I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2258 

To establish the National Hurricane Research Initiative to improve hurricane 

preparedness, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 21, 2011 

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. PIERLUISI, 

and Mr. DEUTCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To establish the National Hurricane Research Initiative to 

improve hurricane preparedness, 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 Hurricane 

5 Research Initiative Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

9 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 


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1 (2) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

2 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary for Oceans 

3 and Atmosphere of the Department of Commerce. 

4 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 

5 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

6 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American 

7 Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the North8 ern Mariana Islands, and any other territory or pos9 session over which the United States has jurisdic10 tion. 

11 SEC. 3. NATIONAL HURRICANE RESEARCH INITIATIVE. 

12 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH.—The Under Sec13 retary and the Director shall establish an initiative known 

14 as the National Hurricane Research Initiative for the pur15 poses described in subsection (b). 

16 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the National Hurri17 cane Research Initiative shall be to set research objectives 

18 based upon the findings of the January 12, 2007, National 

19 Science Board report entitled ‘‘Hurricane Warning: The 

20 Critical Need for National Hurricane Research Initia21 tive’’— 

22 (1) to make recommendations to the National 

23 Science Board and the National Oceanic and Atmos24 pheric Administration Science Advisory Board on 

25 such research; 


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1 (2) to assemble the science and engineering ex2 pertise of State or local government agencies or de3 partments and nongovernmental entities (including 

4 universities and colleges and other research and aca5 demic institutions), through a multi-entity effort fo6 cused on— 

7 (A) improving hurricane and other severe 

8 tropical storm forecasting capabilities, including 

9 formation, track, and intensity change; 

10 (B) durable and resilient infrastructure; 

11 and 

12 (C) mitigating impacts on coastal popu13 lations, the coastal built environment, and the 

14 natural coastal environment, including but not 

15 limited to, coral reefs, wetlands, and other nat16 ural systems that mitigate hurricane wind and 

17 storm surge impacts; and 

18 (3) to make grants to eligible entities to carry 

19 out research in the following areas: 

20 (A) PREDICTING HURRICANE INTENSITY

21 CHANGE.—Research to improve understanding 

22 of— 

23 (i) rapid change in storm size, motion, 

24 structure, and intensity; 

25 (ii) storm internal dynamics; and 


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1 (iii) the interactions of the storm and 

2 its environmental conditions, including the 

3 atmosphere, ocean, and land surface. 

4 (B) UNDERSTANDING OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE

5 INTERACTIONS.—Observations, theory and mod6 eling, to improve understanding of air-sea inter7 action in high wind speeds. 

8 (C) PREDICTING STORM SURGE, RAINFALL, 

9 INLAND FLOODING, AND STRONG WINDS PRO10 DUCED BY HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS

11 DURING AND AFTER LANDFALL.—Research to 

12 understand, model, and predict rainfall, flood13 ing, high winds, the potential occurrence of tor14 nadoes, and storm surge, including probabilistic 

15 modeling and mapping of risk. 

16 (D) IMPROVED OBSERVATIONS OF HURRI17 CANES AND TROPICAL STORMS.—Research to 

18 improve measurements of hurricanes and trop19 ical storms through mobile radar platforms, 

20 Global Positioning Systems technology, un21 manned vehicles, ground-based and wireless 

22 sensors, oceanic remote sensing technologies, 

23 and air-deployed ocean profilers and floats to 

24 improve our understanding of the complex naVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:44 Jun 23, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2258.IH H2258

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1 ture of storms and their interaction with the 

2 ocean and land. 

3 (E) ASSESSING VULNERABLE INFRASTRUC4 TURE.—Research to develop a national engi5 neering assessment of coastal infrastructure, in6 cluding infrastructure related to levees, sea7 walls, drainage systems, bridges, water and 

8 sewage systems, power, and communications, to 

9 determine the level of vulnerability of such in10 frastructure to damage from hurricanes and to 

11 determine strategies to reduce such vulnerabili12 ties. 

13 (F) INTERACTION OF HURRICANES WITH

14 ENGINEERED STRUCTURES.—Research to im15 prove understanding of the impacts of hurri16 canes and tropical storms on buildings, struc17 tures, and housing combined with modeling es18 sential for guiding the creation of improved 

19 building designs and construction codes in loca20 tions particularly vulnerable to hurricanes. 

21 (G) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HURRI22 CANES, CLIMATE, AND NATURAL ECO23 SYSTEMS.—Research to improve the under24 standing of complex relationships between hur25 ricanes and climate, including research to deterVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:44 Jun 23, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2258.IH H2258

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1 mine the most effective methods to use observa2 tional information and numerical model simula3 tions to examine the impacts on ecosystems 

4 over long and short periods of time, including 

5 but not limited to impacts on coral reefs, wet6 lands, and other natural systems that mitigate 

7 hurricane wind and storm surge impacts. 

8 (H) TECHNOLOGIES FOR DISASTER RE9 SPONSE AND RECOVERY.—Research to improve 

10 emergency communication networks for govern11 ment agencies and non-government entities and 

12 to improve communications between such net13 works during disaster response and recovery, 

14 including cyber-security during disaster situa15 tions and the ability to improve damage assess16 ments during storms. 

17 (I) EVACUATION PLANNING.—Research to 

18 improve the manner in which hurricane-related 

19 information is provided to, and utilized by, the 

20 public and government officials, including re21 search to assist officials of State or local gov22 ernment in determining the circumstances in 

23 which evacuations are required and in carrying 

24 out such evacuations. 


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1 (J) COMPUTATIONAL CAPABILITY.—Re2 search to improve understanding of the efficient 

3 utility of multiple models requiring sharing and 

4 inter-operability of databases, computing envi5 ronments, networks, visualization tools, and 

6 analytic systems beyond what is currently avail7 able for transitioning hurricane research assets 

8 into operational practice and to provide access 

9 to robust computational facilities beyond the fa10 cilities normally accessible by the civilian re11 search community for the hurricane research 

12 enterprise, including data acquisition and mod13 eling capability during hurricane events. 

14 (c) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The 

15 Under Secretary and the Director shall cooperate with the 

16 head of each appropriate Federal agency or department, 

17 research institute, university, and disaster-response or 

18 nongovernmental organization to utilize the expertise and 

19 capabilities of such entity to carry out the purposes of the 

20 National Hurricane Research Initiative, including co21 operation with the heads of the following entities: 

22 (1) The National Aeronautics and Space Ad23 ministration. 

24 (2) The National Institute of Standards and 

25 Technology. 


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1 (3) The Department of Homeland Security, in2 cluding the Federal Emergency Management Agen3 cy. 

4 (4) The Department of Energy. 

5 (5) The Defense Advanced Research Project 

6 Agency. 

7 (6) The Environmental Protection Agency. 

8 (7) The United States Geological Survey. 

9 (8) The Army Corps of Engineers. 

10 (d) COORDINATION.—The White House Office of 

11 Science and Technology Policy, through the National 

12 Science and Technology Council, shall coordinate the ac13 tivities carried out by the United States related to the Na14 tional Hurricane Research Initiative as a formal program 

15 with a well defined organizational structure and execution 

16 plan. 

17 (e) GRANTS.— 

18 (1) AUTHORITY.—The Under Secretary and the 

19 Director may award grants to appropriate State and 

20 local governmental agencies or departments, re21 search universities or nongovernmental entities to 

22 carry out the purposes described in subsection (b). 

23 (2) BEST PRACTICES.—The Under Secretary 

24 and the Director shall develop and make available to 

25 the public a description of best practices to be used 


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1 to carry out a project with a grant awarded under 

2 this subsection. 

3 (f) RESEARCH SEMINARS AND FORUMS.—The Under 

4 Secretary and the Director shall carry out a series of na5 tional seminars and forums that assemble a broad collec6 tion of scientific disciplines to direct researchers to work 

7 collaboratively to carry out the purposes described in sub8 section (b). 

9 (g) INITIAL RESEARCH TO DEVELOP IMPROVED

10 HURRICANE INTENSITY FORECASTS AND IMPACT PRO11 JECTIONS.—The Under Secretary and the Director shall 

12 within 120 days after the enactment of this Act issue a 

13 request for proposals to undertake the basic and applied 

14 research with an annual budget in the amounts as deemed 

15 appropriate by the Under Secretary and the Director to 

16 accomplish the desired research results during a 10-year 

17 term. 

18 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated $150,000,000 for each of 

20 the fiscal years 2012 through 2016 to carry out this sec21 tion. 

22 SEC. 4. NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE DATABASE. 

23 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH.—The Under Sec24 retary and the Director shall establish a National Infra25 structure Database for the purposes of— 


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1 (1) cataloging and characterizing the physical, 

2 social, and natural infrastructure in order to provide 

3 a baseline for developing standards, measuring modi4 fication, and determining loss; 

5 (2) providing information to Federal, State, and 

6 local government officials to improve information 

7 public policy related to hurricanes and tropical 

8 storms; and 

9 (3) providing data to researchers to improve 

10 their ability to measure hurricane impacts, separate 

11 such impacts from other effects, both natural and 

12 anthropogenic, make effective recommendations for 

13 improved building codes and urban planning prac14 tices, and develop effective procedures for respond15 ing to infrastructure disruption. 

16 (b) DATABASE REQUIREMENTS.—The National In17 frastructure Database shall be a virtual, cyber environ18 ment that uses existing capabilities and facilities, and es19 tablishes new capabilities and facilities, as appropriate, to 

20 provide an interoperable environment and the necessary 

21 metadata and other resources needed by users of that 

22 Database. 

23 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

24 authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of the 

25 fiscal years 2012 through 2016 to carry out this section. 


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1 SEC. 5. NATIONAL HURRICANE RESEARCH MODEL. 

2 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH.—The Under Sec3 retary and the Director shall develop a National Hurri4 cane Research Model to conduct integrative research and 

5 to facilitate the transfer of research knowledge to oper6 ational applications, including linking relevant theoretical, 

7 physical, and computational models from atmospheric, 

8 oceanic, economic, sociological, engineered infrastructure, 

9 and ecologic fields, conducting experimental research to 

10 understand the extensive complexities of hurricanes, train11 ing of the next-generation hurricane researchers and fore12 casters, and obtaining measurable results in a comprehen13 sive framework suitable for testing end-to-end integrative 

14 systems. 

15 (b) SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.—The National Hurri16 cane Research Model shall be a physically distributed and 

17 highly coordinated working environment in which research 

18 from the National Hurricane Research Initiative can be 

19 experimentally substantiated using suitable quantitative 

20 metrics, and where a culture of interaction and collabora21 tion can further be promoted, including in the areas of— 

22 (1) facilities and cyber infrastructure; 

23 (2) software integration; and 

24 (3) fixed mobile data collection platforms and 

25 data provisioning systems. 


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1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated $75,000,000 for each of the 

3 fiscal years 2012 through 2016 to carry out this section. 

4 SEC. 6. JOINT POLAR SATELLITE SYSTEM. 

5 There is authorized to be appropriated 

6 $1,070,000,000 for fiscal year 2012 to carry out the Joint 

7 Polar Satellite System program. 

Æ 


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