[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2597 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2597

To require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make 
   certain operational models available to the public, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 15, 2019

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make 
   certain operational models available to the public, 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 ``Learning Excellence and Good 
Examples from New Developers Act of 2019'' or the ``LEGEND Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
            (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and 
        Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
        Administration.
            (3) Model.--The term ``model'' means any numerical model of 
        the Earth's system or its components produced by scientists 
        employed by the Administration.
            (4) Operational model.--The term ``operational model'' 
        means any model that has an output used by the Administration 
        for operational or public service functions.
            (5) Open source code.--The term ``open source code'' means 
        computer code or programming language that is available for 
        public use or modification.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to support innovation in modeling by allowing 
        interested stakeholders to have easy and complete access to the 
        models used by the Administration; and
            (2) to use vetted innovations arising from access provided 
        under paragraph (1) to improve modeling by the Administration.

SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO MAKE CERTAIN OPERATIONAL MODELS AVAILABLE TO THE 
              PUBLIC.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator shall make available to the 
public the following:
            (1) Current and future operational models developed by the 
        Administration, in the form of open source code for a period 
        consistent with applicable records retention requirements.
            (2) All Government-owned data, subject to redistribution 
        rights, associated with such models and used in operational 
        forecasting by the Administration, including--
                    (A) relevant metadata;
                    (B) data used for current operational forecasts; 
                and
                    (C) a description of intended model outputs.
    (b) Discretion To Make Experimental or Development Models 
Available.--The Administrator may make experimental or developmental 
models associated with development projects funded by the 
Administration available to the public as open source code.
    (c) Platform.--In carrying out subsections (a) and (b), the 
Administrator may use government servers, contracts or agreements with 
a private vendor, or any other platform consistent with the purpose of 
this Act.
    (d) Technical Correction.--Section 102(b) of the Weather Research 
Forecasting and Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8512(b)) is amended 
by redesignating the second paragraph (4) (as added by section 4(a) of 
the National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act 
of 2018 (Public Law 115-423)) as paragraph (5).
    (e) Phased Implementation.--
            (1) Immediate effect for certain models.--For operational 
        models that, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, meet 
        the requirements described in paragraph (5)(E)(ii) of section 
        102(b) of the Weather Research Forecasting and Innovation Act 
        of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8512(b)), as redesignated by subsection (d), 
        the Administrator shall implement the requirements of 
        subsection (a) as soon as practicable after such date of 
        enactment.
            (2) New models.--For operational models that meet the 
        requirements described in paragraph (1) and are created or 
        substantially updated after the date of the enactment of this 
        Act, the Administrator shall implement the requirements of 
        subsection (a) not later than 1 year after such date of 
        enactment.

SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT TO REVIEW MODELS AND LEVERAGE INNOVATIONS.

    The Administrator shall--
            (1) consistent with the mission of the Earth Prediction 
        Innovation Center, periodically review innovations and 
        improvements made by persons outside the Administration to the 
        operational models made available to the public under section 4 
        in order to improve the accuracy and timeliness of forecasts of 
        the Administration; and
            (2) if the Administrator identifies an innovation for such 
        a model the Administrator considers suitable, develop and 
        implement a plan to use the innovation to improve the model.

SEC. 6. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report on the implementation of 
this Act that includes a description of--
            (1) how operational models have been made publicly 
        available as required by section 4(a); and
            (2) the process of the Administration under section 5--
                    (A) for engaging with interested stakeholders to 
                learn what innovations those stakeholders have found;
                    (B) for reviewing those innovations; and
                    (C) for operationalizing innovations the 
                Administrator considers suitable.
    (b) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
        and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 7. PROTECTION OF NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, 
the Administrator may withhold models or data used in operational 
weather forecasting if the Administrator determines doing so to be 
necessary to protect the national security interests of the United 
States.
    (b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
to supersede any other provision of law governing the protection of the 
national security interests of the United States.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administration for 
each of fiscal years 2021 through 2026 such sums as may be necessary to 
carry out this Act.
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