[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 327 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 327

  To establish the National Hurricane Research Initiative to improve 
            hurricane preparedness, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 8, 2009

 Mr. Hastings of Florida (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Ms. Wasserman 
  Schultz, Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mr. Meek of Florida, Mr. 
 Brown of South Carolina, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Mack, Mr. Lincoln 
   Diaz-Balart of Florida, Ms. Bordallo, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. 
 Wexler, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. Moore of Kansas, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Weiner, 
 Mr. Melancon, and Mr. Buchanan) introduced the following bill; which 
        was referred to the Committee on Science and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish the National Hurricane Research Initiative to improve 
            hurricane preparedness, 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 Hurricane Research 
Initiative Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the National Science Foundation.
            (2) Under secretary.--The term ``Under Secretary'' means 
        the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere of the Department 
        of Commerce.
            (3) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin 
        Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other territory 
        or possession over which the United States has jurisdiction.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL HURRICANE RESEARCH INITIATIVE.

    (a) Requirement To Establish.--The Under Secretary and the Director 
shall establish an initiative known as the National Hurricane Research 
Initiative for the purposes described in subsection (b).
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of the National Hurricane Research 
Initiative shall be to set research objectives based upon the findings 
of the January 12, 2007, National Science Board report entitled 
``Hurricane Warning: The Critical Need for National Hurricane Research 
Initiative''--
            (1) to make recommendations to the National Science Board 
        and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Science 
        Advisory Board on such research;
            (2) to assemble the science and engineering expertise of 
        State or local government agencies or departments and 
        nongovernmental entities (including universities and colleges 
        and other research and academic institutions), through a multi-
        entity effort focused on--
                    (A) improving hurricane and other severe tropical 
                storm forecasting capabilities, including formation, 
                track, and intensity change;
                    (B) durable and resilient infrastructure; and
                    (C) mitigating impacts on coastal populations, the 
                coastal built environment, and the natural coastal 
                environment, including but not limited to, coral reefs, 
                wetlands, and other natural systems that mitigate 
                hurricane wind and storm surge impacts; and
            (3) to make grants to eligible entities to carry out 
        research in the following areas:
                    (A) Predicting hurricane intensity change.--
                Research to improve understanding of--
                            (i) rapid change in storm size, motion, 
                        structure, and intensity;
                            (ii) storm internal dynamics; and
                            (iii) the interactions of the storm and its 
                        environmental conditions, including the 
                        atmosphere, ocean, and land surface.
                    (B) Understanding ocean-atmosphere interactions.--
                Observations, theory and modeling, to improve 
                understanding of air-sea interaction in high wind 
                speeds.
                    (C) Predicting storm surge, rainfall, inland 
                flooding, and strong winds produced by hurricanes and 
                tropical storms during and after landfall.--Research to 
                understand, model, and predict rainfall, flooding, high 
                winds, the potential occurrence of tornadoes, and storm 
                surge, including probabilistic modeling and mapping of 
                risk.
                    (D) Improved observations of hurricanes and 
                tropical storms.--Research to improve measurements of 
                hurricanes and tropical storms through mobile radar 
                platforms, Global Positioning Systems technology, 
                unmanned vehicles, ground-based and wireless sensors, 
                oceanic remote sensing technologies, and air-deployed 
                ocean profilers and floats to improve our understanding 
                of the complex nature of storms and their interaction 
                with the ocean and land.
                    (E) Assessing vulnerable infrastructure.--Research 
                to develop a national engineering assessment of coastal 
                infrastructure, including infrastructure related to 
                levees, seawalls, drainage systems, bridges, water and 
                sewage systems, power, and communications, to determine 
                the level of vulnerability of such infrastructure to 
                damage from hurricanes and to determine strategies to 
                reduce such vulnerabilities.
                    (F) Interaction of hurricanes with engineered 
                structures.--Research to improve understanding of the 
                impacts of hurricanes and tropical storms on buildings, 
                structures, and housing combined with modeling 
                essential for guiding the creation of improved building 
                designs and construction codes in locations 
                particularly vulnerable to hurricanes.
                    (G) Relationship between hurricanes, climate, and 
                natural ecosystems.--Research to improve the 
                understanding of complex relationships between 
                hurricanes and climate, including research to determine 
                the most effective methods to use observational 
                information and numerical model simulations to examine 
                the impacts on ecosystems over long and short periods 
                of time, including but not limited to impacts on coral 
                reefs, wetlands, and other natural systems that 
                mitigate hurricane wind and storm surge impacts.
                    (H) Technologies for disaster response and 
                recovery.--Research to improve emergency communication 
                networks for government agencies and non-government 
                entities and to improve communications between such 
                networks during disaster response and recovery, 
                including cyber-security during disaster situations and 
                the ability to improve damage assessments during 
                storms.
                    (I) Evacuation planning.--Research to improve the 
                manner in which hurricane-related information is 
                provided to, and utilized by, the public and government 
                officials, including research to assist officials of 
                State or local government in determining the 
                circumstances in which evacuations are required and in 
                carrying out such evacuations.
                    (J) Computational capability.--Research to improve 
                understanding of the efficient utility of multiple 
                models requiring sharing and inter-operability of 
                databases, computing environments, networks, 
                visualization tools, and analytic systems beyond what 
                is currently available for transitioning hurricane 
                research assets into operational practice and to 
                provide access to robust computational facilities 
                beyond the facilities normally accessible by the 
                civilian research community for the hurricane research 
                enterprise, including data acquisition and modeling 
                capability during hurricane events.
    (c) Cooperation With Other Agencies.--The Under Secretary and the 
Director shall cooperate with the head of each appropriate Federal 
agency or department, research institute, university, and disaster-
response or nongovernmental organization to utilize the expertise and 
capabilities of such entity to carry out the purposes of the National 
Hurricane Research Initiative, including cooperation with the heads of 
the following entities:
            (1) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
            (2) The National Institute of Standards and Technology.
            (3) The Department of Homeland Security, including the 
        Federal Emergency Management Agency.
            (4) The Department of Energy.
            (5) The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency.
            (6) The Environmental Protection Agency.
            (7) The United States Geological Survey.
            (8) The Army Corps of Engineers.
    (d) Coordination.--The White House Office of Science and Technology 
Policy, through the National Science and Technology Council, shall 
coordinate the activities carried out by the United States related to 
the National Hurricane Research Initiative as a formal program with a 
well defined organizational structure and execution plan.
    (e) Grants.--
            (1) Authority.--The Undersecretary and the Director may 
        award grants to appropriate State and local governmental 
        agencies or departments, research universities or 
        nongovernmental entities to carry out the purposes described in 
        subsection (b).
            (2) Best practices.--The Under Secretary and the Director 
        shall develop and make available to the public a description of 
        best practices to be used to carry out a project with a grant 
        awarded under this subsection.
    (f) Research Seminars and Forums.--The Under Secretary and the 
Director shall carry out a series of national seminars and forums that 
assemble a broad collection of scientific disciplines to direct 
researchers to work collaboratively to carry out the purposes described 
in subsection (b).
    (g) Initial Research To Develop Improved Hurricane Intensity 
Forecasts and Impact Projections.--The Undersecretary and the Director 
shall within 120 days after the enactment of this Act issue a request 
for proposals to undertake the basic and applied research with an 
annual budget in the amounts as deemed appropriate by the Under 
Secretary and the Director to accomplish the desired research results 
during a 10-year term.
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $150,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 
2013 to carry out this section.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE DATABASE.

    (a) Requirement To Establish.--The Under Secretary and the Director 
shall establish a National Infrastructure Database for the purposes 
of--
            (1) cataloging and characterizing the physical, social, and 
        natural infrastructure in order to provide a baseline for 
        developing standards, measuring modification, and determining 
        loss;
            (2) providing information to Federal, State, and local 
        government officials to improve information public policy 
        related to hurricanes and tropical storms; and
            (3) providing data to researchers to improve their ability 
        to measure hurricane impacts, separate such impacts from other 
        effects, both natural and anthropogenic, make effective 
        recommendations for improved building codes and urban planning 
        practices, and develop effective procedures for responding to 
        infrastructure disruption.
    (b) Database Requirements.--The National Infrastructure Database 
shall be a virtual, cyber environment that uses existing capabilities 
and facilities, and establishes new capabilities and facilities, as 
appropriate, to provide an interoperable environment and the necessary 
metadata and other resources needed by users of that Database.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2013 
to carry out this section.

SEC. 5. NATIONAL HURRICANE RESEARCH MODEL.

    (a) Requirement To Establish.--The Under Secretary and the Director 
shall develop a National Hurricane Research Model to conduct 
integrative research and to facilitate the transfer of research 
knowledge to operational applications, including linking relevant 
theoretical, physical, and computational models from atmospheric, 
oceanic, economic, sociological, engineered infrastructure, and 
ecologic fields, conducting experimental research to understand the 
extensive complexities of hurricanes, training of the next-generation 
hurricane researchers and forecasters, and obtaining measurable results 
in a comprehensive framework suitable for testing end-to-end 
integrative systems.
    (b) System Requirements.--The National Hurricane Research Model 
shall be a physically distributed and highly coordinated working 
environment in which research from the National Hurricane Research 
Initiative can be experimentally substantiated using suitable 
quantitative metrics, and where a culture of interaction and 
collaboration can further be promoted, including in the areas of--
            (1) facilities and cyber infrastructure;
            (2) software integration; and
            (3) fixed mobile data collection platforms and data 
        provisioning systems.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $75,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2013 
to carry out this section.
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