(4) The management, coordination, implementa-
tion, and activities of the Interagency Coordinating 
Committee on Wildfires under section 3. 
(5) The effectiveness of the Interagency Coordi-
nating Committee on Wildfires in meeting its pur-
poses. 
(c) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Advisory Com-
mittee shall serve without compensation. 
(d) REPORTS.—Not less frequently than biennially, the 
Advisory Committee shall report to the Director of the Office 
of Science and Technology Policy on the assessments carried 
out under subsection (b) and its recommendations for ways 
to improve the coordination and dissemination of wildfire 
forecasts, warnings, and detection and monitoring informa-
tion. 
(e) CHARTER.—Notwithstanding section 1013(b)(2) of 
title 5, United States Code, the Advisory Committee shall 
not be required to file a charter subsequent to its initial 
charter, filed under section 1008(c) of such title, before the 
termination date specified in subsection (f) of this section. 
(f) TERMINATION.—The Advisory Committee shall ter-
minate on September 30, 2028. 
(g) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—An Advisory Committee 
member shall recuse himself or herself from any Advisory 
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Committee activity in which he or she has an actual pecu-
niary interest. 
SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRE WEATHER TESTBED. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall establish a 
fire weather testbed to enable engagement across the Federal 
Government, State and local governments, academia, pri-
vate and federally funded research laboratories, the private 
sector, and end-users in order to evaluate the accuracy and 
usability of technology, models, fire weather products and 
services, and other research to accelerate the implementa-
tion, transition to operations, and use of new capabilities 
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
Federal and land management agencies, and other relevant 
stakeholders. 
(b) RESOURCES.—In carrying out this section, the Ad-
ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration may not transfer or reprogram any funds, de-
tail any personnel, or make use of any infrastructure from 
cooperative institutes of the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration in existence as of the date of the en-
actment of this Act for the fire weather testbed established 
under subsection (a). 
(c) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—From 
amounts made available for Procurement, Acquisition, and 
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Construction of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration, there is authorized to be appropriated 
$15,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 to carry out this section. 
SEC. 6. INCIDENT METEOROLOGIST WORKFORCE. 
(a) WORKFORCE AND TRAINING ASSESSMENT.—Not 
later than six months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration shall submit to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans-
portation of the Senate the results of an assessment of Na-
tional Weather Service workforce and training challenges 
for Incident Meteorologists, and a roadmap for overcoming 
such challenges. Such assessment shall take into consider-
ation information technology support, logistical and ad-
ministrative operations, anticipated weather and climate 
conditions, and feedback from relevant stakeholders, and 
shall include, to the maximum extent practicable, an identi-
fication by the National Weather Service of the following: 
(1) The expected number of Incident Meteorolo-
gists needed over the next five years. 
(2) Potential hiring authorities necessary to 
overcome any identified workforce and training chal-
lenges. 
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(3) Alternative services or assistance options the 
National Weather Service could provide to meet oper-
ational needs. 
(b) OVERTIME PAY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any premium pay for services 
performed by Incident Meteorologists of the National 
Weather Service that are determined by the Secretary 
of Commerce to be primarily related to emergency 
wildland fire suppression activities shall be dis-
regarded in calculating the aggregate of such employ-
ee’s basic pay and premium pay for purposes of a 
limitation under section 5547 of title 5, United States 
Code, or under any other provision of law. 
(2) RATES.—Section 5542(a)(5) of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, the 
National Weather Service,’’ after ‘‘Interior’’. 
SEC. 7. RESEARCH ON WILDLAND FIRE COMMUNICATIONS 
AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) PUBLIC SAFETY RESEARCH.—Not later than 
60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Director, acting through the head of the Public 
Safety and Communications Research Division and 
in consultation with the Fire Research Division and 
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technology manufacturers, shall carry out research on 
the following: 
(A) Public safety communication coordina-
tion standards among Federal, State, Tribal, 
and local wildland firefighters, fire management 
response officials, and member agencies. 
(B) Improving and integrating existing 
communications systems to transmit secure real- 
time data, alerts, and advisories to and from fire 
management response officials and wildland fire-
fighters. 
(2) FIELD TESTING AND MEASUREMENT OF IN-
FORMATION DISSEMINATION AND TECHNOLOGY.—The 
Public Safety and Communications Research Divi-
sion, in consultation with the Fire Research Division 
and member agencies, shall conduct both live and vir-
tual field testing of equipment, software, and other 
technologies to determine current times of information 
dissemination and develop standards for the delivery 
of useful and secure real-time data among member 
agencies, fire management response officials, and 
wildland firefighters, based on findings from research 
under subsection (a). 
(b) RECOMMENDATIONS.— 
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Transportation of the Senate a report on the ex-
tent to which member agencies have implemented 
such recommendations. 
(c) FUNDING.—From amounts made available to the 
National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Direc-
tor shall allocate $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 
through 2028 to carry out this section. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means the 
Director of the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology. 
(2) MEMBER AGENCY.—The term ‘‘member agen-
cy’’ means a member agency of the National Inter-
agency Fire Center, including the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park 
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Serv-
ice, United States Fire Administration, and the De-
partment of Defense. 
(3) 
WILDLAND
FIREFIGHTER.—The 
term 
‘‘wildland firefighter’’ means any person who partici-
pates in wildland firefighting activities. 
(4) FIRE MANAGEMENT RESPONSE OFFICIALS.— 
The term ‘‘fire management response officials’’ means 
regional fire directors, deputy regional fire directors, 
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agency officials who directly oversee fire operations, 
fire management officers, and individuals serving on 
incident management teams. 
(5) TECHNOLOGY
MANUFACTURERS.—The term 
‘‘technology manufacturers’’ means private sector en-
tities that manufacture communications technologies 
used by Federal, State, Tribal, or local wildland fire 
authorities. 
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) FIRE ENVIRONMENT.—The term ‘‘fire envi-
ronment’’ means— 
(A) the environmental conditions, such as 
soil moisture, vegetation, topography, snowpack, 
atmospheric temperature, moisture, and wind, 
that influence— 
(i) fuel and fire behavior; and 
(ii) smoke dispersion and transport; 
and 
(B) the associated environmental impacts 
occurring during and after fire events. 
(2) FIRE WEATHER.—The term ‘‘fire weather’’ 
means the weather conditions that influence the start, 
spread, character, or behavior of wildfires or fires at 
the wildland-urban interface and relevant meteorolog-
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ical and chemical phenomena, including air quality, 
smoke, and meteorological parameters such as relative 
humidity, air temperature, wind speed and direction, 
and atmospheric composition and chemistry, includ-
ing emissions and mixing heights. 
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Union Calendar No. 174 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 4866 
[Report No. 118–214] 
A BILL 
To direct the Administrator of the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration to establish 
a program to improve fire weather and fire envi-
ronment forecasting, detection, and local collabo-
ration, and for other purposes. 
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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