II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1573 

To establish regional weather forecast offices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 15, 2015 

Mr. THUNE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish regional weather forecast offices, 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 Weather 

5 Service Improvement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. 

7 (a) ORGANIZATION.—The Administrator of the Na8 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, through 

9 the National Weather Service, shall develop a plan for es10 tablishing 6 regional weather forecast offices. 


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1 (b) PLAN CONTENTS.—The plan under subsection 

2 (a) shall— 

3 (1) whenever possible, prioritize locating a re4 gional weather forecast office together with— 

5 (A) an institution of higher education (as 

6 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education 

7 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) with an active 

8 meteorology department; or 

9 (B) a State or Federal department or 

10 agency; 

11 (2) incorporate risk communication and deci12 sion support experts in the staffing model; 

13 (3) ensure that local forecast quality will not be 

14 degraded; 

15 (4) to the extent practicable, incorporate the 

16 best available science when determining schedules 

17 for employees on shift work in order to minimize 

18 stress on those employees, while providing sufficient 

19 flexibility to temporarily increase staffing during se20 vere weather events; 

21 (5) provide sufficient training to minimize em22 ployee displacement as a consequence of the plan; 

23 and 


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1 (6) ensure that each regional weather forecast 

2 office has on staff the expertise necessary to forecast 

3 the severe weather events typical for the region. 

4 (c) NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL PLAN REVIEW.— 

5 The Secretary of Commerce shall contract with the Na6 tional Research Council of the National Academy of 

7 Sciences— 

8 (1) to conduct a review of the scientific and 

9 technical soundness of the plan developed under sub10 section (a), including— 

11 (A) an evaluation of the proposed staffing 

12 model; 

13 (B) an assessment of the statistical and 

14 analytical measures that should be made for a 

15 service area to form an adequate basis for de16 termining that there will be no degradation of 

17 service; and 

18 (C) such recommendations as the National 

19 Research Council considers necessary for public 

20 safety purposes; and 

21 (2) to submit the review under paragraph (1) to 

22 the Secretary not later than 1 year after the date of 

23 enactment of this Act. 

24 (d) PLAN IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 1 year 

25 after the date of submission of the review under subsection 


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1 (c)(2), the Administrator of the National Oceanic and At2 mospheric Administration, through the National Weather 

3 Service, shall implement the plan under subsection (a), 

4 taking into consideration the recommendations of the Na5 tional Research Council under subsection (c)(1)(C). 

6 (e) REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST OFFICES.— 

7 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

8 (A) FIRST REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST

9 OFFICE.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

10 of enactment of this Act, the first regional 

11 weather forecast office shall be established. 

12 (B) REMAINING REGIONAL WEATHER

13 FORECAST OFFICES.—Except as provided in 

14 subparagraph (A), each regional weather fore15 cast office shall be established not later than 5 

16 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 

17 (2) FORECAST CENTRALIZATION.—Not later 

18 than 6 months after the date that each regional 

19 weather forecast office is established under para20 graph (1), the Secretary of Commerce shall transfer 

21 the weather forecast functions, along with necessary 

22 staff, from each applicable weather forecast office to 

23 adequately staff the regional weather forecast office. 

24 (f) WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGISTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Weather Serv2 ice shall hire or retain at least 1 warning coordina3 tion meteorologist at each weather forecast office. 

4 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—A warning coordina5 tion meteorologist shall— 

6 (A) be responsible for providing service to 

7 the geographic area of responsibility that was 

8 previously covered by a weather forecast office 

9 before the date of enactment of this Act; 

10 (B) interface with users of National 

11 Weather Service products and services, such as 

12 the public, media outlets, users in the aviation, 

13 marine, and agricultural communities, and for14 estry, land, and water management interests, to 

15 evaluate the adequacy and usefulness of the 

16 products and services; 

17 (C) collaborate with the appropriate re18 gional weather forecast office and State, local, 

19 and tribal government agencies, as applicable, 

20 in developing, proposing, and implementing 

21 plans to develop, modify, or tailor National 

22 Weather Service products and services to im23 prove their usefulness; 

24 (D) ensure the maintenance and accuracy 

25 of severe weather call lists, appropriate office 


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1 severe weather policy or procedures, and other 

2 severe weather or dissemination methodologies 

3 or strategies; 

4 (E) work closely with State, local, and trib5 al emergency management agencies, and other 

6 agencies related to disaster management, to en7 sure a planned, coordinated, and effective pre8 paredness effort; and 

9 (F) whenever possible, be located together 

10 with State or local emergency managers. 

11 (3) ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—A warn12 ing coordination meteorologist may— 

13 (A) work with relevant State government 

14 agencies in developing plans for promoting 

15 more effective use of National Weather Service 

16 products and services throughout the State; 

17 (B) identify priority community prepared18 ness objectives; 

19 (C) develop plans to meet the objectives 

20 identified in subparagraph (B); and 

21 (D) conduct severe weather event pre22 paredness planning and citizen education efforts 

23 with and through various State, local, and trib24 al government agencies, and other disaster 

25 management-related organizations. 


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1 (g) FORECAST INVESTMENTS AND IMPROVE2 MENTS.—For at least 10 years after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, any savings realized by the Department of 

4 Commerce by the centralization of weather forecast func5 tions under subsection (e)(2) shall be used to improve the 

6 weather forecasts produced by the National Oceanic and 

7 Atmospheric Administration, including— 

8 (1) by expanding super-computing capacity; 

9 (2) by investing in research to improve weather 

10 forecasts; 

11 (3) by improving the communication of weather 

12 forecasts to the public, particularly with respect to 

13 severe weather; 

14 (4) by obtaining ground-based observations that 

15 would improve weather forecasts; and 

16 (5) by improving radar coverage where nec17 essary, with an emphasis on high density population 

18 centers with no radar coverage. 

19 (h) DEFINITION OF STATE.—In this section, the term 

20 ‘‘State’’ means a State, a territory or possession of the 

21 United States, including a Commonwealth, or the District 

22 of Columbia. 

23 SEC. 3. SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS COMMUNICATION. 

24 (a) PURPOSE.—For purposes of preparing the rec25 ommendations under subsection (b)(1)(B) and impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Jun 18, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1573.IS S1573

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1 menting the new system under subsection (c), the purpose 

2 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

3 system for issuing severe weather watches and warnings 

4 shall be to reduce the loss of life due to severe weather 

5 events. 

6 (b) EVALUATION.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

8 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

9 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis10 tration shall— 

11 (A) evaluate whether the National Oceanic 

12 and Atmospheric Administration system for 

13 issuing severe weather watches and warnings 

14 meets the purpose under subsection (a); and 

15 (B) submit to Congress a report on the 

16 evaluation under subparagraph (A) and rec17 ommendations for how the system can be im18 proved and for any research necessary to ad19 dress the areas described in paragraph (2). 

20 (2) CONTENTS.—The evaluation shall focus on 

21 the following areas: 

22 (A) Ways to more clearly communicate to 

23 the public the risks presented by a severe 

24 weather event. 


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1 (B) Ways to more broadly disseminate a 

2 severe weather watch or warning to the public. 

3 (C) Ways that a severe weather watch or 

4 warning could help to reduce the loss of life due 

5 to an extreme weather event. 

6 (3) CONSULTATION.—In developing the report, 

7 the Administrator shall— 

8 (A) consult with relevant line offices within 

9 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin10 istration, such as the National Ocean Service, 

11 the National Weather Service, and the Office of 

12 Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; 

13 (B) consult with the academic sector, in14 cluding individuals in the field of social 

15 sciences, and other weather services; 

16 (C) consult with media outlets that will be 

17 distributing the watches and warnings; and 

18 (D) utilize the services of the National 

19 Academy of Sciences, as necessary. 

20 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 4 years after 

21 the date of enactment of this Act, and if no additional 

22 action is taken by Congress regarding the National Oce23 anic and Atmospheric Administration severe weather 

24 watches and warnings system, the Administrator of the 

25 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall 


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1 implement, based on the evaluation and report under sub2 section (a), a new system for issuing severe weather 

3 watches and warnings. 

4 SEC. 4. REPORT ON CONTRACT POSITIONS AT THE NA5 TIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. 

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

7 date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 

8 5 fiscal years, the Administrator of the National Oceanic 

9 and Atmospheric Administration shall submit to Congress 

10 a report on the use of full-time equivalent contractors at 

11 the National Weather Service for the most recently com12 pleted fiscal year. 

13 (b) CONTENTS.—The report shall include— 

14 (1) the total number of full-time equivalent em15 ployees at the National Weather Service; 

16 (2) the total number of full-time equivalent con17 tractors at the National Weather Service; 

18 (3) the 5 most common positions filled by full19 time equivalent contractors at the National Weather 

20 Service; 

21 (4) of the contract positions identified in para22 graph (3), the percentage of full-time equivalent con23 tractors in those positions that have held a prior po24 sition at the National Weather Service or the Na25 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; 


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1 (5) the average full-time equivalent salary for 

2 Federal employees at the National Weather Service; 

3 (6) the average full-time equivalent salary for 

4 contractors at the National Weather Service; and 

5 (7) a description of any actions taken by the 

6 Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos7 pheric Administration to respond to the issues raised 

8 by the Department of Commerce Inspector General 

9 regarding the hiring of former National Oceanic and 

10 Atmospheric Administration employees as contrac11 tors at the National Weather Service, such as the 

12 issues raised in the Investigative Report dated June 

13 2015 (OIG–12–0447). 

Æ 


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