I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9771 
To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 
to support research into the effects of extreme weather on the subsurface 
natural and built environment, to support engineering standards and 
building codes for resilient designs against multihazards, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 
Ms. MCCLELLAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
A BILL 
To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and 
Innovation Act to support research into the effects of 
extreme weather on the subsurface natural and built 
environment, to support engineering standards and build-
ing codes for resilient designs against multihazards, and 
for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Building and Upgrad-
ing Infrastructure for the Long Term Act’’ or the 
‘‘BUILT Act’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:38 Oct 05, 2024
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9771.IH
H9771
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
SEC. 2. SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH AND DE-
VELOPMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title II of division 
B of the Research and Development, Competition, and In-
novation Act (enacted as part of division B of Public Law 
117–167; 42 U.S.C. 18931 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new sections: 
‘‘SEC. 10236. SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH AND 
DEVELOPMENT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-
propriations, the Director shall support measurement re-
search and testing to inform the development of engineer-
ing standards, practices, and building codes on the sub-
surface environment as such relate to the built environ-
ment. 
‘‘(b) RESEARCH AREAS.—Research and testing under 
subsection (a) may include the following: 
‘‘(1) Measuring, modeling, and predicting the 
properties of subsurface materials of soil, rock, and 
groundwater elevations, taking into consideration 
changing climate conditions. 
‘‘(2) Sensing technology for monitoring sub-
surface infrastructure and phenomena, such as land 
subsidence, that may affect subsurface infrastruc-
ture. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:38 Oct 05, 2024
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9771.IH
H9771
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
‘‘(3) Risks to subsurface infrastructure integ-
rity, including subsurface infrastructure capacity, re-
sulting from changes in subsurface material prop-
erties associated with climate conditions and other 
environmental variables. 
‘‘(4) Enhancing building design standards and 
best practices related to the following: 
‘‘(A) Evaluation of subsurface material 
properties and potential geological hazards that 
affect below-ground infrastructure. 
‘‘(B) Design and retrofit of below-ground 
infrastructure. 
‘‘(5) Other research areas determined appro-
priate by the Director. 
‘‘(c) CONSULTATION.—The Director shall carry out 
this section in consultation with academia, the private sec-
tor, nonprofit organizations, professional associations, and 
other appropriate Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, and 
local entities. 
‘‘SEC. 10237. CLIMATE RESILIENCE RESEARCH AND DEVEL-
OPMENT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-
propriations, the Director shall support measurement re-
search and testing to inform the development of engineer-
ing standards, practices, and building codes for resilience 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:38 Oct 05, 2024
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9771.IH
H9771
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
of the built environment, which may include measurement 
research and development for the following: 
‘‘(1) Future climate conditions, loads, and ef-
fects on infrastructure. 
‘‘(2) Multihazard and cascading hazard risk 
and resilience modeling and prediction. 
‘‘(3) Design standards and best practices for 
climate-resilient infrastructure, including lifeline in-
frastructure. 
‘‘(4) Sensing technology for monitoring infra-
structure integrity. 
‘‘(5) Future climate effects on infrastructure 
capacity over its life cycle. 
‘‘(b) WORKSHOP ON MULTIHAZARD RESILIENT DE-
SIGN FRAMEWORK.—Not later than two years after the 
date of the enactment of this section, the Director shall 
convene, or enter into a cooperative agreement with an 
appropriate nongovernmental organization to convene, a 
workshop composed of subject matter experts, stake-
holders, and partners from Federal, State, Tribal, terri-
torial, and local entities, nongovernmental organizations, 
private sector entities, disaster management professional 
associations, engineering professional associations, profes-
sional construction and homebuilding industry associa-
tions, and building code setting organizations to discuss 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:38 Oct 05, 2024
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9771.IH
H9771
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
a framework for designing multihazard resilient buildings 
and infrastructure, including identifying research and 
measurement needs for the following: 
‘‘(1) Risk and resilience assessments and mod-
eling, including cascading hazards and interactions 
between multiple hazards. 
‘‘(2) Functional recovery design. 
‘‘(3) Climate resilient design. 
‘‘(4) Analysis and retrofit of existing building 
and infrastructure stock. 
‘‘(5) Financial tools for decision-support. 
‘‘(6) Other areas determined appropriate by the 
Director. 
‘‘(c) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 
on which the workshop described in subsection (b) is com-
pleted, the Director shall submit to Congress and make 
available to the public a report on the findings of the work-
shop, including any recommendations for legislative action 
that could strengthen the multihazard resilience of the 
United States. 
‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—The Director shall carry out 
this section in consultation with academia, the private sec-
tor, nonprofit organizations, professional associations, and 
other appropriate Federal agencies. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:38 Oct 05, 2024
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9771.IH
H9771
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
‘‘(1) CLIMATE RESILIENCE.—The term ‘climate 
resilience’ has the meaning given the term in section 
101(a) of title 10, United States Code. 
‘‘(2) LIFELINE
INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 
‘lifeline infrastructure’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 4 of the Earthquake Hazards Reduc-
tion Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7703).’’. 
(b) RISK
AND
RESILIENCE
RESEARCH.—Section 
10351 of the Research and Development, Competition, 
and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19060) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 
the semicolon; 
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period and 
inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(6) multidisciplinary research to understand, 
model, and predict subsurface geological phenomena 
related to climate variations and the impact of such 
on infrastructure design and operations, to manage 
risk and improve resiliency of the built environ-
ment.’’. 
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1 of Public Law 117–167 is amended by insert-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:38 Oct 05, 2024
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9771.IH
H9771
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
ing after the item relating to section 10235 the following 
new items: 
‘‘Sec. 10236. Subsurface environment research and development. 
‘‘Sec. 10237. Climate resilience research and development.’’. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:38 Oct 05, 2024
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H9771.IH
H9771
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB