117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1437 

AN ACT 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Providing Research 

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

4 ‘‘PRECIP Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND 

6 FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017 RE7 LATING TO IMPROVING FEDERAL PRECIPITA8 TION INFORMATION. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Weather Research and Fore10 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.) 

11 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVING FED13 ERAL PRECIPITATION INFOR14 MATION 

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

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

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

18 in consultation with other Federal agencies as appropriate, 

19 shall seek to enter an agreement with the National Acad20 emies— 

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

22 and research needs for precipitation estimation, in23 cluding probable maximum precipitation estimation; 

24 and 

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

26 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 

3 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen4 ate, and make publicly available on a website, a re5 port on the results of the study under paragraph 

6 (1). 

7 ‘‘(b) STUDY.—The report under subsection (a) shall 

8 include the following: 

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

10 practice for precipitation estimation at scales appro11 priate for decisionmaker needs, and rationale for 

12 further evolution of this field. 

13 ‘‘(2) An evaluation of best practices for precipi14 tation estimation that are based on the best-avail15 able science, include assumptions of non-stationarity, 

16 and can be utilized by the user community. 

17 ‘‘(3) A framework for— 

18 ‘‘(A) the development of a National Guid19 ance Document for estimating extreme precipi20 tation in future conditions; and 

21 ‘‘(B) evaluation of the strengths and chal22 lenges of the full spectrum of approaches, in23 cluding for probable maximum precipitation 

24 studies. 
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1 ‘‘(4) A description of existing research needs in 

2 the field of precipitation estimation in order to mod3 ernize current methodologies and incorporate as4 sumptions of non-stationarity. 

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

6 space-based observation requirements, that could en7 hance precipitation estimation and development of 

8 models, including an examination of the use of geo9 graphic information systems and geospatial tech10 nology for integration, analysis, and visualization of 

11 precipitation data. 

12 ‘‘(6) A recommended plan for a Federal re13 search and development program, including speci14 fications for costs, timeframes, and responsible agen15 cies for addressing identified research needs. 

16 ‘‘(7) An analysis of the respective roles in pre17 cipitation estimation of various Federal agencies, 

18 academia, State, tribal, territorial, and local govern19 ments, and other public and private stakeholders. 

20 ‘‘(8) Recommendations for data management to 

21 promote long-term needs such as enabling retrospec22 tive analyses and data discoverability, interoper23 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) A description of non-Federal precipitation 

5 data, its accessibility by the Federal Government, 

6 and ways for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad7 ministration to improve or expand such datasets. 

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

9 National Academies consider appropriate. 

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

11 is authorized $1,500,000 to the National Oceanic and At12 mospheric Administration to carry out this study. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 602. IMPROVING PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITA14 TION ESTIMATES. 

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

16 date on which the National Academies makes public the 

17 report under section 601, the Administrator, in consider18 ation of the report recommendations, shall consult with 

19 relevant partners, including users of the data, on the de20 velopment of a plan to— 

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

22 of such report and not less than every 10 years 

23 thereafter, update probable maximum precipitation 

24 estimates for the United States, such that each up-
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1 date includes estimates that incorporate assumptions 

2 of non-stationarity; 

3 ‘‘(2) coordinate with partners to conduct re4 search in the field of extreme precipitation esti5 mation, in accordance with the research needs iden6 tified in such report; 

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

8 interoperable format, all probable maximum precipi9 tation studies developed by the National Oceanic and 

10 Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator 

11 has the legal right to redistribute and deemed to be 

12 at an appropriate state of development on an inter13 net website of the National Oceanic and Atmos14 pheric Administration; and 

15 ‘‘(4) ensure all probable maximum precipitation 

16 estimate data, products, and supporting documenta17 tion and metadata developed by the National Oce18 anic and Atmospheric Administration are preserved, 

19 curated, and served by the National Oceanic and At20 mospheric Administration, as appropriate. 

21 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR THE DE22 VELOPMENT OF PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION

23 ESTIMATES.—The Administrator, in collaboration with 

24 Federal agencies, State, territorial, Tribal and local gov25 ernments, academia, and other partners the Administrator 
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1 deems appropriate, shall develop a National Guidance 

2 Document that— 

3 ‘‘(1) provides best practices that can be fol4 lowed by Federal and State regulatory agencies, pri5 vate meteorological consultants, and other users that 

6 perform probable maximum precipitation studies; 

7 ‘‘(2) considers the recommendations provided in 

8 the National Academies study under section 601; 

9 ‘‘(3) facilitates review of probable maximum 

10 precipitation studies by regulatory agencies; 

11 ‘‘(4) provides confidence in regional and site12 specific probable maximum precipitation estimates; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(5) includes such other topics as the Adminis15 trator deems appropriate. 

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

17 date on which the National Academies makes public the 

18 report under section 601, the Administrator shall make 

19 publicly available the National Guidance Document under 

20 subsection (b) on an internet website of the National Oce21 anic and Atmospheric Administration. 

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

23 National Guidance Document not less than once every 10 

24 years after the publication of the National Guidance Docu-
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1 ment under subsection (c) and publish such updates in 

2 accordance with 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 ‘‘(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. 603. 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 

17 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

18 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘Na19 tional Academies’ means the National Academies of 

20 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

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

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

23 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

24 of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Com25 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 
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1 Virgin Islands of the United States, and any other 

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

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

4 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 

5 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 note) is amended in the table of 

6 contents by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVING FEDERAL PRECIPITATION INFORMATION 

‘‘Sec. 601. Study on precipitation estimation. 

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

‘‘Sec. 603. Definitions.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 11, 2022. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1437 

AN ACT 

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