‘‘(9) SUBSISTENCE
USE.—The term ‘subsist-
ence use’ means the customary and traditional use 
of fish, wildlife, or other freshwater, coastal, or ma-
rine resources by any individual or community to 
meet personal or family needs, including essential 
economic, nutritional, or cultural applications.’’. 
(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 
610 of the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research 
and Control Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 4009) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), to read as follows: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated to the Under Secretary to carry out this title 
$27,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.’’; 
and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(c) TRANSFER AUTHORITY.—The Under Secretary 
is authorized to make a direct non-expenditure transfer 
of funds authorized to be appropriated pursuant to sub-
section (a) to the head of any Federal department or agen-
cy, with the concurrence of such head, to carry out, as 
appropriate, relevant provisions of this title.’’. 
(i) NATIONAL LEVEL INCUBATOR PROGRAM; HARM-
FUL ALGAL BLOOM OR HYPOXIA EVENT OF SIGNIFI-
CANCE.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Harmful Algal Bloom 
and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 (33 
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 611. NATIONAL LEVEL INCUBATOR PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo-
ration with research universities and institutions, shall es-
tablish a national level incubator program to increase the 
number of available control strategies and technologies re-
lating to harmful algal blooms. Such incubator shall estab-
lish a framework for preliminary assessments of novel 
harmful algal bloom prevention, mitigation, and control 
technologies in order to determine the potential for effec-
tiveness and scalability. 
‘‘(b) OPERATION.—The incubator established under 
subsection (a) shall provide merit-based funding for harm-
ful algal bloom control strategies and technologies that 
eliminate or reduce through biological, chemical, or phys-
ical means the levels of harmful algae and associated tox-
ins. 
‘‘(c) DATABASE.—The incubator established under 
subsection (a) shall include a database to catalog the li-
censing and permitting requirements, economic costs, fea-
sibility, effectiveness, and scalability of both novel and es-
tablished prevention, control, and mitigation measures. 
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‘‘(d) PRIORITIZATION.—In carrying out the incubator 
established under subsection (a), the Under Secretary 
shall prioritize proposed activities that would, to the max-
imum extent practicable— 
‘‘(1) protect key habitats for fish and wildlife; 
‘‘(2) maintain biodiversity; 
‘‘(3) protect public health; 
‘‘(4) protect coastal resources of national, his-
torical, and cultural significance; or 
‘‘(5) seek to partially or fully benefit commu-
nities of color, low-income communities, Indian 
Tribes or Indigenous communities, and rural com-
munities.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con-
tents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Authorization 
Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383) is amended by 
inserting after the item relating to section 610 the 
following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 611. National level incubator program.’’. 
(j) HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM OR HYPOXIA EVENT OF 
SIGNIFICANCE.—Section 9(g) of the National Integrated 
Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018 
(33 U.S.C. 4010(g)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) in subparagraph (B), by adding at the 
end the following new sentence: ‘‘The appro-
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priate Federal official may waive the non-Fed-
eral share requirements of this subsection if 
such official determines no reasonable means 
are available through which the recipient of the 
Federal share can meet the non-Federal share 
requirement.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph: 
‘‘(D) CONTRACT, GRANT, AND
COOPERA-
TIVE
AGREEMENT
AUTHORITY.—The Under 
Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmos-
phere may enter into agreements and grants 
with States, Indian Tribes, local governments, 
or other entities to pay for or reimburse costs 
incurred for the purposes of supporting the de-
termination of and assessing the environmental, 
economic, social, subsistence use, and public 
health effects of a harmful algal bloom or hy-
poxia event of significance.’’; 
(2) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ‘‘, leader-
ship official of an affected Indian Tribe, the execu-
tive official of the District of Columbia, or a terri-
tory or possession of the United States, including 
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Com-
monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 
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Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, and Amer-
ican Samoa, if affected’’ after ‘‘State’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(4) FUNDING AUTHORITY.—To carry out this 
subsection, notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, there is authorized to be appropriated from the 
amounts made available to the Under Secretary of 
Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere $2,000,000, 
to remain available until expended.’’. 
(k) PROTECT
FAMILIES
FROM
TOXIC
ALGAL 
BLOOMS.—Section 128 of the Water Resources Develop-
ment Act of 2020 (33 U.S.C. 610 note) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub-
section (f); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(e) HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM TECHNOLOGIES.—In 
carrying out the demonstration program under subsection 
(a), the Secretary may enter into agreements with water 
and irrigation districts located in the focus areas described 
in subsections (c) and (d) for the use or sale of any new 
technologies developed under the program to expedite the 
removal of harmful algal blooms in such areas.’’. 
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TITLE II—ENHANCING FEDERAL 
WEATHER FORECASTING AND 
INNOVATION 
SEC. 201. WEATHER INNOVATION FOR THE NEXT GENERA-
TION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 
shall establish a Research, Development, Test, and Eval-
uation Program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro-
gram’’) to ensure the continued performance of weather 
radar capabilities, including systems currently being devel-
oped, with interferences in the line of sight of such radar. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the Program, 
the Under Secretary, in consultation with the Interagency 
Council for Advancing Meteorological Services, shall— 
(1) partner with the private sector, academia, 
Federal, State, and local government entities, and 
any other entity the Under Secretary considers ap-
propriate; 
(2) identify, evaluate, and test existing or near- 
commercial technologies and solutions that improve 
radar coverage and performance, including by miti-
gating the potential impact of interferences on 
weather radar; 
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(3) to the maximum extent practicable, research 
additional solutions that could mitigate the effects of 
interferences on weather radar, such as— 
(A) signal processing algorithms; 
(B) short-term forecasting algorithms to 
replace contaminated data; 
(C) the use of dual polarization character-
istics in mitigating the effects of wind turbines 
on weather radar; and 
(D) gap filling radars to provide supple-
mental or replacement observations in impacted 
areas; and 
(4) develop, support, or partner with developers 
to provide commercially viable technical mitigation 
solutions for interferences to weather radar capabili-
ties that are compatible with the operational require-
ments of the weather radar systems. 
(c) PRIORITY.—In carrying out subsection (b), the 
Under Secretary shall prioritize consideration of the fol-
lowing technology-based mitigation solutions: 
(1) Phased array weather radar systems. 
(2) Supplementing or replacing contaminated 
data with commercial radar data. 
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(3) The utilization of data from private sector 
associated meteorological towers or similar capabili-
ties. 
(4) The display on local forecasting equipment 
of wind farm boundaries and consolidated wind farm 
areas. 
(5) The installation and provision of access to 
rain gauges. 
(6) Any other technology-based mitigation solu-
tion the Under Secretary determines could improve 
radar coverage by overcoming interferences, beam 
blockage, or ghost echoes. 
(d) REPORT; RECOMMENDATION.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than two years 
after the date of the enactment of this section and 
annually thereafter until the Program terminates 
pursuant to subsection (e), the Under Secretary 
shall submit to Congress a report on the implemen-
tation of the Program, including an evaluation of 
each technology-based mitigation solution identified 
for priority consideration pursuant to subsection (c), 
and a recommendation regarding additional identi-
fication and testing of new technologies based on 
such consideration. 
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(2) FINAL RECOMMENDATION.—Not later than 
five years after the date of the enactment of this 
section, the Under Secretary shall provide to Con-
gress a recommendation on whether additional re-
search, testing, and development through the Pro-
gram established under subsection (a) is needed, and 
a determination of whether a cessation of field re-
search, testing, development and evaluation is appro-
priate. 
(e) TERMINATION.—The authority of the Under Sec-
retary to carry out the Program shall terminate on the 
earlier of— 
(1) September 30, 2030; or 
(2) one year after the date on which the final 
recommendation required under subsection (d)(2) is 
submitted by the Under Secretary. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) BEAM BLOCKAGE.—The term ‘‘beam block-
age’’ means a signal that is partially or fully blocked 
due to an interference. 
(2) GHOST
ECHO.—The term ‘‘ghost echo’’ 
means radar signal reflectivity or velocity return er-
rors in radar data due to the proximity of an inter-
ference. 
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(3) INTERFERENCE.—The term ‘‘interference’’ 
includes the following: 
(A) a wind turbine that could limit the ef-
fectiveness of a weather radar system; 
(B) any building that disrupts or limits the 
effectiveness of a weather radar system; or 
(C) any other natural or human built 
structure that affects a weather radar system. 
SEC. 202. NEXT GENERATION RADAR. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall de-
velop a plan to replace the Next Generation Weather 
Radar of the National Weather Service (‘‘NEXRAD’’) 
system in existence as of the date of the enactment of this 
section. 
(b) PROCUREMENT DEADLINE.—The Under Sec-
retary shall take such actions as may be necessary to en-
sure the replacement described in subsection (a) is com-
pleted by not later than September 30, 2040. 
(c) ELEMENTS.—The plan developed pursuant to 
subsection (a) shall include the following: 
(1) Estimates of quantifiable improvements in 
radar performance and service delivery, including 
coverage and accuracy, to be made from replacement 
of the NEXRAD system referred to in such sub-
section. 
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