IB 
Union Calendar No. 224 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1437 
[Report No. 117–304] 
To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 
to direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide 
comprehensive and regularly updated Federal precipitation information, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 26, 2021 
Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Ms. ROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. 
JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CRIST, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SIRES, and Ms. 
MOORE of Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
MAY 3, 2022 
Additional sponsors: Mr. PALLONE, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. CASTEN, 
Mrs. LURIA, Ms. KUSTER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. COHEN, Ms. WILD, 
Mr. LUCAS, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. MEIJER, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. RUSH, Mr. CLEAVER, and 
Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER 
MAY 3, 2022 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 26, 2021] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 
Act of 2017 to direct the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration to provide comprehensive and reg-
ularly updated Federal precipitation information, and for 
other purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Providing Research and 
Estimates of Changes In Precipitation Act’’ or the 
‘‘PRECIP Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND 
FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Weather Research and Fore-
casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8521) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘TITLE VI—IMPROVING FEDERAL 
PRECIPITATION INFORMATION 
‘‘SEC. 601. STUDY ON PRECIPITATION ESTIMATION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of enactment of the PRECIP Act, the Administrator, 
in consultation with other Federal agencies as appropriate, 
shall seek to enter an agreement with the National Acad-
emies— 
‘‘(1) to conduct a study on the state of practice 
and research needs for precipitation estimation, in-
cluding probable maximum precipitation estimation; 
and 
‘‘(2) to submit, not later than 24 months after 
the date on which such agreement is finalized, to the 
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Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Com-
merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, 
and make publicly available on a website, a report on 
the results of the study under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(b) STUDY.—The report under subsection (a) shall in-
clude the following: 
‘‘(1) An examination of the current state of prac-
tice for precipitation estimation at scales appropriate 
for decisionmaker needs, and rationale for further evo-
lution of this field. 
‘‘(2) An evaluation of best practices for precipi-
tation estimation that are based on the best-available 
science, include assumptions of non-stationarity, and 
can be utilized by the user community. 
‘‘(3) A framework for— 
‘‘(A) the development of a National Guid-
ance Document for estimating extreme precipita-
tion in future conditions; and 
‘‘(B) evaluation of the strengths and chal-
lenges of the full spectrum of approaches, includ-
ing for probable maximum precipitation studies. 
‘‘(4) A description of existing research needs in 
the field of precipitation estimation in order to mod-
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ernize current methodologies and incorporate assump-
tions of non-stationarity. 
‘‘(5) A description of in-situ, airborne, and 
space-based observation requirements, that could en-
hance precipitation estimation and development of 
models, including an examination of the use of geo-
graphic information systems and geospatial tech-
nology for integration, analysis, and visualization of 
precipitation data. 
‘‘(6) A recommended plan for a Federal research 
and development program, including specifications 
for costs, timeframes, and responsible agencies for ad-
dressing identified research needs. 
‘‘(7) An analysis of the respective roles in pre-
cipitation estimation of various Federal agencies, 
academia, State, tribal, territorial, and local govern-
ments, and other public and private stakeholders. 
‘‘(8) Recommendations for data management to 
promote long-term needs such as enabling retrospec-
tive analyses and data discoverability, interoper-
ability, and reuse. 
‘‘(9) Recommendations for how data and services 
from the entire enterprise can be best leveraged by the 
Federal Government. 
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