3 (2) design, deploy, and operate a national cli4 mate observing system that closes gaps in existing 

5 coverage; 

6 (3) support infrastructure and ability to archive 

7 and ensure the quality of climate data, and make 

8 federally funded model simulations and other rel9 evant climate information available from Global 

10 Change Research Program activities and other 

11 sources (and related data from paleoclimate studies); 

12 (4) include a program for long-term steward13 ship, quality control, development of relevant climate 

14 products, and efficient access to all relevant climate 

15 data, products, and model simulations; 

16 (5) establish a national coordinated modeling 

17 strategy, including a national climate modeling cen18 ter to provide a dedicated capability for modeling 

19 and forecasting scenarios, and a regular schedule of 

20 projections on long-term and short-term time hori21 zons over a range of scales, including regional scales; 

22 (6) improve integrated modeling, assessment, 

23 and predictive capabilities needed to document and 

24 forecast climate changes and impacts, and to guide 


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1 national, regional, and local planning and decision2 making; 

3 (7) provide a system of regular consultation 

4 and coordination with Federal agencies, States, 

5 tribes, nongovernmental organizations, the private 

6 sector, and the academic community to ensure— 

7 (A) that the information requirements of 

8 these groups are well incorporated; and 

9 (B) timely and full sharing, dissemination 

10 and use of climate information and services in 

11 risk preparedness, planning, decisionmaking, 

12 and early warning and natural resources man13 agement, both domestically and internationally; 

14 (8) develop standards, evaluation criteria, and 

15 performance objectives to ensure that the Service 

16 meets the evolving information needs of the public, 

17 policy makers, and decisionmakers in the face of a 

18 changing climate; 

19 (9) develop funding estimates to implement the 

20 plan; and 

21 (10) support competitive research programs 

22 that will improve elements of the Service described 

23 in this Act through the Climate Program Office 

24 within the Service headquarter function. 


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1 (c) DIRECTOR.—The Administrator shall appoint a 

2 Director of the Service, who shall oversee all processes as3 sociated with managing the organization and executing the 

4 functions and actions described in this Act. 

5 (d) NATIONAL CLIMATE SERVICE ADVISORY COUN6 CIL.—The Administrator shall, in consultation with the 

7 Chairmen and ranking minority members of the Com8 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

9 Senate and the Committee on Science and Technology of 

10 the House of Representatives, and the National Academy 

11 of Sciences, appoint the membership of a National Climate 

12 Service Advisory Council, with members serving 4-year 

13 terms, that shall include a diverse membership from ap14 propriate Federal, State, and local government, univer15 sities, and nongovernment and private sectors who use cli16 mate information and cover a range of sectors, such as 

17 water, drought, fisheries, coasts, agriculture, health, nat18 ural resources, transportation, and insurance. The Council 

19 shall advise the Director of the Service of key priorities 

20 in climate-related issues that require the attention of the 

21 Service. The Council shall be responsible for promoting 

22 coordination across regional, national, and international 

23 concerns and the assessment of evolving information 

24 needs. 


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1 SEC. 5. CONTRACT AND GRANT AUTHORITY. 

2 Functions vested in any Federal officer or agency by 

3 this Act or under the program established under this Act 

4 may be exercised through the facilities and personnel of 

5 the agency involved or, to the extent provided or approved 

6 in advance in appropriation Acts, by other persons or enti7 ties under contracts or grant arrangements entered into 

8 by such officer or agency. 

9 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT. 

10 The Secretary of Commerce shall prepare and submit 

11 to the President and the Congress, not later than March 

12 31 of each year, a report on the activities conducted pur13 suant to this Act during the preceding fiscal year, includ14 ing— 

15 (1) a summary of the achievements of the Na16 tional Climate Service during the previous fiscal 

17 year; and 

18 (2) an analysis of the progress made toward 

19 achieving the goals and objectives of the Service. 

20 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

21 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis22 trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 

23 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

24 (2) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Advisory 

25 Council’’ refers to the National Climate Service Ad26 visor Council. 


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1 (3) CLIMATE CHANGE.—The term ‘‘climate 

2 change’’ means any change in climate over time, 

3 whether due to natural variability or as a result of 

4 human activity. 

5 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

6 the director of the National Oceanic and Atmos7 pheric Administration’s National Climate Service. 

8 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

9 the Secretary of Commerce. 

10 (6) SERVICE.—The term ‘‘Service’’ means the 

11 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

12 National Climate Service. 

13 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec15 retary to carry out this Act— 

16 (1) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2011. 

17 (2) $350,000,000 for fiscal year 2012. 

18 (3) $400,000,000 for fiscal year 2013. 

19 (4) $450,000,000 for fiscal year 2014. 

20 (5) $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2015. 

Æ 


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