In the Senate of the United States,
November 17, 2022.
Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 1437) entitled “An Act to amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 to direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide comprehensive and regularly updated Federal precipitation information, and for other purposes.”, do pass with the following
AMENDMENT:
This Act may be cited as the “Providing Research and Estimates of Changes In Precipitation Act” or the “PRECIP Act”.
SEC. 2. Amendment to the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 relating to improving Federal precipitation information.
(a) In general.—The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(a) In general.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the PRECIP Act, the Administrator, in consultation with other Federal agencies as appropriate, shall seek to enter an agreement with the National Academies—
“(1) to conduct a study on the state of practice and research needs for precipitation estimation, including probable maximum precipitation estimation; and
“(2) to submit, not later than 24 months after the date on which such agreement is finalized, to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, and make publicly available on a website, a report on the results of the study under paragraph (1).
“(b) Study.—The report under subsection (a) shall include the following:
“(1) An examination of the current state of practice for precipitation estimation at scales appropriate for decisionmaker needs, and rationale for further evolution of this field.
“(2) An evaluation of best practices for precipitation estimation that are based on the best-available science, include considerations of non-stationarity, and can be utilized by the user community.
“(3) A framework for—
“(4) A description of existing research needs in the field of precipitation estimation in order to modernize current methodologies and consider non-stationarity.
“(5) A description of in-situ, airborne, and space-based observation requirements, that could enhance precipitation estimation and development of models, including an examination of the use of geographic information systems and geospatial technology for integration, analysis, and visualization of precipitation data.
“(6) A recommended plan for a Federal research and development program, including specifications for costs, timeframes, and responsible agencies for addressing identified research needs.
“(7) An analysis of the respective roles in precipitation estimation of various Federal agencies, academia, State, tribal, territorial, and local governments, and other public and private stakeholders.
“(8) Recommendations for data management to promote long-term needs such as enabling retrospective analyses and data discoverability, interoperability, and reuse.
“(a) In General.—Not later than 90 days after the date on which the National Academies makes public the report under section 601, the Administrator, in consideration of the report recommendations, shall consult with relevant partners, including users of the data, on the development of a plan to—
“(1) not later than 6 years after the completion of such report and not less than every 10 years thereafter, update probable maximum precipitation estimates for the United States, such that each update considers non-stationarity;
“(2) coordinate with partners to conduct research in the field of extreme precipitation estimation, in accordance with the research needs identified in such report;
“(3) make publicly available, in a searchable, interoperable format, all probable maximum precipitation studies developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator has the legal right to redistribute and deemed to be at an appropriate state of development on an internet website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and
“(b) National Guidance Document for the Development of Probable Maximum Precipitation Estimates.—The Administrator, in collaboration with Federal agencies, State, territorial, Tribal and local governments, academia, and other partners the Administrator deems appropriate, shall develop a National Guidance Document that—
“(c) Publication.—Not later than 2 years after the date on which the National Academies makes public the report under section 601, the Administrator shall make publicly available the National Guidance Document under subsection (b) on an internet website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“ In this title:
“(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Administrator’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“(2) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘National Academies’ means the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
“(3) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘United States’ means, collectively, each State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and any other territory or possession of the United States.”.
(b) Conforming amendment.—Section 1(b) of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501 note) is amended in the table of contents by adding at the end the following:
“TITLE VI—IMPROVING FEDERAL PRECIPITATION INFORMATION
“Sec. 601. Study on precipitation estimation.
“Sec. 602. Improving probable maximum precipitation estimates.
“Sec. 603. Definitions.”.
Attest:
Secretary
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