Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Weather
Service and Related Agencies Authorization Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act, the term—
(1) ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Administrator
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration; and
(2) ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of Com-
merce.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
(a) OPERATIONS, RESEARCH, AND FACILITIES.—
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary
to enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration to carry out the Operations, Research, and Facili-
ties 
activities 
of 
the 
National 
Weather 
Service
$617,897,000 for fiscal year 2000 and $617,897,000 for
fiscal year 2001, to remain available until expended. Of
such amounts—
(1) $449,441,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$450,411,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Local
Warnings and Forecasts;
(2) $2,200,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$2,200,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Ad-
vanced Hydrological Prediction System;
(3) $619,000 for fiscal year 2000 and $619,000
for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Susquehanna River
Basin Flood Systems;
(4) $35,596,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$35,596,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Avia-
tion Forecasts;
(5) $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$4,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Weather
Forecast Offices (WFO) Facilities Maintenance;
(6) $37,081,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$37,081,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Central
Forecast Guidance;
(7) $3,090,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$3,090,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Atmos-
pheric and Hydrological Research;
(8) $39,325,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$39,325,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Next
Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD);
(9) $7,573,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$7,573,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Auto-
mated Surface Observing System (ASOS);
(10) $38,002,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$38,002,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Ad-
vanced Weather Interactive Processing System
(AWIPS); and
(11) $970,000 for fiscal year 2000 shall be for
two 1,000-watt National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Weather Radio transmitters, to be
located in Jasper and Marion Counties, Illinois, and
nine 300-watt National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Weather Radio transmitters, to be
installed in appropriate locations throughout the
State of Illinois, and for maintenance costs related
thereto.
(b) PROCUREMENT, ACQUISITION, AND CONSTRUC-
TION.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary to enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to carry out the Procurement, Acquisition,
and Construction activities of the National Weather Serv-
ice $69,632,000 for fiscal year 2000 and $70,120,000 for
fiscal year 2001, to remain available until expended. Of
such amounts—
(1) $9,560,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$9,060,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Next
Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD);
(2) $4,180,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$6,125,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Auto-
mated Surface Observing System (ASOS);
(3) $22,575,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$21,525,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Ad-
vanced Weather Interactive Processing System
(AWIPS);
(4) $11,100,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$12,835,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Com-
puter Facilities Upgrades;
(5) $8,350,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$8,350,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Radio-
sonde Replacement;
(6) $500,000 for fiscal year 2000 shall be for
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Operations Center Rehabilitation; and
(7) $13,367,000 for fiscal year 2000 and
$12,225,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for Weath-
er Forecast Office (WFO) Construction.
(c) DUTIES
OF
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERV-
ICE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—To protect life and property
(in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the
Territories), the Secretary, through the National
Weather Service, except as provided in paragraph
(2), shall be responsible for—
(A) forecasts and shall serve as the sole of-
ficial source of weather and flood warnings;
(B) the issuance of storm warnings;
(C) the collection, exchange, and distribu-
tion of meteorological, hydrological, climatic,
and oceanographic data and information;
(D) the preparation of hydrometeorological
guidance and core forecast information; and
(E) the issuance of marine and aviation
forecasts and warnings.
(2) COMPETITION
WITH
PRIVATE
SECTOR.—
The National Weather Service shall not provide, or
assist other entities to provide, a service if that serv-
ice is currently provided or can be provided by com-
mercial enterprise, unless—
(A) the service provides vital weather
warnings and forecasts for the protection of life
and property of the general public; or
(B) the United States Government is obli-
gated to provide such service under inter-
national aviation agreements to provide mete-
orological services and exchange meteorological
information.
(3) AMENDMENTS.—The Act of October 1,
1890 (26 Stat. 653) is amended—
(A) by striking section 3 (15 U.S.C. 313);
and
(B) in section 9 (15 U.S.C. 317), by strik-
ing ‘‘, and it shall be’’ and all that follows, and
inserting a period.
(4) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
shall submit to the Committee on Science of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen-
ate a report detailing all National Weather Service
activities which do not conform to the requirements
of this subsection and outlining a timetable for their
termination.
(d) CLOSING
OF LOCAL WEATHER SERVICE OF-
FICES.—It is the sense of the Congress that the National
Weather Service must fully take into account the dan-
gerous and life threatening nature of weather patterns in
Wind Zone IV, otherwise known as tornado alley, before
making any determination on the closure of any of its local
weather service offices.
SEC. 4. ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH.
(a) OPERATIONS, RESEARCH, AND FACILITIES.—