[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 786 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 786

To clarify the duties and responsibilities of the National Oceanic and 
 Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 14, 2005

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To clarify the duties and responsibilities of the National Oceanic and 
 Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Weather Services Duties Act 
of 2005''.

SEC. 2. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC 
              ADMINISTRATION AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

    (a) National Weather Service.--To protect life and property, the 
Secretary of Commerce shall, through the National Weather Service, be 
responsible for the following:
            (1) The preparation and issuance of severe weather 
        forecasts and warnings designed for the protection of life and 
        property of the general public.
            (2) The preparation and issuance of hydrometeorological 
        guidance and core forecast information.
            (3) The collection and exchange of meteorological, 
        hydrological, climatic, and oceanographic data and information.
            (4) The provision of reports, forecasts, warnings, and 
        other advice to the Secretary of Transportation and other 
        persons pursuant to section 44720 of title 49, United States 
        Code.
            (5) Such other duties and responsibilities as the Secretary 
        shall specify.
    (b) Competition With Private Sector.--The Secretary of Commerce 
shall not provide, or assist other entities in providing, a product or 
service (other than a product or service described in subsection 
(a)(1)) that is or could be provided by the private sector unless--
            (1) the Secretary determines that the private sector is 
        unwilling or unable to provide such product or service; or
            (2) the United States Government is obligated to provide 
        such product or service under international aviation agreements 
        to provide meteorological services and exchange meteorological 
        information.
    (c) Issuance of Data, Forecasts, and Warnings.--
            (1) In general.--All data, information, guidance, 
        forecasts, and warnings received, collected, created, or 
        prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
        or the National Weather Service shall, to the maximum extent 
        practicable, be issued in real time, and without delay for 
        internal use, in a manner that ensures that all members of the 
        public have the opportunity for simultaneous and equal access 
        to such data, information, guidance, forecasts, and warnings.
            (2) Mode of issuance.--Data, information, guidance, 
        forecasts, and warnings shall be issued under paragraph (1) 
        through a set of data portals designed for volume access by 
        commercial providers of products or services and by such other 
        mechanisms as the Secretary of Commerce considers appropriate 
        for purposes of that paragraph.
    (d) Prohibition on Certain Disclosures.--An officer, employee, or 
agent of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 
National Weather Service, or any other department or agency of the 
United States who by reason of that status comes into possession of any 
weather data, information, guidance, forecast, or warning that might 
influence or affect the market value of any product, service, 
commodity, tradable, or business may not--
            (1) willfully impart, whether directly or indirectly, such 
        weather data, information, guidance, forecast, or warning, or 
        any part thereof, before the issuance of such weather data, 
        information, guidance, forecast, or warning to the public under 
        subsection (c); or
            (2) after the issuance of such weather data, information, 
        guidance, forecast, or warning to the public under subsection 
        (c), willfully impart comments or qualifications on such 
        weather data, information, guidance, forecast, or warning, or 
        any part thereof, to the public, except pursuant to an issuance 
        that complies with that subsection.
    (e) Regulations.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall prescribe 
regulations to implement the provisions of this section.
    (f) Product or Service Defined.--In this section, the term 
``product or service'' means a product, service, device, or system that 
provides, senses, or communicates meteorological, hydrological, 
climatic, solar, or oceanographic data, forecasts, or other similar 
information.
    (g) Effective Date.--The provisions of this section (other than 
subsection (e)) shall take effect 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (h) Conforming Amendments.--The Act of October 1, 1890 (26 Stat. 
653) is amended as follows:
            (1) Section 3 (15 U.S.C. 313) is repealed.
            (2) Section 9 (15 U.S.C. 317) is amended by striking ``, 
        and it shall be'' and all that follows and inserting a period.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON MODIFICATION OF NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC 
              ADMINISTRATION AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit to the appropriate 
committees of Congress a report that sets forth--
            (1) a detailed statement of the activities, if any, of the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the 
        National Weather Service that are inconsistent with the 
        provisions of section 2;
            (2) a schedule for the modification of the activities 
        referred to in paragraph (1) in order to conform such 
        activities to the provisions of section 2; and
            (3) the regulations prescribed under section 2(e).
    (b) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
        of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Science of the House of 
        Representatives.
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