In the Senate of the United States, 
October 6, 2015. 
Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representa-
tives (H.R. 34) entitled ‘‘An Act to authorize and strengthen 
the tsunami detection, forecast, warning, research, and miti-
gation program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration, and for other purposes.’’, do pass with the fol-
lowing 
AMENDMENT: 
In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted, add 
the following: 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tsunami Warning, Edu-
cation, and Research Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES TO THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND EDU-
CATION ACT. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of 
an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, 
the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or
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other provision of the Tsunami Warning and Education 
Act (Public Law 109–424; 33 U.S.C. 3201 et seq.). 
SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF PURPOSES OF TSUNAMI WARNING 
AND EDUCATION ACT. 
Section 3 (33 U.S.C. 3202) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘research,’’ 
after ‘‘warnings,’’; 
(2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(2) to enhance and modernize the existing 
United States Tsunami Warning System to increase 
the accuracy of forecasts and warnings, to ensure full 
coverage of tsunami threats to the United States with 
a network of detection assets, and to reduce false 
alarms;’’; 
(3) by amending paragraph (3) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(3) to improve and develop standards and 
guidelines for mapping, modeling, and assessment ef-
forts to improve tsunami detection, forecasting, warn-
ings, notification, mitigation, resiliency, response, 
outreach, and recovery;’’; 
(4) by redesignating paragraphs (4), (5), and (6) 
as paragraphs (5), (6), and (8), respectively;
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(5) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(4) to improve research efforts related to im-
proving tsunami detection, forecasting, warnings, no-
tification, mitigation, resiliency, response, outreach, 
and recovery;’’; 
(6) in paragraph (5), as redesignated— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and increase’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘, increase, and develop uniform standards 
and guidelines for’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘, including the warning 
signs of locally generated tsunami’’ after ‘‘ap-
proaching’’; 
(7) in paragraph (6), as redesignated, by strik-
ing ‘‘, including the Indian Ocean; and’’ and insert-
ing a semicolon; and 
(8) by inserting after paragraph (6), as redesig-
nated, the following: 
‘‘(7) to foster resilient communities in the face of 
tsunami and other similar coastal hazards; and’’. 
SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF TSUNAMI FORECASTING AND 
WARNING PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 4 (33 
U.S.C. 3203(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘Atlantic Ocean, 
Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico region’’ and inserting
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‘‘Atlantic Ocean region, including the Caribbean Sea and 
the Gulf of Mexico’’. 
(b) COMPONENTS.—Subsection (b) of section 4 (33 
U.S.C. 3203(b)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘established’’ 
and inserting ‘‘supported or maintained’’; 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through (9) 
as paragraphs (8) through (10), respectively; 
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (6) 
as paragraphs (3) through (7), respectively; 
(4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(2) to the degree practicable, maintain not less 
than 80 percent of the Deep-ocean Assessment and Re-
porting of Tsunamis buoy array at operational ca-
pacity to optimize data reliability;’’. 
(5) by amending paragraph (5), as redesignated 
by paragraph (3), to read as follows: 
‘‘(5) provide tsunami forecasting capability 
based on models and measurements, including tsu-
nami inundation models and maps for use in increas-
ing the preparedness of communities and safe-
guarding port and harbor operations, that incor-
porate inputs, including—
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‘‘(A) the United States and global ocean 
and coastal observing system; 
‘‘(B) the global Earth observing system; 
‘‘(C) the global seismic network; 
‘‘(D) the Advanced National Seismic sys-
tem; 
‘‘(E) tsunami model validation using his-
torical and paleotsunami data; 
‘‘(F) digital elevation models and bathym-
etry; 
‘‘(G) newly developing tsunami detection 
methodologies using satellites and airborne re-
mote sensing; and 
‘‘(H) any other data the Administrator de-
termines is necessary;’’; 
(6) by amending paragraph (7), as redesignated 
by paragraph (3), to read as follows: 
‘‘(7) include a cooperative effort among the Ad-
ministration, the United States Geological Survey, 
and the National Science Foundation under which 
the Director of the United States Geological Survey 
and the Director of the National Science Foundation 
shall—
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‘‘(c) TSUNAMI
WARNING
SYSTEM.—The program 
under this section shall operate a tsunami warning system 
that— 
‘‘(1) is capable of forecasting tsunami, including 
forecasting tsunami arrival time and inundation esti-
mates, anywhere in the Pacific and Arctic Ocean re-
gions and providing adequate warnings; 
‘‘(2) is capable of forecasting and providing ade-
quate warnings, including tsunami arrival time and 
inundation models where applicable, in areas of the 
Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean Sea and 
Gulf of Mexico, that are determined— 
‘‘(A) to be geologically active, or to have sig-
nificant potential for geological activity; and 
‘‘(B) to pose significant risks of tsunami for 
States along the coastal areas of the Atlantic 
Ocean, Caribbean Sea, or Gulf of Mexico; and 
‘‘(3) supports other international tsunami fore-
casting and warning efforts.’’. 
(d) TSUNAMI WARNING CENTERS.—Subsection (d) of 
section 4 (33 U.S.C. 3203(d)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(d) TSUNAMI WARNING CENTERS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 
support or maintain centers to support the tsunami
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warning system required by subsection (c). The Cen-
ters shall include— 
‘‘(A) the National Tsunami Warning Cen-
ter, located in Alaska, which is primarily re-
sponsible for Alaska and the continental United 
States; 
‘‘(B) the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, 
located in Hawaii, which is primarily respon-
sible for Hawaii, the Caribbean, and other areas 
of the Pacific not covered by the National Center; 
and 
‘‘(C) any additional forecast and warning 
centers determined by the National Weather 
Service to be necessary. 
‘‘(2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities of 
the centers supported or maintained under paragraph 
(1) shall include the following: 
‘‘(A) Continuously monitoring data from 
seismological, deep ocean, coastal sea level, and 
tidal monitoring stations and other data sources 
as may be developed and deployed. 
‘‘(B) Evaluating earthquakes, landslides, 
and volcanic eruptions that have the potential to 
generate tsunami.
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‘‘(C) Evaluating deep ocean buoy data and 
tidal monitoring stations for indications of tsu-
nami resulting from earthquakes and other 
sources. 
‘‘(D) To the extent practicable, utilizing a 
range of models, including ensemble models, to 
predict tsunami, including arrival times, flood-
ing estimates, coastal and harbor currents, and 
duration. 
‘‘(E) Using data from the Integrated Ocean 
Observing System of the Administration in co-
ordination with regional associations to calculate 
new inundation estimates and periodically up-
date existing inundation estimates. 
‘‘(F) Disseminating forecasts and tsunami 
warning bulletins to Federal, State, tribal, and 
local government officials and the public. 
‘‘(G) Coordinating with the tsunami hazard 
mitigation program conducted under section 5 to 
ensure ongoing sharing of information between 
forecasters and emergency management officials. 
‘‘(H) In coordination with the Coast Guard, 
evaluating and recommending procedures for 
ports and harbors at risk of tsunami inundation,
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including review of readiness, response, and com-
munication strategies, and data sharing policies. 
‘‘(I) Making data gathered under this Act 
and post-warning analyses conducted by the Na-
tional Weather Service or other relevant Admin-
istration offices available to the public. 
‘‘(J) Integrating and modernizing the pro-
gram operated under this section with advances 
in tsunami science to improve performance with-
out compromising service. 
‘‘(3) FAIL-SAFE WARNING CAPABILITY.—The tsu-
nami warning centers supported or maintained under 
paragraph (1) shall maintain a fail-safe warning ca-
pability and perform back-up duties for each other. 
‘‘(4) COORDINATION WITH NATIONAL WEATHER 
SERVICE.—The Administrator shall coordinate with 
the forecast offices of the National Weather Service, 
the centers supported or maintained under paragraph 
(1), and such program offices of the Administration 
as the Administrator or the coordinating committee, 
as established in section 5(d), consider appropriate to 
ensure that regional and local forecast offices— 
‘‘(A) have the technical knowledge and ca-
pability to disseminate tsunami warnings for the 
communities they serve;
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‘‘(B) leverage connections with local emer-
gency management officials for optimally dis-
seminating tsunami warnings and forecasts; and 
‘‘(C) implement mass communication tools 
in effect on the day before the date of the enact-
ment of the Tsunami Warning, Education, and 
Research Act of 2015 used by the National 
Weather Service on such date and newer mass 
communication technologies as they are devel-
oped as a part of the Weather-Ready Nation pro-
gram of the Administration, or otherwise, for the 
purpose of timely and effective delivery of tsu-
nami warnings. 
‘‘(5) UNIFORM
OPERATING
PROCEDURES.—The 
Administrator shall— 
‘‘(A) develop uniform operational proce-
dures for the centers supported or maintained 
under paragraph (1), including the use of soft-
ware applications, checklists, decision support 
tools, and tsunami warning products that have 
been standardized across the program supported 
under this section; 
‘‘(B) ensure that processes and products of 
the warning system operated under subsection 
(c)—
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‘‘(i) reflect industry best practices 
when practicable; 
‘‘(ii) conform to the maximum extent 
practicable with internationally recognized 
standards for information technology; and 
‘‘(iii) conform to the maximum extent 
practicable with other warning products 
and practices of the National Weather Serv-
ice; 
‘‘(C) ensure that future adjustments to oper-
ational protocols, processes, and warning prod-
ucts— 
‘‘(i) are made consistently across the 
warning system operated under subsection 
(c); and 
‘‘(ii) are applied in a uniform manner 
across such warning system; 
‘‘(D) establish a systematic method for in-
formation technology product development to im-
prove long-term technology planning efforts; and 
‘‘(E) disseminate guidelines and metrics for 
evaluating and improving tsunami forecast mod-
els. 
‘‘(6) AVAILABLE
RESOURCES.—The Adminis-
trator, through the National Weather Service, shall
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ensure that resources are available to fulfill the obli-
gations of this Act. This includes ensuring supercom-
puting resources are available to run, as rapidly as 
possible, such computer models as are needed for pur-
poses of the tsunami warning system operated under 
subsection (c).’’. 
(e) TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY; MAINTENANCE AND 
UPGRADES.—Subsection (e) of section 4 (33 U.S.C. 
3203(e)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(e) TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY; MAINTENANCE AND 
UPGRADES.—In carrying out this section, the Adminis-
trator shall— 
‘‘(1) develop requirements for the equipment used 
to forecast tsunami, including— 
‘‘(A) provisions for multipurpose detection 
platforms; 
‘‘(B) reliability and performance metrics; 
and 
‘‘(C) to the maximum extent practicable, re-
quirements for the integration of equipment with 
other United States and global ocean and coastal 
observation systems, the global Earth observing 
system of systems, the global seismic networks, 
and the Advanced National Seismic System;
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(3) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection 
(g). 
(h) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATIONS.—Subsection (g) 
of section 4 (33 U.S.C. 3203(g)), as redesignated by sub-
section (g)(3), is amended— 
(1) in the matter before paragraph (1), by strik-
ing ‘‘30’’ and inserting ‘‘90’’; 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 
subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and moving 
such subparagraphs 2 ems to the right; 
(3) in the matter before subparagraph (A), as re-
designated by paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘The Ad-
ministrator’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator’’; 
(4) in paragraph (1), as redesignated by para-
graph (3)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A), as redesignated 
by paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 
(B) in subparagraph (B), as redesignated 
by paragraph (2), by striking the period at the 
end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) the occurrence of a significant tsunami 
warning.’’; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following:
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‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—In a case in which notice is 
submitted under paragraph (1) within 90 days of a 
significant tsunami warning described in subpara-
graph (C) of such paragraph, such notice shall in-
clude, as appropriate, brief information and analysis 
of— 
‘‘(A) the accuracy of the tsunami model 
used; 
‘‘(B) the specific deep ocean or other moni-
toring equipment that detected the incident, as 
well as the deep ocean or other monitoring equip-
ment that did not detect the incident due to mal-
function or other reasons; 
‘‘(C) the effectiveness of the warning com-
munication, including the dissemination of 
warnings with State, territory, local, and tribal 
partners in the affected area under the jurisdic-
tion of the National Weather Service; and 
‘‘(D) such other findings as the Adminis-
trator considers appropriate.’’. 
SEC. 5. MODIFICATION OF NATIONAL TSUNAMI HAZARD 
MITIGATION PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5 (33 U.S.C. 3204) is 
amended by striking subsections (a) through (d) and insert-
ing the following:
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‘‘(a) PROGRAM REQUIRED.—The Administrator, in co-
ordination with the Administrator of the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency and the heads of such other 
agencies as the Administrator considers relevant, shall con-
duct a community-based tsunami hazard mitigation pro-
gram to improve tsunami preparedness and resiliency of 
at-risk areas in the United States and the territories of the 
United States. 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—The Program con-
ducted under subsection (a) shall include the following: 
‘‘(1) Technical and financial assistance to coast-
al States, territories, tribes, and local governments to 
develop and implement activities under this section. 
‘‘(2) Integration of tsunami preparedness and 
mitigation programs into ongoing State-based hazard 
warning, resilience planning, and risk management 
activities, including predisaster planning, emergency 
response, evacuation planning, disaster recovery, haz-
ard mitigation, and community development and re-
development planning programs in affected areas. 
‘‘(3) Activities to promote the adoption of tsu-
nami resilience, preparedness, warning, and mitiga-
tion measures by Federal, State, territorial, tribal, 
and local governments and nongovernmental entities,
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including educational and risk communication pro-
grams to discourage development in high-risk areas. 
‘‘(4) Activities to support the development of re-
gional tsunami hazard and risk assessments. Such re-
gional risk assessments may include the following: 
‘‘(A) The sources, sizes, and other relevant 
historical data of tsunami in the region, includ-
ing paleotsunami data. 
‘‘(B) Inundation models and maps of crit-
ical infrastructure and socioeconomic vulner-
ability in areas subject to tsunami inundation. 
‘‘(C) Maps of evacuation areas and evacu-
ation routes, including, when appropriate, traffic 
studies that evaluate the viability of evacuation 
routes. 
‘‘(D) Evaluations of the size of populations 
that will require evacuation, including popu-
lations with special evacuation needs. 
‘‘(E) Evaluations and technical assistance 
for vertical evacuation structure planning for 
communities where models indicate limited or no 
ability for timely evacuation, especially in areas 
at risk of near shore generated tsunami. 
‘‘(F) Evaluation of at-risk ports and har-
bors.
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‘‘(G) Evaluation of the effect of tsunami 
currents on the foundations of closely-spaced, 
coastal high-rise structures. 
‘‘(5) Activities to promote preparedness in at- 
risk ports and harbors, including the following: 
‘‘(A) Evaluation and recommendation of 
procedures for ports and harbors in the event of 
a distant or near-field tsunami. 
‘‘(B) A review of readiness, response, and 
communication strategies to ensure coordination 
and data sharing with the Coast Guard. 
‘‘(6) Activities to support the development of 
community-based outreach and education programs to 
ensure community readiness and resilience, including 
the following: 
‘‘(A) The development, implementation, and 
assessment of technical training and public edu-
cation programs, including education programs 
that address unique characteristics of distant 
and near-field tsunami. 
‘‘(B) The development of decision support 
tools. 
‘‘(C) The incorporation of social science re-
search into community readiness and resilience 
efforts.
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‘‘(D) The development of evidence-based 
education guidelines. 
‘‘(7) Dissemination of guidelines and standards 
for community planning, education, and training 
products, programs, and tools, including— 
‘‘(A) standards for— 
‘‘(i) mapping products; 
‘‘(ii) inundation models; and 
‘‘(iii) effective emergency exercises; and 
‘‘(B) recommended guidance for at-risk port 
and harbor tsunami warning, evacuation, and 
response procedures in coordination with the 
Coast Guard. 
‘‘(c) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—In addition to activi-
ties conducted under subsection (b), the program conducted 
under subsection (a) may include the following: 
‘‘(1) Multidisciplinary vulnerability assessment 
research, education, and training to help integrate 
risk management and resilience objectives with com-
munity development planning and policies. 
‘‘(2) Risk management training for local officials 
and community organizations to enhance under-
standing and preparedness.