National Weather Service Communications Improvement Act

Subjects: Science, Technology, Communications, Atmospheric science and weather

Summary:  <p><strong>National Weather Service Communications Improvement Act</strong></p> <p>This bill requires the National Weather Service (NWS) to replace NWSChat with a commercial, off-the-shelf communications solution that is hosted on the public cloud. (NWSChat is an instant messaging program used by NWS personnel to share, in real-time, critical warnings and other types of weather information.) The NWS shall allocate up to $3 million of its funding for FY2024-FY2027 on the replacement.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1496 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1496

  To upgrade the communications service used by the National Weather 
                    Service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2023

    Mr. Feenstra (for himself, Mr. Carbajal, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Ms. 
  Bonamici, Mr. Miller of Ohio, Mrs. Hinson, Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon, Mr. 
  Crawford, Mr. Jackson of North Carolina, Ms. Ross, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. 
 Sorensen, Mrs. Radewagen, and Mrs. Foushee) introduced the following 
   bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                               Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To upgrade the communications service used by the National Weather 
                    Service, and for other purposes.

    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 ``National Weather Service 
Communications Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COMMUNICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Title IV of the Weather Research and Forecasting 
Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8541 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section:

``SEC. 415. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COMMUNICATIONS.

    ``(a) System Upgrade.--The Director of the National Weather Service 
shall improve the instant messaging service used by National Weather 
Service personnel by implementing a commercial off-the-shelf 
communications solution hosted on the public cloud to serve as a 
replacement for the communications system in use as of the date of the 
enactment of this section (commonly referred to as `NWSChat'). Such 
communications solution shall satisfy requirements set forth by the 
Director to best accommodate future growth and perform successfully 
with increased numbers of users.
    ``(b) Funding.--From amounts made available for Operations, 
Research, and Facilities, the Director of the National Weather Service 
shall allocate up to $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 
2027 to carry out subsection (a).
    ``(c) Limitation on Funding.--Amounts made available to carry out 
subsection (a) shall be derived from amounts appropriated or otherwise 
made available to the National Weather Service.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is amended 
by inserting after the item relating to section 414 the following new 
item:

``Sec. 415. National Weather Service communications.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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