[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 271 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 271

    To require the Secretary of Commerce to ensure that at least an 
equivalent level of service will be supplied to the public and affected 
    agencies before closing National Weather Service field stations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 5, 1997

   Ms. Snowe introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the Secretary of Commerce to ensure that at least an 
equivalent level of service will be supplied to the public and affected 
    agencies before closing National Weather Service field stations.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
    That section 706(e) of the Weather Service Modernization Act (15 
U.S.C. 313 note) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (1);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (2) and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end thereof the following:
            ``(3) which is located in, or serves, an area identified as 
        an area of geographic concern in chapter 4 of the report 
        entitled `Assessment of NEXRAD Coverage and Associated Weather 
        Services' published in June, 1995, by the National Research 
        Council, unless, prior to closing or relocating the field 
        office, the Secretary--
                    ``(A) evaluates, as part of the certification 
                process, the effect of that closing or relocation on 
                all weather information and services provided to users 
                served by that field office (including State agencies, 
                civil defense officials, local public safety officials, 
                farmers, and other local citizens serviced by that 
                field office); and
                    ``(B) includes in a certification made by the 
                Secretary under subsection (b) a determination that, 
                after the closing or relocation, at least an equivalent 
                level of weather services provided to the users 
                referred to in subparagraph (A) before the closing or 
                relocation will be provided to those users.''.
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