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[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4146 Introduced in House (IH)]

108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4146

 To establish a comprehensive research program aimed at understanding 
  and predicting the natural processes that lead to the formation of 
                               tornadoes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 2, 2004

  Mr. Cramer introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                          Committee on Science

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To establish a comprehensive research program aimed at understanding 
  and predicting the natural processes that lead to the formation of 
                               tornadoes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tornado Research Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. TORNADO RESEARCH PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--The Secretary of Commerce shall 
establish a tornado research program within the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, to be carried out in coordination with the 
National Weather Service, the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, the National Science Foundation, and any other 
appropriate Federal agencies.
    (b) Program Duties.--The tornado research program established 
pursuant to subsection (a) shall--
            (1) include research aimed at understanding and predicting 
        the natural processes that lead to the formation of tornadoes;
            (2) identify an array of factors that indicate the 
        formation of tornadoes;
            (3) promote the incorporation of the results of the 
        research conducted under the program into the methods used by 
        meteorologists to predict the time and location of the 
        formation of tornadoes;
            (4) provide resources and promote attention to tornado 
        research areas with the greatest potential for improving the 
        understanding of the formation of tornadoes;
            (5) maximize the effectiveness of the program by 
        encouraging collaborative efforts by operational and research 
        communities in academia and the Federal Government; and
            (6) provide for the awarding of competitive research grants 
        to, and the entering into of cooperative agreements with, 
        institutions of higher education and other research 
        institutions to conduct peer-reviewed research that may improve 
        the forecast and identification of tornadoes.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION.

    For purposes of this Act, the term ``institution of higher 
education'' has the meaning given to that term in section 101 of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 
Commerce for the purpose of carrying out this Act--
            (1) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2005;
            (2) $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, of which at least 50 
        percent shall be for the competitive research grants and 
        cooperative agreements described in section 2(b)(6); and
            (3) $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 and 2008, of 
        which at least 50 percent each fiscal year shall be for the 
        competitive research grants and cooperative agreements 
        described in section 2(b)(6).
                                 <all>
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