IB 

Union Calendar No. 224 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1437 

[Report No. 117–304] 

To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 

to direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide 

comprehensive and regularly updated Federal precipitation information, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2021 

Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Ms. ROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. 

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CRIST, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SIRES, and Ms. 

MOORE of Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

MAY 3, 2022 

Additional sponsors: Mr. PALLONE, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. CASTEN, 

Mrs. LURIA, Ms. KUSTER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. COHEN, Ms. WILD, 

Mr. LUCAS, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. MEIJER, Ms. 

BONAMICI, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. RUSH, Mr. CLEAVER, and 

Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER

MAY 3, 2022 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 26, 2021] 


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A BILL 

To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

Act of 2017 to direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide comprehensive and regularly updated Federal precipitation information, and for 

other purposes. 


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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 and 

5 Estimates of Changes In Precipitation Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘PRECIP Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND 

8 FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Weather Research and Fore10 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8521) is amend11 ed by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVING FEDERAL 

13 PRECIPITATION INFORMATION 

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

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

16 date of enactment of the PRECIP Act, the Administrator, 

17 in consultation with other Federal agencies as appropriate, 

18 shall seek to enter an agreement with the National Acad19 emies— 

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

21 and research needs for precipitation estimation, in22 cluding probable maximum precipitation estimation; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(2) to submit, not later than 24 months after 

25 the date on which such agreement is finalized, to the 


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1 Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

2 House of Representatives and the Committee on Com3 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, 

4 and make publicly available on a website, a report on 

5 the results of the study under paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(b) STUDY.—The report under subsection (a) shall in7 clude the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) An examination of the current state of prac9 tice for precipitation estimation at scales appropriate 

10 for decisionmaker needs, and rationale for further evo11 lution of this field. 

12 ‘‘(2) An evaluation of best practices for precipi13 tation estimation that are based on the best-available 

14 science, include assumptions of non-stationarity, and 

15 can be utilized by the user community. 

16 ‘‘(3) A framework for— 

17 ‘‘(A) the development of a National Guid18 ance Document for estimating extreme precipita19 tion in future conditions; and 

20 ‘‘(B) evaluation of the strengths and chal21 lenges of the full spectrum of approaches, includ22 ing for probable maximum precipitation studies. 

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

24 the field of precipitation estimation in order to modVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:02 May 03, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1437.RH H1437

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1 ernize current methodologies and incorporate assump2 tions of non-stationarity. 

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

4 space-based observation requirements, that could en5 hance precipitation estimation and development of 

6 models, including an examination of the use of geo7 graphic information systems and geospatial tech8 nology for integration, analysis, and visualization of 

9 precipitation data. 

10 ‘‘(6) A recommended plan for a Federal research 

11 and development program, including specifications 

12 for costs, timeframes, and responsible agencies for ad13 dressing identified research needs. 

14 ‘‘(7) An analysis of the respective roles in pre15 cipitation estimation of various Federal agencies, 

16 academia, State, tribal, territorial, and local govern17 ments, and other public and private stakeholders. 

18 ‘‘(8) Recommendations for data management to 

19 promote long-term needs such as enabling retrospec20 tive analyses and data discoverability, interoper21 ability, and reuse. 

22 ‘‘(9) Recommendations for how data and services 

23 from the entire enterprise can be best leveraged by the 

24 Federal Government. 


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1 ‘‘(10) A description of non-Federal precipitation 

2 data, its accessibility by the Federal Government, and 

3 ways for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin4 istration to improve or expand such datasets. 

5 ‘‘(11) Such other topics as the Administrator or 

6 National Academies consider appropriate. 

7 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized $1,500,000 to the National Oceanic and Atmos9 pheric Administration to carry out this study. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 602. IMPROVING PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY ESTI11 MATES. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) not later than 5 years after the date of en14 actment of this title and not less frequently than every 

15 5 years thereafter, update precipitation frequency es16 timates for the United States, such that each update 

17 includes at least one precipitation frequency atlas 

18 that incorporates assumptions of non-stationarity; 

19 ‘‘(2) develop products targeted at users of this 

20 data in support of the mission of the National Oce21 anic and Atmospheric Administration; 

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

23 interoperable format, all precipitation frequency esti24 mate studies developed by the National Oceanic and 

25 Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator 


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1 has the legal right to redistribute and that are deemed 

2 to be at an appropriate stage of development on an 

3 internet website of the National Oceanic and Atmos4 pheric Administration; and 

5 ‘‘(4) ensure all precipitation frequency estimate 

6 data, products, and supporting documentation and 

7 metadata are preserved, curated, and served by the 

8 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

9 as appropriate. 

10 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated to the National Oceanic 

12 and Atmospheric Administration to carry out this section 

13 $3,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2030. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 603. IMPROVING PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITA15 TION ESTIMATES. 

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

17 date on which the National Academies makes public the re18 port under section 601, the Administrator, in consideration 

19 of the report recommendations, shall consult with relevant 

20 partners, including users of the data, on the development 

21 of a plan to— 

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

23 of the National Academies report under section 601 

24 and not less than every 10 years thereafter, update 

25 probable maximum precipitation estimates for the 


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1 United States, such that each update includes esti2 mates that incorporate assumptions of non3 stationarity; 

4 ‘‘(2) coordinate with partners to conduct re5 search in the field of extreme precipitation esti6 mation, in accordance with the research needs identi7 fied by the National Academies report under section 

8 601; 

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

10 interoperable format, all probable maximum precipi11 tation studies developed by the National Oceanic and 

12 Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator 

13 has the legal right to redistribute and deemed to be 

14 at an appropriate state of development on an internet 

15 website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad16 ministration; and 

17 ‘‘(4) ensure all probable maximum precipitation 

18 estimate data, products, and supporting documenta19 tion and metadata developed by the National Oceanic 

20 and Atmospheric Administration are preserved, 

21 curated, and served by the National Oceanic and At22 mospheric Administration, as appropriate. 

23 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR THE DE24 VELOPMENT OF PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION ESTI25 MATES.—The Administrator, in collaboration with Federal 


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1 agencies, State, territorial, tribal and local governments, 

2 academia and other partners the Administrator deems ap3 propriate, shall develop a National Guidance Document 

4 that— 

5 ‘‘(1) provides best practices that can be followed 

6 by Federal and State regulatory agencies, private me7 teorological consultants, and other users that perform 

8 probable maximum precipitation studies; 

9 ‘‘(2) considers the recommendations provided in 

10 the National Academies study in section 601; 

11 ‘‘(3) facilitates review of probable maximum pre12 cipitation studies by regulatory agencies; 

13 ‘‘(4) provides confidence in regional and site-spe14 cific probable maximum precipitation estimates; and 

15 ‘‘(5) includes such other topics as the Adminis16 trator deems appropriate. 

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

18 date on which the National Academies makes public the re19 port under section 601, the Administrator shall make pub20 licly available the National Guidance Document under sub21 section (b) on an internet website of the National Oceanic 

22 and Atmospheric Administration. 

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

24 National Guidance Document not less than once every 10 

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1 ment under subsection (c) and publish such updates in ac2 cordance with such subsection. 

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

4 authorized to be appropriated to the National Oceanic and 

5 Atmospheric Administration to carry out this section: 

6 ‘‘(1) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2022. 

7 ‘‘(2) $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2023. 

8 ‘‘(3) $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 

9 ‘‘(4) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

10 ‘‘(5) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

11 ‘‘(6) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 604. DEFINITIONS. 

13 ‘‘ In this title: 

14 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis15 trator’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce for 

16 Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the Na17 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

18 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘National 

19 Academies’ means the National Academies of 

20 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

21 ‘‘(3) PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY ATLAS.—The 

22 term ‘precipitation frequency atlas’ means a geo23 graphical atlas, such as the NOAA Atlas 14, that con24 tains precipitation frequency estimates for the United 

25 States with associated lower and upper bounds of a 


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1 determined confidence interval and supplementary in2 formation on temporal distribution of heavy precipi3 tation, analysis of seasonality, and trends in annual 

4 maximum series data. 

5 ‘‘(4) PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY ESTIMATE.— 

6 The term ‘precipitation frequency estimate’ means the 

7 magnitude associated with specific average recurrence 

8 interval or annual exceedance probability for a given 

9 duration. 

10 ‘‘(5) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘United States’ 

11 means, collectively, each State of the United States, 

12 the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puer13 to Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth 

14 of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands 

15 of the United States, and any other territory or pos16 session of the United States.’’. 

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1(b) of the 

18 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 

19 (15 U.S.C. 8501 note) is amended in the table of contents 

20 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVING FEDERAL PRECIPITATION INFORMATION 

‘‘Sec. 601. Study on precipitation estimation. 

‘‘Sec. 602. Improving precipitation frequency estimates. 

‘‘Sec. 603. Improving probable maximum precipitation estimates. 

‘‘Sec. 604. Definitions.’’. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 224 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1437 

[Report No. 117–304] 

A BILL 

To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting 

poses. eral precipitation information, and for other purvide comprehensive and regularly updated FedOceanic and Atmospheric Administration to proInnovation Act of 2017 to direct the National 

MAY 3, 2022 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS