| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 258 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To improve forecasting and understanding of tornadoes and other hazardous |
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| 6 | 6 | | weather, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY27, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. W |
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| 10 | 10 | | ICKER(for himself, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. MORAN, |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. S |
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| 12 | 12 | | HEEHY, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. PETERS, and Mr. WARNOCK) |
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| 13 | 13 | | introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the |
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| 14 | 14 | | Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To improve forecasting and understanding of tornadoes and |
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| 17 | 17 | | other hazardous weather, and for other purposes. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tornado Observations 4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | Research and Notification Assessment for Development of 5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Operations Act’’ or the ‘‘TORNADO Act’’. 6 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7 |
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| 25 | 25 | | In this Act: 8 |
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| 29 | 29 | | (1) HAZARDOUS WEATHER AND WATER 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | EVENTS.—The term ‘‘hazardous weather and water 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | events’’ means weather and water events that have 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | a high risk of loss of life or property, including— 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (A) severe storms, such as hurricanes and 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | short-fused, small-scale hazardous weather or 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | hydrologic events produced by thunderstorms, 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | including large hail, damaging winds, torna-8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | does, and flash floods; 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (B) winter storms, such as freezing or fro-10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | zen precipitation (including freezing rain, sleet, 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | and snow), or combined effects of freezing or 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | frozen precipitation and strong winds; and 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | (C) other weather hazards, such as ex-14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | treme heat or cold, wildfire, drought, dense fog, 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | high winds, river flooding, and lakeshore flood-16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | ing. 17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (2) H |
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| 47 | 47 | | ISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI -18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | university’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | institution’’ in section 322 of the Higher Education 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (3) I |
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| 53 | 53 | | NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 24 |
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| 58 | 58 | | Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | (4) I |
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| 61 | 61 | | NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (5) N |
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| 66 | 66 | | ATIONAL LABORATORY .—The term ‘‘Na-7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given the term 8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | U.S.C. 15801). 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (6) U |
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| 71 | 71 | | NDER SECRETARY .—The term ‘‘Under 11 |
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| 72 | 72 | | Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 12 |
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| 73 | 73 | | for Oceans and Atmosphere. 13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | SEC. 3. HAZARDOUS WEATHER AND WATER EVENT RISK 14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | COMMUNICATION. 15 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (a) I |
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| 77 | 77 | | NGENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall main-16 |
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| 78 | 78 | | tain and improve the system of the National Oceanic and 17 |
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| 79 | 79 | | Atmospheric Administration by which the risks of haz-18 |
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| 80 | 80 | | ardous weather and water events are communicated to the 19 |
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| 81 | 81 | | general public, with the goal of informing action and en-20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | couraging response to prevent loss of life and property. 21 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (b) H |
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| 84 | 84 | | AZARDRISKCOMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENT 22 |
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| 85 | 85 | | ANDSIMPLIFICATION.— 23 |
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| 86 | 86 | | (1) I |
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| 87 | 87 | | N GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 24 |
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| 88 | 88 | | maintain a hazard risk communication office (in this 25 |
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| 92 | 92 | | subsection referred to as the ‘‘Office’’), for the pur-1 |
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| 93 | 93 | | poses of simplifying and improving the communica-2 |
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| 94 | 94 | | tion of hazardous weather and water event risks. 3 |
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| 95 | 95 | | (2) T |
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| 96 | 96 | | ERMINOLOGY.—The Office shall identify, 4 |
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| 97 | 97 | | eliminate, or modify unnecessary, redundant, or con-5 |
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| 98 | 98 | | fusing terms for hazardous weather and water event 6 |
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| 99 | 99 | | communications and add new terminology, as appro-7 |
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| 100 | 100 | | priate. 8 |
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| 101 | 101 | | (3) C |
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| 102 | 102 | | OMMUNICATIONS IMPROVEMENT .—The Of-9 |
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| 103 | 103 | | fice shall improve the form, content, and methods of 10 |
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| 104 | 104 | | hazardous weather and water event communications 11 |
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| 105 | 105 | | to more clearly inform action and increase the likeli-12 |
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| 106 | 106 | | hood that the public takes such action to prevent the 13 |
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| 107 | 107 | | loss of life or property. 14 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (4) E |
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| 109 | 109 | | VALUATIONS.—The Office shall, in coordi-15 |
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| 110 | 110 | | nation with the performance branch of the National 16 |
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| 111 | 111 | | Weather Service, develop metrics for that branch to 17 |
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| 112 | 112 | | track and evaluate the degree to which hazardous 18 |
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| 113 | 113 | | weather and water event communications inform ac-19 |
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| 114 | 114 | | tion and encourage response. 20 |
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| 115 | 115 | | (5) S |
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| 116 | 116 | | UPPORT PLAN.— 21 |
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| 117 | 117 | | (A) I |
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| 118 | 118 | | N GENERAL.—The Office shall de-22 |
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| 119 | 119 | | velop a plan for the purpose of supporting the 23 |
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| 120 | 120 | | activities described in paragraph (3). 24 |
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| 124 | 124 | | (B) PERIODIC UPDATE AND ELEMENTS .— 1 |
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| 125 | 125 | | The plan developed under subparagraph (A) 2 |
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| 126 | 126 | | shall be periodically updated and informed by 3 |
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| 127 | 127 | | internal and extramural research and the re-4 |
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| 128 | 128 | | sults of the evaluation of hazardous weather 5 |
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| 129 | 129 | | and water event communications conducted 6 |
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| 130 | 130 | | under paragraph (4). 7 |
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| 131 | 131 | | (6) M |
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| 132 | 132 | | ETHODS.—In carrying out this subsection, 8 |
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| 133 | 133 | | the Office shall develop and implement recommenda-9 |
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| 134 | 134 | | tions that— 10 |
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| 135 | 135 | | (A) are based on the best and most recent 11 |
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| 136 | 136 | | understanding from social, behavioral, risk, and 12 |
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| 137 | 137 | | communication science research; 13 |
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| 138 | 138 | | (B) are validated by social, behavioral, 14 |
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| 139 | 139 | | risk, and communication science, taking into ac-15 |
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| 140 | 140 | | count the importance of methods that support 16 |
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| 141 | 141 | | reproduction and replication of scientific stud-17 |
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| 142 | 142 | | ies, use of rigorous statistical analyses, and, as 18 |
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| 143 | 143 | | applicable, data analysis supported by artificial 19 |
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| 144 | 144 | | intelligence and machine learning technologies; 20 |
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| 145 | 145 | | (C) account for the needs of various demo-21 |
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| 146 | 146 | | graphics, vulnerable populations, and geo-22 |
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| 147 | 147 | | graphic regions; 23 |
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| 148 | 148 | | (D) account for the differences between 24 |
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| 149 | 149 | | various types of weather and water hazards; 25 |
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| 153 | 153 | | (E) respond to the needs of Federal, State, 1 |
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| 154 | 154 | | and local government partners and media part-2 |
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| 155 | 155 | | ners; and 3 |
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| 156 | 156 | | (F) account for necessary changes in the 4 |
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| 157 | 157 | | infrastructure, technology, and protocols for 5 |
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| 158 | 158 | | creating and disseminating federally operated 6 |
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| 159 | 159 | | watches and warnings. 7 |
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| 160 | 160 | | (7) C |
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| 161 | 161 | | OORDINATION.—In implementing this sub-8 |
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| 162 | 162 | | section, the Office shall coordinate with— 9 |
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| 163 | 163 | | (A) Federal partners, including National 10 |
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| 164 | 164 | | Laboratories, Cooperative Institutes, and re-11 |
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| 165 | 165 | | gional integrated sciences and assessments pro-12 |
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| 166 | 166 | | grams; 13 |
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| 167 | 167 | | (B) State and local government partners; 14 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (C) Indian Tribes; 15 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (D) institutions of higher education; and 16 |
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| 170 | 170 | | (E) media partners. 17 |
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| 171 | 171 | | (8) T |
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| 172 | 172 | | IMELINESS AND CONSISTENCY .—The Of-18 |
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| 173 | 173 | | fice shall develop best practices and guidance for en-19 |
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| 174 | 174 | | suring timely and consistent communication across 20 |
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| 175 | 175 | | public facing platforms that disseminate hazardous 21 |
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| 176 | 176 | | weather and water event information. 22 |
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| 177 | 177 | | (c) H |
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| 178 | 178 | | AZARDCOMMUNICATION RESEARCH AND EN-23 |
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| 179 | 179 | | GAGEMENT.— 24 |
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| 183 | 183 | | (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 1 |
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| 184 | 184 | | establish or maintain a research program— 2 |
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| 185 | 185 | | (A) to modernize the creation and commu-3 |
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| 186 | 186 | | nication of risk-based, statistically reliable, 4 |
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| 187 | 187 | | probabilistic hazard information, with the goal 5 |
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| 188 | 188 | | of informing effective actions and encouraging 6 |
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| 189 | 189 | | responses to hazardous weather and water 7 |
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| 190 | 190 | | events; and 8 |
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| 191 | 191 | | (B) to improve the fundamental social, be-9 |
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| 192 | 192 | | havioral, risk, and communication science re-10 |
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| 193 | 193 | | garding hazardous weather and water event 11 |
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| 194 | 194 | | communication. 12 |
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| 195 | 195 | | (2) C |
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| 196 | 196 | | OORDINATION.—In carrying out the re-13 |
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| 197 | 197 | | search program required by paragraph (1), the 14 |
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| 198 | 198 | | Under Secretary shall coordinate and communicate 15 |
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| 199 | 199 | | with States, Indian Tribes, localities, and emergency 16 |
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| 200 | 200 | | managers on research priorities and results. 17 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (3) P |
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| 202 | 202 | | ILOT PROGRAM FOR TORNADO HAZARD 18 |
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| 203 | 203 | | COMMUNICATION REQUIRED .— 19 |
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| 204 | 204 | | (A) I |
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| 205 | 205 | | N GENERAL.—To further research 20 |
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| 206 | 206 | | into hazard communication, the Under Sec-21 |
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| 207 | 207 | | retary, in collaboration with one or more eligible 22 |
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| 208 | 208 | | institutions, shall establish a pilot program for 23 |
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| 209 | 209 | | tornado hazard communication to test the effec-24 |
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| 213 | 213 | | tiveness of implementing the research conducted 1 |
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| 214 | 214 | | under this subsection with respect to tornadoes. 2 |
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| 215 | 215 | | (B) E |
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| 216 | 216 | | LIGIBLE INSTITUTION DEFINED .—In 3 |
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| 217 | 217 | | this paragraph, the term ‘‘eligible institution’’ 4 |
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| 218 | 218 | | means any of the following: 5 |
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| 219 | 219 | | (i) A historically Black college or uni-6 |
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| 220 | 220 | | versity located in an area of persistent pov-7 |
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| 221 | 221 | | erty that is subjected to frequent severe 8 |
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| 222 | 222 | | weather, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, 9 |
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| 223 | 223 | | and floods. 10 |
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| 224 | 224 | | (ii) An institution of higher education 11 |
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| 225 | 225 | | in close proximity to a Weather Forecast 12 |
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| 226 | 226 | | Office of the National Weather Service. 13 |
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| 227 | 227 | | (d) D |
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| 228 | 228 | | ATAMANAGEMENT.—The Under Secretary 14 |
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| 229 | 229 | | shall establish, maintain, and improve a central repository 15 |
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| 230 | 230 | | system for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-16 |
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| 231 | 231 | | istration for social, behavioral, risk, and economic data re-17 |
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| 232 | 232 | | lated to the communication of hazardous weather and 18 |
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| 233 | 233 | | water events, including data developed or received pursu-19 |
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| 234 | 234 | | ant to paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subsection (b). 20 |
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| 235 | 235 | | (e) D |
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| 236 | 236 | | IGITALWATERMARKING.—The Under Secretary 21 |
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| 237 | 237 | | shall develop methods to reduce the likelihood of unauthor-22 |
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| 238 | 238 | | ized tampering with online hazardous weather and water 23 |
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| 239 | 239 | | event risk communication, such as developing digital wa-24 |
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| 240 | 240 | | termarks. 25 |
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| 244 | 244 | | SEC. 4. WARN-ON-FORECAST STRATEGIC PLAN. 1 |
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| 245 | 245 | | (a) I |
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| 246 | 246 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 2 |
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| 247 | 247 | | date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 3 |
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| 248 | 248 | | shall prepare and submit to Congress a strategic plan for 4 |
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| 249 | 249 | | developing and prioritizing the implementation of high- 5 |
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| 250 | 250 | | resolution probabilistic forecast guidance for hazardous 6 |
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| 251 | 251 | | weather and water events using a next-generation weather 7 |
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| 252 | 252 | | forecast and warning framework. 8 |
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| 253 | 253 | | (b) P |
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| 254 | 254 | | LANELEMENTS.—The strategic plan required 9 |
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| 255 | 255 | | by subsection (a) shall include the following: 10 |
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| 256 | 256 | | (1) A discussion of— 11 |
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| 257 | 257 | | (A) the priorities and needs of vulnerable 12 |
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| 258 | 258 | | populations and National Weather Service part-13 |
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| 259 | 259 | | ners; and 14 |
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| 260 | 260 | | (B) high-performance computing, visualiza-15 |
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| 261 | 261 | | tion, and dissemination needs. 16 |
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| 262 | 262 | | (2) A timeline and guidance for implementation 17 |
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| 263 | 263 | | of— 18 |
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| 264 | 264 | | (A) high-resolution numerical weather pre-19 |
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| 265 | 265 | | diction models; 20 |
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| 266 | 266 | | (B) methods for meeting the high-perform-21 |
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| 267 | 267 | | ance computing, visualization, and dissemina-22 |
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| 268 | 268 | | tion needs discussed under paragraph (1)(B); 23 |
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| 269 | 269 | | (C) real-time high-resolution probabilistic 24 |
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| 270 | 270 | | forecasts; 25 |
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| 274 | 274 | | (D) improved observations, including 1 |
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| 275 | 275 | | through radars, satellites, and uncrewed aerial 2 |
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| 276 | 276 | | systems; 3 |
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| 277 | 277 | | (E) a flexible framework to communicate 4 |
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| 278 | 278 | | clear and simple hazardous weather and water 5 |
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| 279 | 279 | | event information to the public; and 6 |
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| 280 | 280 | | (F) social, behavioral, risk, and commu-7 |
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| 281 | 281 | | nication research to improve the forecaster 8 |
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| 282 | 282 | | operational environment and societal informa-9 |
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| 283 | 283 | | tion reception and response. 10 |
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| 284 | 284 | | SEC. 5. TORNADO RATING SYSTEM. 11 |
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| 285 | 285 | | (a) I |
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| 286 | 286 | | NGENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall, in col-12 |
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| 287 | 287 | | laboration with such stakeholders as the Under Secretary 13 |
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| 288 | 288 | | considers appropriate— 14 |
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| 289 | 289 | | (1) evaluate the system used as of the date of 15 |
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| 290 | 290 | | the enactment of this Act to rate the severity of tor-16 |
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| 291 | 291 | | nadoes; and 17 |
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| 292 | 292 | | (2) determine whether updates to that system 18 |
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| 293 | 293 | | are required to ensure that the ratings accurately re-19 |
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| 294 | 294 | | flect the severity of tornadoes. 20 |
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| 295 | 295 | | (b) U |
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| 296 | 296 | | PDATEREQUIRED.—If the Under Secretary de-21 |
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| 297 | 297 | | termines under subsection (a) that updates to the tornado 22 |
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| 298 | 298 | | rating system are necessary, the Under Secretary shall up-23 |
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| 299 | 299 | | date the system. 24 |
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| 303 | 303 | | SEC. 6. POST-STORM SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS. 1 |
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| 304 | 304 | | (a) I |
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| 305 | 305 | | NGENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall per-2 |
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| 306 | 306 | | form one or more post-storm surveys and assessments fol-3 |
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| 307 | 307 | | lowing each hazardous weather or water event determined 4 |
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| 308 | 308 | | by the Under Secretary to be of sufficient societal impor-5 |
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| 309 | 309 | | tance to warrant a post-event survey and assessment. 6 |
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| 310 | 310 | | (b) C |
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| 311 | 311 | | OORDINATION.—The Under Secretary shall co-7 |
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| 312 | 312 | | ordinate with Federal, State, and local governments, In-8 |
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| 313 | 313 | | dian Tribes, private entities, and relevant institutions of 9 |
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| 314 | 314 | | higher education when conducting post-storm surveys and 10 |
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| 315 | 315 | | assessments under subsection (a) in order to optimize data 11 |
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| 316 | 316 | | collection, sharing, and integration. 12 |
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| 317 | 317 | | (c) D |
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| 318 | 318 | | ATAAVAILABILITY.—The Under Secretary shall 13 |
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| 319 | 319 | | make the data obtained from each post-storm survey and 14 |
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| 320 | 320 | | assessment conducted under subsection (a) available to the 15 |
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| 321 | 321 | | public as soon as practicable after conducting the survey 16 |
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| 322 | 322 | | and assessment. 17 |
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| 323 | 323 | | (d) I |
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| 324 | 324 | | MPROVEMENT.—The Under Secretary shall— 18 |
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| 325 | 325 | | (1) investigate the role of uncrewed aerial sys-19 |
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| 326 | 326 | | tems in data collection during post-storm surveys 20 |
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| 327 | 327 | | and assessments conducted under subsection (a); 21 |
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| 328 | 328 | | (2) identify gaps in and update tactics and pro-22 |
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| 329 | 329 | | cedures to enhance the efficiency and reliability of 23 |
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| 330 | 330 | | data obtained from post-storm surveys and assess-24 |
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| 331 | 331 | | ments; and 25 |
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| 335 | 335 | | (3) increase the number of post-storm commu-1 |
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| 336 | 336 | | nity impact studies, including by— 2 |
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| 337 | 337 | | (A) surveying individual responses; 3 |
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| 338 | 338 | | (B) conducting review of the accuracy of 4 |
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| 339 | 339 | | prior risk evaluations; 5 |
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| 340 | 340 | | (C) evaluating the efficacy of prior mitiga-6 |
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| 341 | 341 | | tion activity; and 7 |
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| 342 | 342 | | (D) gathering survivability statistics. 8 |
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| 343 | 343 | | (e) S |
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| 344 | 344 | | UPPORT FOR EMPLOYEES.—The Under Sec-9 |
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| 345 | 345 | | retary shall provide training, resources, and access to pro-10 |
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| 346 | 346 | | fessional counseling to support the emotional and mental 11 |
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| 347 | 347 | | health and well-being of employees conducting post-storm 12 |
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| 348 | 348 | | surveys and assessments under subsection (a). 13 |
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| 349 | 349 | | SEC. 7. VORTEX-USA PROGRAM. 14 |
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| 350 | 350 | | (a) I |
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| 351 | 351 | | NGENERAL.—Section 103 of the Weather Re-15 |
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| 352 | 352 | | search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 16 |
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| 353 | 353 | | 8513) is amended— 17 |
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| 354 | 354 | | (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘ |
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| 355 | 355 | | TOR-18 |
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| 356 | 356 | | NADO WARNING IMPROVEMENT AND EXTEN -19 |
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| 357 | 357 | | SION’’ and inserting ‘‘VORTEX-USA’’; 20 |
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| 358 | 358 | | (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘establish a 21 |
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| 359 | 359 | | tornado warning improvement and extension pro-22 |
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| 360 | 360 | | gram’’ and inserting ‘‘maintain a program for rap-23 |
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| 361 | 361 | | idly improving tornado forecast and warnings’’; 24 |
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| 365 | 365 | | (3) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 1 |
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| 366 | 366 | | subsections (f) and (g), respectively; 2 |
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| 367 | 367 | | (4) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-3 |
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| 368 | 368 | | lowing: 4 |
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| 369 | 369 | | ‘‘(d) W |
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| 370 | 370 | | ARNINGS.—The program required by sub-5 |
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| 371 | 371 | | section (a) shall— 6 |
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| 372 | 372 | | ‘‘(1) continue the research necessary to develop 7 |
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| 373 | 373 | | and deploy probabilistic weather forecast guidance 8 |
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| 374 | 374 | | technology for tornadoes; and 9 |
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| 375 | 375 | | ‘‘(2) incorporate, as appropriate, hazard com-10 |
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| 376 | 376 | | munication research. 11 |
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| 377 | 377 | | ‘‘(e) R |
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| 378 | 378 | | ESEARCH.— 12 |
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| 379 | 379 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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| 380 | 380 | | N GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall, 13 |
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| 381 | 381 | | through the program required by subsection (a), 14 |
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| 382 | 382 | | award grants for research that focuses on improv-15 |
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| 383 | 383 | | ing— 16 |
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| 384 | 384 | | ‘‘(A) the social, behavioral, risk, commu-17 |
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| 385 | 385 | | nication, and economic sciences related to 18 |
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| 386 | 386 | | vulnerabilities, risk communication, and delivery 19 |
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| 387 | 387 | | of information critical for saving lives and prop-20 |
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| 388 | 388 | | erty related to tornadoes; and 21 |
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| 389 | 389 | | ‘‘(B) the physical sciences, engineering, 22 |
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| 390 | 390 | | and technology related to tornado formation, 23 |
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| 391 | 391 | | the interactions of tornadoes with the built and 24 |
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| 394 | 394 | | •S 258 IS |
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| 395 | 395 | | natural environment, and the interaction of tor-1 |
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| 396 | 396 | | nadoes and hurricanes. 2 |
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| 397 | 397 | | ‘‘(2) P |
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| 398 | 398 | | RIORITY INSTITUTIONS.— 3 |
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| 399 | 399 | | ‘‘(A) I |
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| 400 | 400 | | N GENERAL.—In awarding grants 4 |
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| 401 | 401 | | under paragraph (1), the Under Secretary may 5 |
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| 402 | 402 | | prioritize awarding grants to minority-serving 6 |
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| 403 | 403 | | institutions. 7 |
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| 404 | 404 | | ‘‘(B) D |
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| 405 | 405 | | EFINITION OF MINORITY -SERVING 8 |
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| 406 | 406 | | INSTITUTION.—In this paragraph, the term ‘mi-9 |
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| 407 | 407 | | nority-serving institution’ means— 10 |
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| 408 | 408 | | ‘‘(i) a part B institution (as defined in 11 |
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| 409 | 409 | | section 322 of the Higher Education Act 12 |
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| 410 | 410 | | of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061)); 13 |
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| 411 | 411 | | ‘‘(ii) a Hispanic-serving institution (as 14 |
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| 412 | 412 | | defined in section 502(a) of that Act (20 15 |
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| 413 | 413 | | U.S.C. 1101a(a))); 16 |
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| 414 | 414 | | ‘‘(iii) a Tribal College or University 17 |
|---|
| 415 | 415 | | (as defined in section 316(b) of that Act 18 |
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| 416 | 416 | | (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b))); 19 |
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| 417 | 417 | | ‘‘(iv) an Alaska Native-serving institu-20 |
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| 418 | 418 | | tion (as defined in section 317(b) of that 21 |
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| 419 | 419 | | Act (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b))); 22 |
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| 420 | 420 | | ‘‘(v) a Native Hawaiian-serving insti-23 |
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| 421 | 421 | | tution (as defined in section 317(b) of that 24 |
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| 422 | 422 | | Act (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b))); 25 |
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| 426 | 426 | | ‘‘(vi) a Predominantly Black Institu-1 |
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| 427 | 427 | | tion (as defined in section 318(b) of that 2 |
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| 428 | 428 | | Act (20 U.S.C. 1059e(b))); 3 |
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| 429 | 429 | | ‘‘(vii) an Asian American and Native 4 |
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| 430 | 430 | | American Pacific Islander-serving institu-5 |
|---|
| 431 | 431 | | tion (as defined in section 320(b) of that 6 |
|---|
| 432 | 432 | | Act (20 U.S.C. 1059g(b))); or 7 |
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| 433 | 433 | | ‘‘(viii) a Native American-serving, 8 |
|---|
| 434 | 434 | | nontribal institution (as defined in section 9 |
|---|
| 435 | 435 | | 319(b) of that Act (20 U.S.C. 10 |
|---|
| 436 | 436 | | 1059f(b))).’’; and 11 |
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| 437 | 437 | | (5) by adding at the end the following: 12 |
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| 438 | 438 | | ‘‘(h) A |
|---|
| 439 | 439 | | UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 13 |
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| 440 | 440 | | is authorized to be appropriated to the Under Secretary 14 |
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| 441 | 441 | | to carry out this section $11,000,000 for each of fiscal 15 |
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| 442 | 442 | | years 2025 through 2032, of which not less than 16 |
|---|
| 443 | 443 | | $2,000,000 each fiscal year shall be used for grants 17 |
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| 444 | 444 | | awarded under subsection (e).’’. 18 |
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| 445 | 445 | | (b) C |
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| 446 | 446 | | LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 19 |
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| 447 | 447 | | in section 1(b) of the Weather Research and Forecasting 20 |
|---|
| 448 | 448 | | Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 131 Stat. 21 |
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| 449 | 449 | | 91) is amended by striking the item relating to section 22 |
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| 450 | 450 | | 103 and inserting the following: 23 |
|---|
| 451 | 451 | | ‘‘Sec. 103. VORTEX-USA program.’’. |
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| 455 | 455 | | SEC. 8. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT 1 |
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| 456 | 456 | | ON HAZARDOUS WEATHER AND WATER 2 |
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| 457 | 457 | | ALERT DISSEMINATION. 3 |
|---|
| 458 | 458 | | (a) I |
|---|
| 459 | 459 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 540 days after the 4 |
|---|
| 460 | 460 | | date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 5 |
|---|
| 461 | 461 | | of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 6 |
|---|
| 462 | 462 | | Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 7 |
|---|
| 463 | 463 | | the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 8 |
|---|
| 464 | 464 | | House of Representatives a report that examines the infor-9 |
|---|
| 465 | 465 | | mation technology infrastructure of the National Weather 10 |
|---|
| 466 | 466 | | Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-11 |
|---|
| 467 | 467 | | tration, specifically regarding the system for timely public 12 |
|---|
| 468 | 468 | | notification of hazardous weather and water event alerts 13 |
|---|
| 469 | 469 | | and updates. 14 |
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| 470 | 470 | | (b) E |
|---|
| 471 | 471 | | LEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 15 |
|---|
| 472 | 472 | | (a) shall include the following: 16 |
|---|
| 473 | 473 | | (1) An analysis of the information technology 17 |
|---|
| 474 | 474 | | infrastructure of the National Weather Service, in-18 |
|---|
| 475 | 475 | | cluding software and hardware capabilities and limi-19 |
|---|
| 476 | 476 | | tations, including an examination of server and data 20 |
|---|
| 477 | 477 | | storage methods, broadband, data management, and 21 |
|---|
| 478 | 478 | | data sharing. 22 |
|---|
| 479 | 479 | | (2) An identification of secondary and tertiary 23 |
|---|
| 480 | 480 | | fail-safes for the timely distribution of hazardous 24 |
|---|
| 481 | 481 | | weather and water event alerts to the public. 25 |
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| 485 | 485 | | (3) A determination of the extent to which pub-1 |
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| 486 | 486 | | lic notifications are delayed and an identification of 2 |
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| 487 | 487 | | corrective measures that do not add additional noti-3 |
|---|
| 488 | 488 | | fication time. 4 |
|---|
| 489 | 489 | | (4) An assessment of whether collaboration with 5 |
|---|
| 490 | 490 | | other Federal Government offices, States, or private 6 |
|---|
| 491 | 491 | | entities could reduce delays in notifications to the 7 |
|---|
| 492 | 492 | | public. 8 |
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| 493 | 493 | | (5) A description of actions being undertaken to 9 |
|---|
| 494 | 494 | | better identify critical steps in the hazards notifica-10 |
|---|
| 495 | 495 | | tion process that may be vulnerable to disruption or 11 |
|---|
| 496 | 496 | | failure in the event of communication, technologic, 12 |
|---|
| 497 | 497 | | or computational failure. 13 |
|---|
| 498 | 498 | | SEC. 9. ELIMINATION OF CERTAIN REPORT REQUIRE-14 |
|---|
| 499 | 499 | | MENTS. 15 |
|---|
| 500 | 500 | | (a) W |
|---|
| 501 | 501 | | EATHERRESEARCH ANDFORECASTINGINNO-16 |
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| 502 | 502 | | VATIONACT OF2017.— 17 |
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| 503 | 503 | | (1) I |
|---|
| 504 | 504 | | N GENERAL.—Section 403 of the Weather 18 |
|---|
| 505 | 505 | | Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 19 |
|---|
| 506 | 506 | | (15 U.S.C. 8543) is amended by striking subsection 20 |
|---|
| 507 | 507 | | (d). 21 |
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| 508 | 508 | | (2) T |
|---|
| 509 | 509 | | ECHNICAL AMENDMENT .—Section 403(a) 22 |
|---|
| 510 | 510 | | of such Act (15 U.S.C. 8543(a)) is amended by in-23 |
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| 511 | 511 | | serting ‘‘the’’ after ‘‘Director of’’. 24 |
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| 515 | 515 | | (b) NATIONALOCEANIC ANDATMOSPHERICADMIN-1 |
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| 516 | 516 | | ISTRATIONAUTHORIZATIONACT OF1992.—Section 106 2 |
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| 517 | 517 | | of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 3 |
|---|
| 518 | 518 | | Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567; 106 4 |
|---|
| 519 | 519 | | Stat. 4274) is amended by striking subsection (c) (15 5 |
|---|
| 520 | 520 | | U.S.C. 1537). 6 |
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| 521 | 521 | | Æ |
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