Union Calendar No. 139

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2811

[Report No. 103–248]

A BILL

To authorize certain atmospheric, weather, and satfor other purposes. Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and ellite programs and functions of the National

SEPTEMBER 21, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 139

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2811

[Report No. 103–248]

To authorize certain atmospheric, weather, and satellite programs and functions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 30, 1993

Mr. HALL of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

SEPTEMBER 21, 1993

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 July 30, 1993]

A BILL

To authorize certain atmospheric, weather, and satellite programs and functions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 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 ‘‘National Oceanic and

3 Atmospheric Administration Atmospheric and Satellite

4 Program Authorization Act of 1993’’.

5 TITLE I—AUTHORIZATION OF

6 APPROPRIATIONS

7 SEC. 101. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

8 (a) OPERATIONS AND RESEARCH.—There are author9 ized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce (in

10 this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) to enable the Na11 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry

12 out the operations and research duties of the National

13 Weather Service, $473,256,000 for fiscal year 1994 and

14 $492,185,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such duties include mete15 orological, hydrological, and oceanographic public

16 warnings and forecasts, as well as applied research in sup17 port of such warnings and forecasts.

18 (b) SYSTEMS ACQUISITION.—There are authorized to

19 be appropriated to the Secretary to enable the National Oce20 anic and Atmospheric Administration to carry out the pub21 lic warning and forecast systems duties of the National

22 Weather Service, $76,299,000 for fiscal year 1994 and

23 $71,115,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such duties include the

24 development, acquisition, and implementation of major

25 public warning and forecast systems. None of the funds au26 thorized under this subsection shall be used for the purposes
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1 for which funds are authorized under section 102(b) of the

2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Author3 ization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567). No funds may

4 be expended for Next Generation Doppler Weather Radar

5 (NEXRAD) until the requirements of paragraph (2)(A) or

6 (B) of such section 102(b) have been fulfilled by the Sec7 retary. None of the funds for NEXRAD authorized by such

8 section 102(b)(2)(A) or (B) shall be expended, subject to an9 nual review, for a particular NEXRAD installation site un10 less such site appears on page D–10, D–11, or D–12 of the

11 National Implementation Plan for Modernization of the

12 National Weather Service, required under section 703 of the

13 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Author14 ization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567), for fiscal year

15 1994, or unless such funds are to be used only for spare

16 parts, not installation at a particular site.

17 (c) CONSTRUCTION OF WEATHER FORECAST OF18 FICES.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec19 retary to enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad20 ministration to carry out construction, repair, and modi21 fication activities relating to new and existing weather fore22 cast offices, $62,784,000 for fiscal year 1994 and

23 $14,739,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such activities include

24 planning, design, and land acquisition related to such

25 offices.
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1 SEC. 102. ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH.

2 (a) CLIMATE AND AIR QUALITY RESEARCH.—

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap4 propriated to the Secretary to enable the National

5 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry

6 out its climate and air quality research duties,

7 $105,922,000 for fiscal year 1994 and $138,737,000

8 for fiscal year 1995. Such duties include interannual

9 and seasonal climate research and long-term climate

10 and air quality research.

11 (2) CLIMATE AND GLOBAL CHANGE.—Of the

12 sums authorized under paragraph (1), $66,902,000

13 for fiscal year 1994 and $84,573,000 for fiscal year

14 1995 are authorized to be appropriated for the pur15 poses of studying climate and global change, includ16 ing global observations, monitoring, and data and in17 formation management relating to the study of

18 changes in the Earth’s climatic system, and fun19 damental research on oceanic and atmospheric proc20 esses critical to climate prediction and diagnostics.

21 (b) ATMOSPHERIC PROGRAMS.—There are authorized

22 to be appropriated to the Secretary to enable the National

23 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry out its

24 atmospheric research duties, $42,103,000 for fiscal year

25 1994 and $52,980,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such duties in26 clude research for developing improved prediction capabili-
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1 ties for atmospheric processes, as well as solar-terrestrial

2 research and services.

3 SEC. 103. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE, DATA,

4 AND INFORMATION SERVICE.

5 (a) SATELLITE OBSERVING SYSTEMS.—There are au6 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to enable the

7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry

8 out its satellite observing systems duties, $206,383,000 for

9 fiscal year 1994 and $264,890,000 for fiscal year 1995, ex10 cept that no funds may be expended for Geostationary Oper11 ational Environmental Satellite until the requirements of

12 section 105(d)(2) (A) or (B) of the National Oceanic and

13 Atmospheric Administration Authorization Act of 1992

14 (Public Law 102–567) have been fulfilled by the Secretary.

15 Such duties include spacecraft procurement, launch, and

16 associated ground station system changes involving polar

17 orbiting and geostationary environmental satellites, as well

18 as the operation of such satellites. None of the funds author19 ized under this subsection shall be used for the purposes for

20 which funds are authorized under section 105(d) of the Na21 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Authoriza22 tion Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567).

23 (b) ENVIRONMENTAL DATA AND INFORMATION SERV24 ICES.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec25 retary to enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
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1 ministration to carry out its environmental data and infor2 mation services duties, $34,068,000 for fiscal year 1994 and

3 $41,227,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such duties include cli4 mate data services, geophysical data services, and environ5 mental assessment and information services.

6 SEC. 104. PROGRAM SUPPORT.

7 (a) ADMINISTRATION AND SERVICES.—There are au8 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for Administra9 tion and Services, $73,319,000 for fiscal year 1994 and

10 $76,252,000 for fiscal year 1995.

11 (b) AIRCRAFT SERVICES.—There are authorized to be

12 appropriated to the Secretary for Aircraft Services and Air13 craft Critical Safety and Instrumentation, $9,495,000 for

14 fiscal year 1994 and $9,875,000 for fiscal year 1995.

15 SEC. 105. LIMITATION ON APPROPRIATIONS.

16 Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no

17 funds are authorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year

18 after fiscal year 1995 for carrying out the programs for

19 which funds are authorized by this Act.

20 TITLE II—MISCELLANEOUS

21 PROVISIONS

22 SEC. 201. STRATEGIC PLAN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RE23 SEARCH LABORATORIES.

24 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary shall conduct an as25 sessment of the long-term role and mission of the Environ-
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1 mental Research Laboratories of the National Oceanic and

2 Atmospheric Administration and the relevance of the re3 search conducted therein to issues of global and national

4 importance. In conducting such assessment, the Secretary

5 shall take into consideration—

6 (1) the adequacy of resources provided to support

7 the missions of the Environmental Research Labora8 tories;

9 (2) the capacity of the Environmental Research

10 Laboratories to process and disseminate environ11 mental data and information collected and processed,

12 or expected to be collected and processed, by the Na13 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and

14 other appropriate Federal departments and agencies;

15 (3) the mission of the Environment Research

16 Laboratories to provide solar-terrestrial services to the

17 Nation;

18 (4) the ability of the Environmental Research

19 Laboratories to provide continued support for the

20 modernization of weather services;

21 (5) the responsibilities of the Environmental Re22 search Laboratories to monitor, assess, and predict

23 changes in the Earth’s climate;

24 (6) the capability of the Environmental Research

25 Laboratories to integrate and interpret scientific data
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1 in order to provide information useful to policy mak2 ers for responding to national and global environ3 mental concerns;

4 (7) the operational efficiency and effectiveness of

5 the Environmental Research Laboratories; and

6 (8) any other issues that the Secretary may iden7 tify.

8 (b) COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC PLAN.—Not later

9 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec10 retary shall develop and submit to the Committee on Com11 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the

12 Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House

13 of Representatives a comprehensive strategic plan, based on

14 the assessment conducted under subsection (a), to modernize

15 and improve the role and mission of the Environmental Re16 search Laboratories of the National Oceanic and Atmos17 pheric Administration. The assessment conducted under

18 subsection (a) shall be submitted along with such plan.

19 SEC. 202. HYDROLOGICAL RESEARCH AND FLOOD FORE20 CAST MODERNIZATION REPORT.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the

22 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation

23 with the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies, shall

24 prepare and submit to the Committee on Commerce,

25 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Commit-
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1 tee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep2 resentatives a report identifying the actions required to im3 prove the hydrological research programs and to modernize

4 the Flood Forecasting System of the National Weather Serv5 ice.

6 (b) REPORT CONTENTS.—The report required under

7 subsection (a) shall include consideration of—

8 (1) current, planned, and potential technological

9 improvements in the collection of observational

10 hydrological data;

11 (2) use of additional satellite remote-sensing

12 data and airborne surveys, including those systems

13 operated by other Federal agencies, for hydrological

14 data collection;

15 (3) improvements in data analysis and computer

16 modeling in support of flood forecasts and pre17 dictions; and

18 (4) full integration of the River Forecast Centers

19 in the National Weather Service Modernization Plan.

20 SEC. 203. NOTICE OF REPROGRAMMING.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide notice

22 to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor23 tation of the Senate and to the Committee on Science,

24 Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, not

25 less than 15 days before reprogramming funds available for
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1 a program, project, or activity of the National Oceanic and

2 Atmospheric Administration in an amount greater than the

3 lesser of $250,000 or 5 percent of the total funding of such

4 program, project, or activity, if the reprogramming—

5 (1) augments an existing program, project, or

6 activity;

7 (2) reduces by 5 percent or more (A) the funding

8 for an existing program, project, or activity, or (B)

9 the numbers of personnel therefor as approved by

10 Congress; or

11 (3) results from any general savings from a re12 duction in personnel which would result in a change

13 in an existing program, project, or activity.

14 (b) NOTICE OF REORGANIZATION.—The Secretary

15 shall provide notice to the Committee on Commerce,

16 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Commit17 tee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep18 resentatives not later than 15 days before any major reorga19 nization of any program, project, or activity of the National

20 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

21 SEC. 204. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

22 It is the sense of Congress that any transfers of Na23 tional Weather Service employees from field offices neces24 sitated by the National Implementation Plan for Mod25 ernization of the National Weather Service be carried out
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1 in a manner that will not result in the degradation of serv2 ices in the service area of such field office.