[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1573 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1573

To establish regional weather forecast offices, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 15, 2015

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish regional weather forecast offices, 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 Service Improvement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

    (a) Organization.--The Administrator of the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, through the National Weather Service, shall 
develop a plan for establishing 6 regional weather forecast offices.
    (b) Plan Contents.--The plan under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) whenever possible, prioritize locating a regional 
        weather forecast office together with--
                    (A) an institution of higher education (as defined 
                in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
                U.S.C. 1001)) with an active meteorology department; or
                    (B) a State or Federal department or agency;
            (2) incorporate risk communication and decision support 
        experts in the staffing model;
            (3) ensure that local forecast quality will not be 
        degraded;
            (4) to the extent practicable, incorporate the best 
        available science when determining schedules for employees on 
        shift work in order to minimize stress on those employees, 
        while providing sufficient flexibility to temporarily increase 
        staffing during severe weather events;
            (5) provide sufficient training to minimize employee 
        displacement as a consequence of the plan; and
            (6) ensure that each regional weather forecast office has 
        on staff the expertise necessary to forecast the severe weather 
        events typical for the region.
    (c) National Research Council Plan Review.--The Secretary of 
Commerce shall contract with the National Research Council of the 
National Academy of Sciences--
            (1) to conduct a review of the scientific and technical 
        soundness of the plan developed under subsection (a), 
        including--
                    (A) an evaluation of the proposed staffing model;
                    (B) an assessment of the statistical and analytical 
                measures that should be made for a service area to form 
                an adequate basis for determining that there will be no 
                degradation of service; and
                    (C) such recommendations as the National Research 
                Council considers necessary for public safety purposes; 
                and
            (2) to submit the review under paragraph (1) to the 
        Secretary not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
        this Act.
    (d) Plan Implementation.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
submission of the review under subsection (c)(2), the Administrator of 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, through the 
National Weather Service, shall implement the plan under subsection 
(a), taking into consideration the recommendations of the National 
Research Council under subsection (c)(1)(C).
    (e) Regional Weather Forecast Offices.--
            (1) Establishment.--
                    (A) First regional weather forecast office.--Not 
                later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this 
                Act, the first regional weather forecast office shall 
                be established.
                    (B) Remaining regional weather forecast offices.--
                Except as provided in subparagraph (A), each regional 
                weather forecast office shall be established not later 
                than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
            (2) Forecast centralization.--Not later than 6 months after 
        the date that each regional weather forecast office is 
        established under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Commerce 
        shall transfer the weather forecast functions, along with 
        necessary staff, from each applicable weather forecast office 
        to adequately staff the regional weather forecast office.
    (f) Warning Coordination Meteorologists.--
            (1) In general.--The National Weather Service shall hire or 
        retain at least 1 warning coordination meteorologist at each 
        weather forecast office.
            (2) Responsibilities.--A warning coordination meteorologist 
        shall--
                    (A) be responsible for providing service to the 
                geographic area of responsibility that was previously 
                covered by a weather forecast office before the date of 
                enactment of this Act;
                    (B) interface with users of National Weather 
                Service products and services, such as the public, 
                media outlets, users in the aviation, marine, and 
                agricultural communities, and forestry, land, and water 
                management interests, to evaluate the adequacy and 
                usefulness of the products and services;
                    (C) collaborate with the appropriate regional 
                weather forecast office and State, local, and tribal 
                government agencies, as applicable, in developing, 
                proposing, and implementing plans to develop, modify, 
                or tailor National Weather Service products and 
                services to improve their usefulness;
                    (D) ensure the maintenance and accuracy of severe 
                weather call lists, appropriate office severe weather 
                policy or procedures, and other severe weather or 
                dissemination methodologies or strategies;
                    (E) work closely with State, local, and tribal 
                emergency management agencies, and other agencies 
                related to disaster management, to ensure a planned, 
                coordinated, and effective preparedness effort; and
                    (F) whenever possible, be located together with 
                State or local emergency managers.
            (3) Additional responsibilities.--A warning coordination 
        meteorologist may--
                    (A) work with relevant State government agencies in 
                developing plans for promoting more effective use of 
                National Weather Service products and services 
                throughout the State;
                    (B) identify priority community preparedness 
                objectives;
                    (C) develop plans to meet the objectives identified 
                in subparagraph (B); and
                    (D) conduct severe weather event preparedness 
                planning and citizen education efforts with and through 
                various State, local, and tribal government agencies, 
                and other disaster management-related organizations.
    (g) Forecast Investments and Improvements.--For at least 10 years 
after the date of enactment of this Act, any savings realized by the 
Department of Commerce by the centralization of weather forecast 
functions under subsection (e)(2) shall be used to improve the weather 
forecasts produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, including--
            (1) by expanding super-computing capacity;
            (2) by investing in research to improve weather forecasts;
            (3) by improving the communication of weather forecasts to 
        the public, particularly with respect to severe weather;
            (4) by obtaining ground-based observations that would 
        improve weather forecasts; and
            (5) by improving radar coverage where necessary, with an 
        emphasis on high density population centers with no radar 
        coverage.
    (h) Definition of State.--In this section, the term ``State'' means 
a State, a territory or possession of the United States, including a 
Commonwealth, or the District of Columbia.

SEC. 3. SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS COMMUNICATION.

    (a) Purpose.--For purposes of preparing the recommendations under 
subsection (b)(1)(B) and implementing the new system under subsection 
(c), the purpose of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
system for issuing severe weather watches and warnings shall be to 
reduce the loss of life due to severe weather events.
    (b) Evaluation.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the National 
        Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall--
                    (A) evaluate whether the National Oceanic and 
                Atmospheric Administration system for issuing severe 
                weather watches and warnings meets the purpose under 
                subsection (a); and
                    (B) submit to Congress a report on the evaluation 
                under subparagraph (A) and recommendations for how the 
                system can be improved and for any research necessary 
                to address the areas described in paragraph (2).
            (2) Contents.--The evaluation shall focus on the following 
        areas:
                    (A) Ways to more clearly communicate to the public 
                the risks presented by a severe weather event.
                    (B) Ways to more broadly disseminate a severe 
                weather watch or warning to the public.
                    (C) Ways that a severe weather watch or warning 
                could help to reduce the loss of life due to an extreme 
                weather event.
            (3) Consultation.--In developing the report, the 
        Administrator shall--
                    (A) consult with relevant line offices within the 
                National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, such 
                as the National Ocean Service, the National Weather 
                Service, and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Research;
                    (B) consult with the academic sector, including 
                individuals in the field of social sciences, and other 
                weather services;
                    (C) consult with media outlets that will be 
                distributing the watches and warnings; and
                    (D) utilize the services of the National Academy of 
                Sciences, as necessary.
    (c) Implementation.--Not later than 4 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and if no additional action is taken by Congress 
regarding the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration severe 
weather watches and warnings system, the Administrator of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall implement, based on the 
evaluation and report under subsection (a), a new system for issuing 
severe weather watches and warnings.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON CONTRACT POSITIONS AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 fiscal years, the 
Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
shall submit to Congress a report on the use of full-time equivalent 
contractors at the National Weather Service for the most recently 
completed fiscal year.
    (b) Contents.--The report shall include--
            (1) the total number of full-time equivalent employees at 
        the National Weather Service;
            (2) the total number of full-time equivalent contractors at 
        the National Weather Service;
            (3) the 5 most common positions filled by full-time 
        equivalent contractors at the National Weather Service;
            (4) of the contract positions identified in paragraph (3), 
        the percentage of full-time equivalent contractors in those 
        positions that have held a prior position at the National 
        Weather Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
        Administration;
            (5) the average full-time equivalent salary for Federal 
        employees at the National Weather Service;
            (6) the average full-time equivalent salary for contractors 
        at the National Weather Service; and
            (7) a description of any actions taken by the Administrator 
        of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 
        respond to the issues raised by the Department of Commerce 
        Inspector General regarding the hiring of former National 
        Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees as contractors 
        at the National Weather Service, such as the issues raised in 
        the Investigative Report dated June 2015 (OIG-12-0447).
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