I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2811

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

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Oceanic and

5 Atmospheric Administration Atmospheric and Satellite

6 Program Authorization Act of 1993’’.
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1 TITLE I—AUTHORIZATION OF

2 APPROPRIATIONS

3 SEC. 101. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

4 (a) OPERATIONS AND RESEARCH.—There are au5 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce

6 (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) to enable the

7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to

8 carry out the operations and research duties of the Na9 tional Weather Service, $473,256,000 for fiscal year 1994

10 and $492,185,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such duties in11 clude meteorological, hydrological, and oceanographic pub12 lic warnings and forecasts, as well as applied research in

13 support of such warnings and forecasts.

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

15 be appropriated to the Secretary to enable the National

16 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry out the

17 public warning and forecast systems duties of the National

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

19 $71,115,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such duties include the

20 development, acquisition, and implementation of major

21 public warning and forecast systems. Funds authorized

22 under this subsection shall be in addition to funds author23 ized under section 102(b) of the National Oceanic and At24 mospheric Administration Authorization Act of 1992

25 (Public Law 102–567). No funds may be expended for
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1 Next Generation Doppler Weather Radar (NEXRAD) ac2 quisition until the requirements of such section 102(b)

3 have been fulfilled by the Secretary. None of the funds

4 for NEXRAD authorized by such section 102(b) shall be

5 obligated unless the NEXRAD appears in the National

6 Implementation Plan for Modernization of the National

7 Weather Service, required under section 703 of the Na8 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Author9 ization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567), for fiscal year

10 1994, or are to be used only for spare parts, not installa11 tion at a particular site.

12 (c) CONSTRUCTION OF NEXRAD FACILITIES.—

13 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary

14 to enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis15 tration to carry out construction, repair, and modification

16 activities relating to new and existing Next Generation

17 Doppler Weather Radar (NEXRAD) facilities at weather

18 forecast offices, $62,784,000 for fiscal year 1994 and

19 $20,580,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such activities include

20 planning, design, and land acquisition related to such

21 facilities.

22 SEC. 102. ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH.

23 (a) CLIMATE AND AIR QUALITY RESEARCH.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be

25 appropriated to the Secretary to enable the National
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1 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry

2 out its climate and air quality research duties,

3 $105,922,000 for fiscal year 1994 and

4 $138,737,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such duties in5 clude interannual and seasonal climate research and

6 long-term climate and air quality research.

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

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

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

10 1995 are authorized to be appropriated for the pur11 poses of studying climate and global change, includ12 ing global observations, monitoring, and data and in13 formation management relating to the study of

14 changes in the Earth’s climatic system, and fun15 damental research on oceanic and atmospheric proc16 esses critical to climate prediction and diagnostics.

17 (b) ATMOSPHERIC PROGRAMS.—There are author18 ized to be appropriated to the Secretary to enable the Na19 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry

20 out its atmospheric research duties, $42,103,000 for fiscal

21 year 1994 and $52,980,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such du22 ties include research for developing improved prediction

23 capabilities for atmospheric processes, as well as solar24 terrestrial research and services.
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1 SEC. 103. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE, DATA,

2 AND INFORMATION SERVICE.

3 (a) SATELLITE OBSERVING SYSTEMS.—There are

4 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to enable

5 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to

6 carry out its satellite observing systems duties,

7 $206,383,000 for fiscal year 1994 and $264,890,000 for

8 fiscal year 1995, except that no funds may be expended

9 for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite ac10 quisition until the requirements of section 105(d) of the

11 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Au12 thorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567) have been

13 fulfilled by the Secretary. Such duties include spacecraft

14 procurement, launch, and associated ground station sys15 tem changes involving polar orbiting and geostationary en16 vironmental satellites, as well as the operation of such sat17 ellites. Funds authorized under this subsection shall be in

18 addition to funds authorized under section 105(d) of the

19 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Au20 thorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567).

21 (b) ENVIRONMENTAL DATA AND INFORMATION

22 SERVICES.—There are authorized to be appropriated to

23 the Secretary to enable the National Oceanic and Atmos24 pheric Administration to carry out its environmental data

25 and information services duties, $34,068,000 for fiscal

26 year 1994 and $60,662,000 for fiscal year 1995. Such du-
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1 ties include climate data services, geophysical data serv2 ices, and environmental assessment and information

3 services.

4 SEC. 104. PROGRAM SUPPORT.

5 (a) ADMINISTRATION AND SERVICES.—There are au6 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for Adminis7 tration and Services, $73,319,000 for fiscal year 1994 and

8 $76,252,000 for fiscal year 1995.

9 (b) AIRCRAFT SERVICES.—There are authorized to

10 be appropriated to the Secretary for Aircraft Services and

11 Aircraft Critical Safety and Instrumentation, $9,495,000

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

13 TITLE II—MISCELLANEOUS

14 PROVISIONS

15 SEC. 201. STRATEGIC PLAN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RE16 SEARCH LABORATORIES.

17 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary shall conduct an

18 assessment of the adequacy of the resources provided for

19 the Environmental Research Laboratories of the National

20 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In conducting

21 such assessment, the Secretary shall take into consider22 ation—

23 (1) the capacity of the Environmental Research

24 Laboratories to process and disseminate environ25 mental data and information collected and proc-
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1 essed, or expected to be collected and processed, by

2 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra3 tion and other appropriate Federal departments and

4 agencies;

5 (2) the mission of the Environment Research

6 Laboratories to provide solar-terrestrial services to

7 the Nation;

8 (3) the ability of the Environmental Research

9 Laboratories to provide continued support for the

10 modernization of weather services;

11 (4) the responsibilities of the Environmental

12 Research Laboratories to monitor, assess, and pre13 dict changes in the Earth’s climate; and

14 (5) the capability of the Environmental Re15 search Laboratories to integrate and interpret sci16 entific data in order to provide information useful to

17 policy makers for responding to national and global

18 environmental concerns.

19 (b) COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC PLAN.—Not later

20 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the

21 Secretary shall develop and submit to the Committee on

22 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and

23 the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the

24 House of Representatives a comprehensive strategic plan,

25 based on the assessment conducted under subsection (a),
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1 to modernize and improve the Environmental Research

2 Laboratories of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

3 Administration. The assessment conducted under sub4 section (a) shall be submitted along with such plan.

5 SEC. 202. HYDROLOGICAL RESEARCH AND FLOOD FORE6 CAST MODERNIZATION REPORT.

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

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consulta9 tion with the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies,

10 shall prepare and submit to the Committee on Commerce,

11 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com12 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House

13 of Representatives a report identifying the actions re14 quired to improve the hydrological research programs and

15 to modernize the Flood Forecasting System of the Na16 tional Weather Service.

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

18 subsection (a) shall include consideration of—

19 (1) current, planned, and potential technological

20 improvements in the collection of observational

21 hydrological data;

22 (2) use of additional satellite remote-sensing

23 data and airborne surveys, including those systems

24 operated by other Federal agencies, for hydrological

25 data collection;
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1 (3) improvements in data analysis and com2 puter modeling in support of flood forecasts and pre3 dictions; and

4 (4) full integration of the River Forecast Cen5 ters in the National Weather Service Modernization

6 Plan.

7 SEC. 203. NOTICE OF REPROGRAMMING.

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

9 to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor10 tation of the Senate and to the Committee on Science,

11 Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives,

12 not less than 15 days before reprogramming funds avail13 able for a program, project, or activity of the National

14 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in an amount

15 greater than the lesser of $250,000 or 5 percent of the

16 total funding of such program, project, or activity, if the

17 reprogramming—

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

19 activity;

20 (2) reduces by 5 percent or more (A) the fund21 ing for an existing program, project, or activity, or

22 (B) the numbers of personnel therefor as approved

23 by Congress; or
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1 (3) results from any general savings from a re2 duction in personnel which would result in a change

3 in an existing program, project, or activity.

4 (b) NOTICE OF REORGANIZATION.—The Secretary

5 shall provide notice to the Committee on Commerce,

6 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com7 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House

8 of Representatives not later than 15 days before any

9 major reorganization of any program, project, or activity

10 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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