II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3053 

To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 

to require the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration to develop a plan and national guidance document to 

improve precipitation estimates, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 21, 2021 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; 

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

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

Act of 2017 to require the Administrator of the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a 

plan and national guidance document to improve precipitation estimates, 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 ‘‘Providing Research 

5 and Estimates of Changes In Precipitation Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘PRECIP Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND 

2 FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017 TO 

3 IMPROVE FEDERAL PRECIPITATION INFOR4 MATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Weather Research and Fore6 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.) 

7 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVEMENT OF 

9 FEDERAL PRECIPITATION IN10 FORMATION 

11 ‘‘SEC. 601. STUDY ON PRECIPITATION ESTIMATION. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

13 date of the enactment of the PRECIP Act, the Adminis14 trator, in consultation with other Federal agencies as ap15 propriate, shall seek to enter an agreement with the Na16 tional Academies under which the National Academies 

17 shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) conduct a study on the state of practice 

19 and research needs for precipitation estimation, in20 cluding probable maximum precipitation estimation; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(2) not later than 2 years after the date on 

23 which such agreement is finalized— 

24 ‘‘(A) submit to the Committee on Com25 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen26 ate and the Committee on Science, Space, and 


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1 Technology of the House of Representatives a 

2 report on the results of the study conducted 

3 under paragraph (1); and 

4 ‘‘(B) make the report submitted under 

5 subparagraph (A) publicly available on a 

6 website. 

7 ‘‘(b) REPORT ON STUDY.—The report submitted 

8 under subsection (a)(2)(A) shall include the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) An examination of the current state of 

10 practice for precipitation estimation at scales appro11 priate for the needs of decisionmakers, and rationale 

12 for further evolution of that field. 

13 ‘‘(2) An evaluation of best practices for precipi14 tation estimation that— 

15 ‘‘(A) are based on the best available 

16 science, including assumptions of non-station17 arity; and 

18 ‘‘(B) can be utilized by the user commu19 nity. 

20 ‘‘(3) A framework for— 

21 ‘‘(A) the development of a national guid22 ance document for estimating extreme precipi23 tation; and 

24 ‘‘(B) evaluation of the strengths and chal25 lenges of the full spectrum of approaches for 


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1 such estimation, including for probable max2 imum precipitation studies. 

3 ‘‘(4) A description of existing research needs in 

4 the field of precipitation estimation in order to mod5 ernize current methodologies and incorporate the 

6 best available science. 

7 ‘‘(5) A description of in-situ, airborne, and 

8 space-based observation requirements that could en9 hance precipitation estimation and development of 

10 models, including an examination of the use of geo11 graphic information systems and geospatial tech12 nology for integration, analysis, and visualization of 

13 precipitation data. 

14 ‘‘(6) A recommended plan for a Federal re15 search and development program, including speci16 fications for costs, timeframes, and responsible agen17 cies for addressing identified research needs. 

18 ‘‘(7) An analysis of the respective roles in pre19 cipitation estimation of various Federal agencies, 

20 academia, State, tribal, territorial, and local govern21 ments, and other public and private stakeholders. 

22 ‘‘(8) Recommendations for data management to 

23 promote long-term needs such as enabling retrospec24 tive analyses and data discoverability, interoper25 ability, and reuse. 


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1 ‘‘(9) Recommendations for how data and serv2 ices from the entire enterprise can be best leveraged 

3 by the Federal Government. 

4 ‘‘(10) Such other topics as the Administrator or 

5 the National Academies consider appropriate. 

6 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

7 is authorized to be appropriated to the National Oceanic 

8 and Atmospheric Administration $1,500,000 to carry out 

9 the study under this section. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 602. IMPROVING PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITA11 TION ESTIMATES. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

13 date on which the National Academies makes publicly 

14 available the report under section 601, the Administrator, 

15 shall, in consideration of the recommendations included in 

16 the report and in consultation with relevant partners, in17 cluding users of the data, develop a plan to— 

18 ‘‘(1) not later than 6 years after the completion 

19 of the report submitted under section 601 and not 

20 less frequently than once every 10 years thereafter, 

21 update probable maximum precipitation estimates 

22 for the United States, such that each update in23 cludes estimates that incorporate assumptions of 

24 non-stationarity; 


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1 ‘‘(2) coordinate with partners to conduct re2 search in the field of extreme precipitation esti3 mation, in accordance with the research needs iden4 tified in the report submitted under section 601; 

5 ‘‘(3) make publicly available, in a searchable, 

6 interoperable format, all probable maximum precipi7 tation studies developed by the National Oceanic and 

8 Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator 

9 has the legal right to redistribute and considers to 

10 be at an appropriate state of development on an 

11 internet website of the National Oceanic and Atmos12 pheric Administration; and 

13 ‘‘(4) ensure all probable maximum precipitation 

14 estimate data, products, and supporting documenta15 tion and metadata developed by the National Oce16 anic and Atmospheric Administration are preserved, 

17 curated, and served by the National Oceanic and At18 mospheric Administration, as appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR THE DE20 VELOPMENT OF PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION

21 ESTIMATES.—The Administrator, in collaboration with 

22 Federal agencies, State, territorial, tribal and local gov23 ernments, academia, and other partners the Administrator 

24 considers appropriate, shall develop a national guidance 

25 document that— 


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1 ‘‘(1) provides best practices that can be fol2 lowed by Federal and State regulatory agencies, pri3 vate meteorological consultants, and other users that 

4 perform probable maximum precipitation studies; 

5 ‘‘(2) considers the recommendations included in 

6 the report submitted under section 601; 

7 ‘‘(3) facilitates review of probable maximum 

8 precipitation studies by regulatory agencies; 

9 ‘‘(4) provides confidence in regional and site10 specific probable maximum precipitation estimates; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(5) includes such other topics as the Adminis13 trator considers appropriate. 

14 ‘‘(c) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 2 years after the 

15 date on which the National Academies makes publicly 

16 available the report under section 601, the Administrator 

17 shall make publicly available the national guidance docu18 ment developed under subsection (b) on an internet 

19 website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin20 istration. 

21 ‘‘(d) UPDATES.—The Administrator shall update the 

22 national guidance document developed under subsection 

23 (b) not less frequently than once every 10 years after the 

24 publication of the document under subsection (c) and 


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1 make such updates publicly available in accordance with 

2 such subsection. 

3 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to the National Oceanic 

5 and Atmospheric Administration to carry out this section 

6 amounts as follows: 

7 ‘‘(1) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2022. 

8 ‘‘(2) $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2023. 

9 ‘‘(3) $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 

10 ‘‘(4) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

11 ‘‘(5) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

12 ‘‘(6) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS. 

14 ‘‘In this title: 

15 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis16 trator’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce for 

17 Oceans and Atmosphere and the Administrator of 

18 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra19 tion. 

20 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘Na21 tional Academies’ means the National Academies of 

22 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

23 ‘‘(3) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘United 

24 States’ means, collectively, each State of the United 

25 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 


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1 of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Com2 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 

3 Virgin Islands of the United States, and any other 

4 territory or possession of the United States.’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con6 tents in section 1(b) of the Weather Research and Fore7 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 131 

8 Stat. 91) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVEMENT OF FEDERAL PRECIPITATION 

INFORMATION 

‘‘Sec. 601. Study on precipitation estimation. 

‘‘Sec. 602. Improving probable maximum precipitation estimates. 

‘‘Sec. 603. Definitions.’’. 

Æ 


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