Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB324 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 324
5	5	To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
6	6	to carry out pilot projects relating to improved subseasonal to seasonal
7	7	forecasting in agriculture and water management, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	JANUARY29, 2025
10	10	Ms. R
11	11	OSEN(for herself and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; which
12	12	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
13	13	Transportation
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans
16	16	and Atmosphere to carry out pilot projects relating to
17	17	improved subseasonal to seasonal forecasting in agri-
18	18	culture and water management, and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Smarter Weather 4
23	23	Forecasting for Water Management, Farming, and 5
24	24	Ranching Act of 2025’’. 6
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27	27	•S 324 IS
28	28	SEC. 2. WEATHER AND CLIMATE INFORMATION IN AGRI-1
29	29	CULTURE AND WATER MANAGEMENT. 2
30	30	Section 1762 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (15 3
31	31	U.S.C. 8521) is amended— 4
32	32	(1) by amending subsection (h) to read as fol-5
33	33	lows: 6
34	34	‘‘(h) S
35	35	UBSEASONAL TO SEASONALFORECASTING 7
36	36	P
37	37	ILOTPROJECTS.— 8
38	38	‘‘(1) E
39	39	STABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary 9
40	40	shall establish not fewer than two pilot projects, in 10
41	41	accordance with paragraph (2), within the U.S. 11
42	42	Weather Research Program of the Oceanic and At-12
43	43	mospheric Research office of the National Oceanic 13
44	44	and Atmospheric Administration to support im-14
45	45	proved subseasonal to seasonal precipitation fore-15
46	46	casts for the following: 16
47	47	‘‘(A) Water management in the western 17
48	48	United States. 18
49	49	‘‘(B) Agriculture in the United States. 19
50	50	‘‘(2) O
51	51	BJECTIVES.—In carrying out this sub-20
52	52	section, the Under Secretary shall ensure the fol-21
53	53	lowing: 22
54	54	‘‘(A) A pilot project under subparagraph 23
55	55	(A) of paragraph (1) addresses key science 24
56	56	challenges to improving forecasts and devel-25
57	57	oping related products for water management 26
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61	61	in the western United States, including the fol-1
62	62	lowing: 2
63	63	‘‘(i) Improving operational model reso-3
64	64	lution, both horizontal and vertical, to re-4
65	65	solve issues associated with mountainous 5
66	66	terrain, such as intensity of precipitation 6
67	67	and relative fraction of rain versus snow 7
68	68	precipitation. 8
69	69	‘‘(ii) Improving fidelity in the oper-9
70	70	ational modeling of the atmospheric bound-10
71	71	ary layer in mountainous regions. 11
72	72	‘‘(iii) Resolving challenges in pre-12
73	73	dicting winter atmospheric circulation and 13
74	74	storm tracks, including periods of blocked 14
75	75	versus unblocked flow over the eastern 15
76	76	North Pacific Ocean and western United 16
77	77	States. 17
78	78	‘‘(iv) Improving the forecast of atmos-18
79	79	pheric rivers. 19
80	80	‘‘(v) Improving— 20
81	81	‘‘(I) the quality and temporal 21
82	82	and spatial resolution of observations 22
83	83	of air-sea interactions; 23
84	84	‘‘(II) operational modeling of air- 24
85	85	sea interactions; and 25
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89	89	‘‘(III) operational modeling of 1
90	90	the influence of oceans on subseasonal 2
91	91	and seasonal forecasting. 3
92	92	‘‘(B) A pilot project under subparagraph 4
93	93	(B) of paragraph (1) addresses key science 5
94	94	challenges to improving forecasts and devel-6
95	95	oping related products for agriculture in the 7
96	96	United States, including the following: 8
97	97	‘‘(i) Improving the quality and tem-9
98	98	poral and spatial resolution of observations 10
99	99	and accurate operational modeling of the 11
100	100	land surface and hydrologic cycle, includ-12
101	101	ing soil moisture and flash drought proc-13
102	102	esses. 14
103	103	‘‘(ii) Improving fidelity in the oper-15
104	104	ational modeling of warm season precipita-16
105	105	tion processes. 17
106	106	‘‘(iii) Understanding and predicting 18
107	107	large-scale upper-level dynamical flow 19
108	108	anomalies that occur in spring and sum-20
109	109	mer. 21
110	110	‘‘(3) A
111	111	CTIVITIES.—A pilot project under this 22
112	112	subsection shall include activities that— 23
113	113	‘‘(A) best implement recommendations con-24
114	114	tained in the 2020 report of the National 25
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118	118	Weather Service, entitled ‘Subseasonal and Sea-1
119	119	sonal Forecasting Innovation: Plans for the 2
120	120	Twenty-First Century’; 3
121	121	‘‘(B) achieve measurable objectives for 4
122	122	operational forecast improvement; 5
123	123	‘‘(C) engage with, and leverage the re-6
124	124	sources of, institutions of higher education (as 7
125	125	such term is defined in section 101 of the High-8
126	126	er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)), or 9
127	127	a consortia thereof, and entities within the Na-10
128	128	tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 11
129	129	in existence as of the date of the enactment of 12
130	130	this subsection, including Regional Climate 13
131	131	Centers and the National Centers for Environ-14
132	132	mental Information; and 15
133	133	‘‘(D) are carried out in coordination with 16
134	134	the Assistant Administrator for the Office of 17
135	135	Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Di-18
136	136	rector of the National Weather Service. 19
137	137	‘‘(4) S
138	138	UNSET.—The authority under this sub-20
139	139	section shall terminate on the date that is five years 21
140	140	after the date of the enactment of this subsection.’’; 22
141	141	and 23
142	142	(2) by amending subsection (j) to read as fol-24
143	143	lows: 25
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147	147	‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1
148	148	are authorized to be appropriated $45,000,000 for each 2
149	149	of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 to carry out the activi-3
150	150	ties under this section.’’. 4
151	151	Æ
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