I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 327 

To establish the National Hurricane Research Initiative to improve hurricane 

preparedness, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2009 

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. MEEK of Florida, 

Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. MACK, Mr. 

LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. WEINER, Mr. MELANCON, and Mr. BUCHANAN) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science and 

Technology 

A BILL 

To establish the National Hurricane Research Initiative to 

improve hurricane preparedness, 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 ‘‘National Hurricane 

5 Research Initiative Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

2 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

3 (2) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

4 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary for Oceans 

5 and Atmosphere of the Department of Commerce. 

6 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 

7 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

8 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American 

9 Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the North10 ern Mariana Islands, and any other territory or pos11 session over which the United States has jurisdic12 tion. 

13 SEC. 3. NATIONAL HURRICANE RESEARCH INITIATIVE. 

14 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH.—The Under Sec15 retary and the Director shall establish an initiative known 

16 as the National Hurricane Research Initiative for the pur17 poses described in subsection (b). 

18 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the National Hurri19 cane Research Initiative shall be to set research objectives 

20 based upon the findings of the January 12, 2007, National 

21 Science Board report entitled ‘‘Hurricane Warning: The 

22 Critical Need for National Hurricane Research Initia23 tive’’— 

24 (1) to make recommendations to the National 

25 Science Board and the National Oceanic and AtmosVerDate Nov 24 2008 22:52 Jan 11, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H327.IH H327

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1 pheric Administration Science Advisory Board on 

2 such research; 

3 (2) to assemble the science and engineering ex4 pertise of State or local government agencies or de5 partments and nongovernmental entities (including 

6 universities and colleges and other research and aca7 demic institutions), through a multi-entity effort fo8 cused on— 

9 (A) improving hurricane and other severe 

10 tropical storm forecasting capabilities, including 

11 formation, track, and intensity change; 

12 (B) durable and resilient infrastructure; 

13 and 

14 (C) mitigating impacts on coastal popu15 lations, the coastal built environment, and the 

16 natural coastal environment, including but not 

17 limited to, coral reefs, wetlands, and other nat18 ural systems that mitigate hurricane wind and 

19 storm surge impacts; and 

20 (3) to make grants to eligible entities to carry 

21 out research in the following areas: 

22 (A) PREDICTING HURRICANE INTENSITY

23 CHANGE.—Research to improve understanding 

24 of— 


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1 (i) rapid change in storm size, motion, 

2 structure, and intensity; 

3 (ii) storm internal dynamics; and 

4 (iii) the interactions of the storm and 

5 its environmental conditions, including the 

6 atmosphere, ocean, and land surface. 

7 (B) UNDERSTANDING OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE

8 INTERACTIONS.—Observations, theory and mod9 eling, to improve understanding of air-sea inter10 action in high wind speeds. 

11 (C) PREDICTING STORM SURGE, RAINFALL, 

12 INLAND FLOODING, AND STRONG WINDS PRO13 DUCED BY HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS

14 DURING AND AFTER LANDFALL.—Research to 

15 understand, model, and predict rainfall, flood16 ing, high winds, the potential occurrence of tor17 nadoes, and storm surge, including probabilistic 

18 modeling and mapping of risk. 

19 (D) IMPROVED OBSERVATIONS OF HURRI20 CANES AND TROPICAL STORMS.—Research to 

21 improve measurements of hurricanes and trop22 ical storms through mobile radar platforms, 

23 Global Positioning Systems technology, un24 manned vehicles, ground-based and wireless 

25 sensors, oceanic remote sensing technologies, 


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1 and air-deployed ocean profilers and floats to 

2 improve our understanding of the complex na3 ture of storms and their interaction with the 

4 ocean and land. 

5 (E) ASSESSING VULNERABLE INFRASTRUC6 TURE.—Research to develop a national engi7 neering assessment of coastal infrastructure, in8 cluding infrastructure related to levees, sea9 walls, drainage systems, bridges, water and 

10 sewage systems, power, and communications, to 

11 determine the level of vulnerability of such in12 frastructure to damage from hurricanes and to 

13 determine strategies to reduce such 

14 vulnerabilities. 

15 (F) INTERACTION OF HURRICANES WITH

16 ENGINEERED STRUCTURES.—Research to im17 prove understanding of the impacts of hurri18 canes and tropical storms on buildings, struc19 tures, and housing combined with modeling es20 sential for guiding the creation of improved 

21 building designs and construction codes in loca22 tions particularly vulnerable to hurricanes. 

23 (G) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HURRI24 CANES, CLIMATE, AND NATURAL ECO25 SYSTEMS.—Research to improve the underVerDate Nov 24 2008 22:52 Jan 11, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H327.IH H327

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1 standing of complex relationships between hur2 ricanes and climate, including research to deter3 mine the most effective methods to use observa4 tional information and numerical model simula5 tions to examine the impacts on ecosystems 

6 over long and short periods of time, including 

7 but not limited to impacts on coral reefs, wet8 lands, and other natural systems that mitigate 

9 hurricane wind and storm surge impacts. 

10 (H) TECHNOLOGIES FOR DISASTER RE11 SPONSE AND RECOVERY.—Research to improve 

12 emergency communication networks for govern13 ment agencies and non-government entities and 

14 to improve communications between such net15 works during disaster response and recovery, 

16 including cyber-security during disaster situa17 tions and the ability to improve damage assess18 ments during storms. 

19 (I) EVACUATION PLANNING.—Research to 

20 improve the manner in which hurricane-related 

21 information is provided to, and utilized by, the 

22 public and government officials, including re23 search to assist officials of State or local gov24 ernment in determining the circumstances in 


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1 which evacuations are required and in carrying 

2 out such evacuations. 

3 (J) COMPUTATIONAL CAPABILITY.—Re4 search to improve understanding of the efficient 

5 utility of multiple models requiring sharing and 

6 inter-operability of databases, computing envi7 ronments, networks, visualization tools, and 

8 analytic systems beyond what is currently avail9 able for transitioning hurricane research assets 

10 into operational practice and to provide access 

11 to robust computational facilities beyond the fa12 cilities normally accessible by the civilian re13 search community for the hurricane research 

14 enterprise, including data acquisition and mod15 eling capability during hurricane events. 

16 (c) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The 

17 Under Secretary and the Director shall cooperate with the 

18 head of each appropriate Federal agency or department, 

19 research institute, university, and disaster-response or 

20 nongovernmental organization to utilize the expertise and 

21 capabilities of such entity to carry out the purposes of the 

22 National Hurricane Research Initiative, including co23 operation with the heads of the following entities: 

24 (1) The National Aeronautics and Space Ad25 ministration. 


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1 (2) The National Institute of Standards and 

2 Technology. 

3 (3) The Department of Homeland Security, in4 cluding the Federal Emergency Management Agen5 cy. 

6 (4) The Department of Energy. 

7 (5) The Defense Advanced Research Project 

8 Agency. 

9 (6) The Environmental Protection Agency. 

10 (7) The United States Geological Survey. 

11 (8) The Army Corps of Engineers. 

12 (d) COORDINATION.—The White House Office of 

13 Science and Technology Policy, through the National 

14 Science and Technology Council, shall coordinate the ac15 tivities carried out by the United States related to the Na16 tional Hurricane Research Initiative as a formal program 

17 with a well defined organizational structure and execution 

18 plan. 

19 (e) GRANTS.— 

20 (1) AUTHORITY.—The Undersecretary and the 

21 Director may award grants to appropriate State and 

22 local governmental agencies or departments, re23 search universities or nongovernmental entities to 

24 carry out the purposes described in subsection (b). 


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1 (2) BEST PRACTICES.—The Under Secretary 

2 and the Director shall develop and make available to 

3 the public a description of best practices to be used 

4 to carry out a project with a grant awarded under 

5 this subsection. 

6 (f) RESEARCH SEMINARS AND FORUMS.—The Under 

7 Secretary and the Director shall carry out a series of na8 tional seminars and forums that assemble a broad collec9 tion of scientific disciplines to direct researchers to work 

10 collaboratively to carry out the purposes described in sub11 section (b). 

12 (g) INITIAL RESEARCH TO DEVELOP IMPROVED

13 HURRICANE INTENSITY FORECASTS AND IMPACT PRO14 JECTIONS.—The Undersecretary and the Director shall 

15 within 120 days after the enactment of this Act issue a 

16 request for proposals to undertake the basic and applied 

17 research with an annual budget in the amounts as deemed 

18 appropriate by the Under Secretary and the Director to 

19 accomplish the desired research results during a 10-year 

20 term. 

21 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

22 authorized to be appropriated $150,000,000 for each of 

23 the fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to carry out this sec24 tion. 


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1 SEC. 4. NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE DATABASE. 

2 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH.—The Under Sec3 retary and the Director shall establish a National Infra4 structure Database for the purposes of— 

5 (1) cataloging and characterizing the physical, 

6 social, and natural infrastructure in order to provide 

7 a baseline for developing standards, measuring modi8 fication, and determining loss; 

9 (2) providing information to Federal, State, and 

10 local government officials to improve information 

11 public policy related to hurricanes and tropical 

12 storms; and 

13 (3) providing data to researchers to improve 

14 their ability to measure hurricane impacts, separate 

15 such impacts from other effects, both natural and 

16 anthropogenic, make effective recommendations for 

17 improved building codes and urban planning prac18 tices, and develop effective procedures for respond19 ing to infrastructure disruption. 

20 (b) DATABASE REQUIREMENTS.—The National In21 frastructure Database shall be a virtual, cyber environ22 ment that uses existing capabilities and facilities, and es23 tablishes new capabilities and facilities, as appropriate, to 

24 provide an interoperable environment and the necessary 

25 metadata and other resources needed by users of that 

26 Database. 


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1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of the 

3 fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to carry out this section. 

4 SEC. 5. NATIONAL HURRICANE RESEARCH MODEL. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH.—The Under Sec6 retary and the Director shall develop a National Hurri7 cane Research Model to conduct integrative research and 

8 to facilitate the transfer of research knowledge to oper9 ational applications, including linking relevant theoretical, 

10 physical, and computational models from atmospheric, 

11 oceanic, economic, sociological, engineered infrastructure, 

12 and ecologic fields, conducting experimental research to 

13 understand the extensive complexities of hurricanes, train14 ing of the next-generation hurricane researchers and fore15 casters, and obtaining measurable results in a comprehen16 sive framework suitable for testing end-to-end integrative 

17 systems. 

18 (b) SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.—The National Hurri19 cane Research Model shall be a physically distributed and 

20 highly coordinated working environment in which research 

21 from the National Hurricane Research Initiative can be 

22 experimentally substantiated using suitable quantitative 

23 metrics, and where a culture of interaction and collabora24 tion can further be promoted, including in the areas of— 

25 (1) facilities and cyber infrastructure; 


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1 (2) software integration; and 

2 (3) fixed mobile data collection platforms and 

3 data provisioning systems. 

4 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

5 authorized to be appropriated $75,000,000 for each of the 

6 fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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