† HR 1437 EAS 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND 
FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017 RE-
LATING TO IMPROVING FEDERAL PRECIPITA-
TION INFORMATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Weather Research and Fore-
casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.) is 
amended 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 
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).
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‘‘(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 considerations 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-
ernize current methodologies and consider 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-
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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. 
‘‘(10) A description of non-Federal precipitation 
data, its accessibility by the Federal Government, and 
ways for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration to improve or expand such datasets. 
‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized $1,500,000 to the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration to carry out this study.
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‘‘SEC. 602. IMPROVING PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITA-
TION ESTIMATES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date on which the National Academies makes public the re-
port under section 601, the Administrator, in consideration 
of the report recommendations, shall consult with relevant 
partners, including users of the data, on the development 
of a plan to— 
‘‘(1) not later than 6 years after the completion 
of such report and not less than every 10 years there-
after, update probable maximum precipitation esti-
mates for the United States, such that each update 
considers non-stationarity; 
‘‘(2) coordinate with partners to conduct re-
search in the field of extreme precipitation esti-
mation, in accordance with the research needs identi-
fied in such report; 
‘‘(3) make publicly available, in a searchable, 
interoperable format, all probable maximum precipi-
tation studies developed by the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator 
has the legal right to redistribute and deemed to be 
at an appropriate state of development on an internet 
website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration; and
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‘‘(4) ensure all probable maximum precipitation 
estimate data, products, and supporting documenta-
tion and metadata developed by the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration are preserved, 
curated, and served by the National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration, as appropriate. 
‘‘(b) NATIONAL GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR THE DE-
VELOPMENT OF PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION ESTI-
MATES.—The Administrator, in collaboration with Federal 
agencies, State, territorial, Tribal and local governments, 
academia, and other partners the Administrator deems ap-
propriate, shall develop a National Guidance Document 
that— 
‘‘(1) provides best practices that can be followed 
by Federal and State regulatory agencies, private me-
teorological consultants, and other users that perform 
probable maximum precipitation studies; 
‘‘(2) considers the recommendations provided in 
the National Academies study under section 601; 
‘‘(3) facilitates review of probable maximum pre-
cipitation studies by regulatory agencies; and 
‘‘(4) provides confidence in regional and site-spe-
cific probable maximum precipitation estimates. 
‘‘(c) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date on which the National Academies makes public the re-
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port under section 601, the Administrator shall make pub-
licly available the National Guidance Document under sub-
section (b) on an internet website of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration. 
‘‘(d) UPDATES.—The Administrator shall update the 
National Guidance Document not less than once every 10 
years after the publication of the National Guidance Docu-
ment under subsection (c) and publish such updates in ac-
cordance with such subsection. 
‘‘(e) FUNDING.—Amounts available to carry out this 
section may only come from within amounts authorized to 
be appropriated to the Administrator. 
‘‘SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘ In this title: 
‘‘(1) 
ADMINISTRATOR.—The 
term 
‘Adminis-
trator’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
‘‘(2) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘National 
Academies’ 
means 
the 
National 
Academies 
of 
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 
‘‘(3) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘United States’ 
means, collectively, each State of the United States, 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puer-
to Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth