I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8622 
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national hazard 
preparation and response exercises, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 16, 2020 
Ms. SPANBERGER (for herself and Mr. KATKO) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a 
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish 
national hazard preparation and response exercises, 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 ‘‘Analyzing Disaster 
Vulnerabilities and Applicable National Capabilities for 
Emergencies Act’’ or the ‘‘ADVANCE Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. NATIONAL HAZARD PREPARATION AND RESPONSE 
EXERCISES. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act and not less fre-
quently than twice every year thereafter, the Secretary, 
in coordination with the Secretary of Energy, shall con-
duct an exercise to test the modeling, simulation, and 
analysis capabilities and their utility for emergency re-
sponse of the United States with respect to significant nat-
ural disasters or public health emergencies impacting crit-
ical infrastructure. 
(b) PLANNING AND PREPARATION.—Each exercise 
under paragraph (1) shall be coordinated through NISAC 
and the National Laboratories. 
(c) PARTICIPANTS.— 
(1) FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
PARTICIPANTS.— 
The following shall participate in each exercise 
under subsection (a): 
(A) Relevant interagency partners, as de-
termined by the Secretary. 
(B) Senior leader representatives from sec-
tor-specific agencies, as determined by the Sec-
retary. 
(2) STATE
AND
LOCAL
GOVERNMENTS.—The 
Secretary shall invite representatives from State and 
local governments to participate in the exercises 
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under subsection (a) if the Secretary determines 
such participation to be appropriate. 
(d) ELEMENTS.—Each exercise under subsection (a) 
shall include the following elements: 
(1) Testing the capability of NISAC to perform 
modeling, simulation, and analysis to inform the sig-
nificant natural disaster and public health emer-
gency response of the United States with respect to 
impact on critical infrastructure, including the out-
break of infectious diseases, extreme weather events, 
or the overlapping combination of such outbreak or 
such weather event. 
(2) Testing of the relevant policy, guidance, and 
doctrine. 
(3) Testing of the information-sharing needs 
and systems. 
(4) Testing the coordination between Federal, 
State, and local governments. 
(e) REPORT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 
the date on which each exercise under subsection (a) 
is conducted, the Secretary shall submit to the ap-
propriate congressional committees a report on each 
such exercise. 
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(2) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The report required 
under paragraph (1) shall include information relat-
ing to the following: 
(A) A list of the entities participating in 
an exercise required under subsection (a). 
(B) An assessment of overall performance 
during such an exercise. 
(C) A description of lessons learned from 
such an exercise, including— 
(i) gaps and limitations that require 
improvement; and 
(ii) recommendations with respect to 
planned changes to training. 
SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS RELATING TO THE 
IMPACT OF NATURAL DISASTERS OR PUBLIC 
HEALTH EMERGENCIES WITH RESPECT TO 
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, 
the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a report describing the impact of nat-
ural disasters and public health emergencies with respect 
to critical infrastructure. 
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(b) MATTERS
INCLUDED.—The report required 
under paragraph (1) shall include information relating to 
the following: 
(1) An assessment of the most concerning 
threats to critical infrastructure from natural disas-
ters or public health emergencies, including the se-
verity and probability of a threat to each critical in-
frastructure from each type of natural disaster. 
(2) An assessment relating to short-term and 
long-term damage that may result to each critical in-
frastructure from each type of natural disaster or 
public health emergency. 
(3) A description of the modeling tools and 
human capacity of NISAC to be utilized to inform 
emergency preparedness, and any changes to such 
tools and capacity since the previous report. 
(4) An assessment of modeling tools that may 
best inform the Federal Government with respect to 
cascading effects on infrastructure, transportation, 
public health, and the economy. 
(5) Recommendations of modeling, simulation, 
and training opportunities that may require further 
investment and maturation with respect to addi-
tional consultation and analysis, including— 
(A) DHS-CISA-NRMC and peer review; 
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(B) interagency consultation, as appro-
priate; 
(C) cost-effectiveness; and 
(D) consideration of the tools that can best 
inform the United States Government under-
standing of cascading effects on infrastructure, 
transportation, the economy, and public health. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security, 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 
and the Committee on Transportation and In-
frastructure of the House of Representatives; 
and 
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources, the Committee 
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and 
the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works of the Senate. 
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(2) CISA.—The term ‘‘CISA’’ means the Cy-
bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of 
the Department of Homeland Security. 
(3) CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 
‘‘critical infrastructure’’ has the meaning given that 
term in section 5195c(e) of title 42, United States 
Code. 
(4) DHS.—The term ‘‘DHS’’ means the De-
partment of Homeland Security. 
(5) NATIONAL LABORATORIES.—The term ‘‘Na-
tional Laboratories’’ means the United States De-
partment of Energy National Laboratories and 
Technology Centers. 
(6) NISAC.—The term ‘‘NISAC’’ means the 
National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis 
Center. 
(7) NRMC.—The term ‘‘NRMC’’ means the 
National Risk Management Center of the Cybersecu-
rity and Infrastructure Security Agency. 
(8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Homeland Security. 
(9) SECTOR-SPECIFIC AGENCY.—The term ‘‘sec-
tor-specific agency’’ has the meaning given the term 
‘‘Sector-Specific Agency’’ in section 2201 of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 651). 
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(10) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 311 of title 5, United 
States Code. 
Æ 
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