II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3630 

To authorize a comprehensive program of nationwide access to Federal remote 

sensing data, to promote use of the program for education, workforce 

training and development, and applied research, and to support Federal, 

State, tribal, and local government programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 26 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Mr. JOHNSON (for himself and Mr. VOINOVICH) introduced the following bill; 

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

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To authorize a comprehensive program of nationwide access 

to Federal remote sensing data, to promote use of the 

program for education, workforce training and development, and applied research, and to support Federal, 

State, tribal, and local government programs. 

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 ‘‘AmericaView Author5 ization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) when Federal remote sensing data is avail2 able in a cost-effective and timely manner, State and 

3 local governments and educational institutions are 

4 able to develop new scientific, educational, and prac5 tical applications for the data and to adopt new tools 

6 for applied research, education, and training, as evi7 denced by the success of the United States Geologi8 cal Survey pilot projects OhioView and Gateway to 

9 the Earth; 

10 (2) increased access to remote sensing data 

11 through State data archives benefits user commu12 nities that have traditionally struggled to afford the 

13 data because— 

14 (A) educators— 

15 (i) train college students for tech16 nology careers in remote sensing; and 

17 (ii) train teachers that remote sensing 

18 data can enhance student learning in ele19 mentary and secondary education; 

20 (B) historically black colleges and univer21 sities partner with StateView universities to en22 hance learning and training opportunities for 

23 students; 

24 (C) Native Americans provide training and 

25 education regarding— 


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1 (i) the use and application of remote 

2 sensing data for Native American students; 

3 and 

4 (ii) developing satellite-based applica5 tions for managing reservation resources; 

6 (3) universities and State and local government 

7 agencies use remote sensing data to support prac8 tical purposes, including— 

9 (A) monitoring the health of national land 

10 and forests; 

11 (B) monitoring crop progress, assessing 

12 damage, and predicting crop yield; 

13 (C) assisting with transportation and land14 use planning in the urban areas of the United 

15 States; 

16 (D) predicting and assisting with the man17 agement of human disease outbreaks; and 

18 (E) assessing and managing natural disas19 ters; and 

20 (4) the AmericaView program is uniquely posi21 tioned— 

22 (A) to help each State address remote 

23 sensing data infrastructure issues; and 

24 (B) to expand the use and benefits of re25 mote sensing data to each State. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) AMERICAVIEW PROGRAM.—The term 

4 ‘‘AmericaView program’’ means the national 

5 AmericaView program of the United States Geologi6 cal Survey established under section 4(a), comprised 

7 of— 

8 (A) the AmericaView project; and 

9 (B) AmericaView. 

10 (2) AMERICAVIEW PROJECT.—The term 

11 ‘‘AmericaView project’’ means the United States Ge12 ological Survey data archive, development, mainte13 nance, and product distribution program conducted 

14 at the EROS Data Center. 

15 (3) AMERICAVIEW.—The term ‘‘AmericaView’’ 

16 means the national nonprofit collaboration of 

17 StateView participants cooperating with the EROS 

18 Data Center to achieve the purposes of the 

19 AmericaView program. 

20 (4) EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.—The term 

21 ‘‘educational institution’’ means any public or pri22 vate elementary or secondary school, vocational 

23 school, correspondence school, business school, col24 lege (including a junior college or teachers’ college), 

25 normal school, professional school, institution of 

26 higher education, or scientific or technical instituVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:12 Sep 29, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3630.IS S3630

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1 tion, or any other institution that furnishes edu2 cation. 

3 (5) EROS DATA CENTER.—The term ‘‘EROS 

4 Data Center’’ means the data management, systems 

5 development, and research field center of the United 

6 States Geological Survey. 

7 (6) NATIONAL SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUC8 TURE.—The term ‘‘National Spatial Data Infra9 structure’’ means the technology, policies, standards, 

10 and human resources necessary to acquire, process, 

11 store, distribute, and improve use of geospatial data 

12 for the United States established by Executive Order 

13 12906 (59 Fed. Reg. 17671 (April 11, 1994)). 

14 (7) REMOTE SENSING DATA.—The term ‘‘re15 mote sensing data’’ means all information acquired 

16 from above the surface of the Earth by satellite or 

17 airplane. 

18 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

19 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di20 rector of the United States Geological Survey. 

21 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

22 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com23 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 

24 Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of 

25 the Northern Mariana Islands. 


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1 (10) STATEVIEW.—The term ‘‘StateView’’ 

2 means the AmericaView program of a single State, 

3 comprised of— 

4 (A) educational institutions; and 

5 (B) State and local governments. 

6 SEC. 4. AMERICAVIEW PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish and 

8 maintain a nationwide program, to be known as the 

9 ‘‘AmericaView’’ program, to advance the availability, time10 ly distribution, and widespread use of remote sensing data 

11 and technology in each State. 

12 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the AmericaView 

13 program are— 

14 (1) to increase accessibility and expand the use 

15 of remote sensing data in a standard, easy-to-use 

16 format to— 

17 (A) Federal, State, local, and tribal gov18 ernments; 

19 (B) communities; 

20 (C) educational institutions; and 

21 (D) the commercial sector; 

22 (2) to assist each State in establishing the in23 frastructure necessary to archive and distribute re24 mote sensing data; 


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1 (3) to ensure that the National Satellite Land 

2 Remote Sensing Data Archive of the United States 

3 Geological Survey and State remote sensing data ar4 chives support and comply with other Federal pro5 grams relating to national data infrastructure, 

6 homeland security, and national defense; and 

7 (4) to provide remote sensing data to the Na8 tional Spatial Data Infrastructure. 

9 (c) ACTIVITIES.— 

10 (1) AMERICAVIEW PROJECT.—The Secretary, 

11 acting through the AmericaView project, shall sup12 port the remote sensing data research and edu13 cational programs of each State by cooperating with 

14 the States— 

15 (A) to identify new remote sensing data 

16 needs and infrastructure; and 

17 (B) to define, consolidate, and maintain 

18 the data requirements of that infrastructure. 

19 (2) AMERICAVIEW.—The Secretary, acting 

20 through the AmericaView program, shall maintain 

21 AmericaView in each State— 

22 (A) to share and cooperate in the develop23 ment of a freely and publicly accessible remote 

24 sensing data archive and distribution infra25 structure; 


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1 (B) to cooperate with the AmericaView 

2 project to develop nationally consistent stand3 ards for remote sensing data archives in the 

4 State; 

5 (C) to expand the number of remote sens6 ing data courses taught at educational institu7 tions and provide training, remote sensing data, 

8 and teaching tools to educators; 

9 (D) to expand remote sensing data re10 search at research educational institutions; 

11 (E) to expand the knowledge and use of re12 mote sensing data and data products in the 

13 workforce through outreach programs, work14 shops, and other training opportunities; 

15 (F) to build partnerships with local govern16 ments to identify unique research and develop17 ment needs and foster remote sensing pilot 

18 projects; 

19 (G) to promote cooperation and sharing of 

20 expertise regarding remote sensing data among 

21 the participating States and within each partici22 pating State; and 

23 (H) to enable the States to provide remote 

24 sensing data to the EROS Data Center. 


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1 (3) GRANTS.—The Secretary shall annually 

2 award grants to sustain and develop StateView pro3 grams. 

4 (4) FEDERAL PARTNER ADVISORY COM5 MITTEE.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

7 maintain an advisory committee to advise the 

8 Director of the United States Geological Survey 

9 regarding the AmericaView program. 

10 (B) MEMBERSHIP AND APPOINTMENT.— 

11 The advisory committee shall consist of 1 rep12 resentative from each of— 

13 (i) AmericaView; 

14 (ii) the United States Geological Sur15 vey; 

16 (iii) the Department of Agriculture; 

17 and 

18 (iv) such other Federal agencies as 

19 the Director of the United States Geologi20 cal Survey may require. 

21 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec23 retary such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act 

24 for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2014. 

Æ 


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