I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6970 
To authorize a comprehensive program of nationwide access to Federal remote 
sensing data, to promote its use for education, workforce training and 
development, applied research, and to support Federal, State, tribal, 
and local government programs. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 
Mr. REGULA (for himself and Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To authorize a comprehensive program of nationwide access 
to Federal remote sensing data, to promote its use for 
education, workforce training and development, applied 
research, and to support Federal, State, tribal, and local 
government programs. 
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 ‘‘AmericaView Author-
ization Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) When Federal remote sensing data is avail-
able in a cost-effective and timely manner, State and 
local governments and educational institutions are 
able to develop new scientific, educational, and prac-
tical applications for the data and to adopt new tools 
for applied research, education, and training, as evi-
denced by the success of the United States Geologi-
cal Survey pilot projects, OhioView and Gateway to 
Earth. 
(2) Increased access to remote sensing data 
through State data archives benefits user commu-
nities that have traditionally struggled to afford the 
data as follows: 
(A) Educators train college students for 
technology careers in remote sensing and train 
teachers that remote sensing data can enhance 
student learning in elementary and secondary 
education. 
(B) Historically black colleges and univer-
sities partner with StateView universities to en-
hance learning and training opportunities for 
its students. 
(C) Native Americans provide training and 
education in the use and application of remote 
sensing data for Native American students and 
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developing satellite-based applications for man-
aging reservation resources. 
(3) Universities and State and local government 
agencies use remote sensing data to support prac-
tical purposes, including— 
(A) monitoring the health of national lands 
and forests; 
(B) monitoring crop progress, assessing 
damage, and predicting crop yield; 
(C) assisting with transportation and land- 
use planning in the urban areas of the Nation; 
(D) predicting and assisting with the man-
agement of human disease outbreaks; and 
(E) assessing and managing natural disas-
ters. 
(4) The AmericaView program is uniquely posi-
tioned to help each State address remote sensing 
data infrastructure issues and to expand the use and 
benefits of remote sensing data to each State. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act: 
(1) 
AMERICAVIEW
PROGRAM.—The 
term 
‘‘AmericaView 
program’’ 
means 
the 
national 
AmericaView program of the USGS, comprised of 
the AmericaView project and AmericaView. 
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(2) 
AMERICAVIEW
PROJECT.—The 
term 
‘‘AmericaView project’’ means the USGS data ar-
chive, development, maintenance, and product dis-
tribution program conducted at the EROS Data 
Center. 
(3) AMERICAVIEW.—The term ‘‘AmericaView’’ 
means the national nonprofit collaboration of 
StateView participants cooperating with the EROS 
Data Center to achieve the purposes of the 
AmericaView program. 
(4) EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTION.—The term 
‘‘educational institution’’ means any public or pri-
vate elementary or secondary school, vocational 
school, correspondence school, business school, col-
lege (including a junior college and teachers’ college) 
normal school, professional school, university, or sci-
entific or technical institution, or any other institu-
tion that furnishes education. 
(5) EROS DATA CENTER.—The term ‘‘EROS 
Data Center’’ means the data management, systems 
development, and research field center of the USGS. 
(6) NATIONAL
SPATIAL
DATA
INFRASTRUC-
TURE.—The term ‘‘national spatial data infrastruc-
ture’’ means the technology, policies, standards, and 
human resources necessary to acquire, process, 
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store, 
distribute, 
and 
improve 
utilization 
of 
geospatial data for the Nation, established by Execu-
tive Order 12906, dated April 11, 1994 (‘‘Coordi-
nating Geographic Data Acquisition and Access: The 
National Spatial Data Infrastructure’’). 
(7) REMOTE SENSING DATA.—The term ‘‘re-
mote sensing data’’ means all information acquired 
from above the surface of the Earth by satellite or 
airplane. 
(8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-
rector of the USGS. 
(9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands. 
(10) 
STATEVIEW.—The 
term 
‘‘StateView’’ 
means the AmericaView program of an individual 
State, comprised of educational institutions and 
State and local governments. 
(11) USGS.—The term ‘‘USGS’’ means the 
United States Geological Survey. 
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SEC. 4. AMERICAVIEW PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall maintain a 
nationwide program to advance the availability, timely dis-
tribution, and widespread use of remote sensing data and 
technology in each State. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the AmericaView 
program are to— 
(1) increase accessibility and expand the use of 
remote sensing data in a standard, easy-to-use for-
mat to Federal, State, local and tribal governments, 
communities, educational institutions, and the com-
mercial sector; 
(2) assist each State in establishing the infra-
structure necessary to archive and distribute remote 
sensing data; 
(3) ensure that the National Satellite Land Re-
mote Sensing Data Archive of the USGS and State 
remote sensing data archives support and comply 
with other Federal programs related to national data 
infrastructure, homeland security, and national de-
fense; and 
(4) provide remote sensing data to the national 
spatial data infrastructure. 
(c) ACTIVITIES.— 
(1) AMERICAVIEW
PROJECT.—The Secretary, 
through the AmericaView project, shall support the 
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remote sensing data research and educational pro-
grams of each State by cooperating with the States 
to identify new remote sensing data needs and infra-
structure and to define, consolidate, and maintain 
its data requirements. 
(2) AMERICAVIEW.—The Secretary, through the 
AmericaView program, shall maintain AmericaView 
in each State to— 
(A) share and cooperate in the develop-
ment of a freely and publicly accessible remote 
sensing data archive and distribution infra-
structure; 
(B) 
cooperate 
with 
the 
AmericaView 
project to develop nationally consistent stand-
ards for remote sensing data archives in the 
State; 
(C) expand the number of remote sensing 
data courses taught at educational institutions, 
and provide training, remote sensing data, and 
teaching tools to educators; 
(D) expand remote sensing data research 
at research educational institutions; 
(E) expand the knowledge and use of re-
mote sensing data and data products in the 
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current workforce through outreach programs, 
workshops, and other training opportunities; 
(F) build partnerships with local govern-
ments to identify unique research and develop-
ment needs and foster remote sensing pilot 
projects; 
(G) promote cooperation and sharing of ex-
pertise about remote sensing data among the 
participating State and within each partici-
pating State; and 
(H) enable the States to provide remote 
sensing data to the EROS Data Center. 
(3) GRANTS.—The Secretary shall annually 
award grants to sustain and develop StateView pro-
grams. 
(4) 
FEDERAL
PARTNER
ADVISORY
COM-
MITTEE.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
maintain an advisory committee to advise the 
Director of the USGS about the AmericaView 
program. 
(B) MEMBERSHIP
AND
APPOINTMENT.— 
The committee shall consist of a representative 
from AmericaView, the USGS, the Department 
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of Agriculture, and a representative of such 
other agencies as the Director may designate. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-
retary such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 
Act for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2014. 
Æ 
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