[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4237 Reported in Senate (RS)]

<DOC>





                                                       Calendar No. 662
117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4237

  To establish and maintain a coordinated program within the National 
  Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that improves wildfire, fire 
weather, fire risk, and smoke related forecasting, detection, modeling, 
observations, and service delivery, and to address growing needs in the 
           wildland-urban interface, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 17, 2022

 Ms. Cantwell (for herself, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Padilla, Ms. 
Murkowski, and Ms. Rosen) introduced the following bill; which was read 
     twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation

                           December 15, 2022

              Reported by Ms. Cantwell, with an amendment
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish and maintain a coordinated program within the National 
  Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that improves wildfire, fire 
weather, fire risk, and smoke related forecasting, detection, modeling, 
observations, and service delivery, and to address growing needs in the 
           wildland-urban interface, and for other purposes.

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

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Fire 
Ready Nation Act of 2022''.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act 
is as follows:</DELETED>

<DELETED>Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
<DELETED>Sec. 2. Definitions.
<DELETED>Sec. 3. Establishment of fire weather services program.
<DELETED>Sec. 4. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data 
                            management.
<DELETED>Sec. 5. Digital fire weather services and data management.
<DELETED>Sec. 6. High-performance computing.
<DELETED>Sec. 7. Government Accountability Office report on fire 
                            weather services program.
<DELETED>Sec. 8. Fire weather testbed.
<DELETED>Sec. 9. Fire weather surveys and assessments.
<DELETED>Sec. 10. Incident Meteorologist Service.
<DELETED>Sec. 11. Automated surface observing system.
<DELETED>Sec. 12. Emergency response activities.
<DELETED>Sec. 13. Government Accountability Office report on 
                            interagency wildfire forecasting, 
                            prevention, planning, and management 
                            bodies.
<DELETED>Sec. 14. Amendments to Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 
                            relating to wildfire mitigation.
<DELETED>Sec. 15. Wildfire technology modernization amendments.
<DELETED>Sec. 16. Cooperation; coordination; support to non-Federal 
                            entities.
<DELETED>Sec. 17. International coordination.
<DELETED>Sec. 18. Submissions to Congress regarding the fire weather 
                            services program, incident meteorologist 
                            workforce needs, and National Weather 
                            Service workforce support.
<DELETED>Sec. 19. Authorization of appropriations.

<DELETED>SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    In this Act:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' 
        means the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
        Administration.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
                and Transportation of the Senate; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                Technology of the House of Representatives.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Decadal.--The term ``decadal'' means a time 
        range from multiple years to multiple decades.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) Earth system model.--The term ``Earth system 
        model'' means a mathematical model containing all components of 
        the Earth, namely the atmosphere, oceans, land, cryosphere, and 
        biosphere. The Earth system model represents the critical 
        physical, chemical, and biological processes and the 
        interactions among those processes in hydrological and 
        biogeochemical cycles that affect weather and 
        climate.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) Fire environment.--The term ``fire 
        environment'' means--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) the environmental conditions, such as 
                soil moisture, vegetation, topography, snowpack, 
                atmospheric temperature, moisture, and wind, that 
                influence--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (i) fuel and fire behavior; 
                        and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ii) smoke dispersion and 
                        transport; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) the associated environmental impacts 
                occurring during and after fire events.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) Fire weather.--The term ``fire weather'' means 
        any type of weather conditions that influence the start, 
        spread, character, or behavior of wildfire or fires at the 
        wildland-urban interface and all associated meteorological and 
        chemical phenomena, including air quality, smoke, and 
        meteorological parameters such as relative humidity, air 
        temperature, wind speed and direction, and atmospheric 
        composition and chemistry, including emissions and mixing 
        heights.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (7) Impact-based decision support services.--The 
        term ``impact-based decision support services'' means forecast 
        advice and interpretative services the Administration provides 
        to help core partners, such as emergency personnel and public 
        safety officials, make decisions when weather, water, and 
        climate impact the lives and livelihoods of the people of the 
        United States.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (8) Seasonal.--The term ``seasonal'' means a time 
        range between 3 months and 2 years.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (9) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the 
        Secretary of Commerce.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (10) Smoke.--The term ``smoke'' means emissions, 
        including the gases and particles released into the air as a 
        result of combustion.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (11) State.--The term ``State'' means a State, the 
        District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, 
        American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
        Islands, the United State Virgin Islands, the Federated States 
        of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the 
        Republic of Palau.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (12) Subseasonal.--The term ``subseasonal'' means 
        a time range between 2 weeks and 3 months.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (13) Tribal government.--The term ``Tribal 
        government'' means the recognized governing body of any Indian 
        or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, 
        community, component band, or component reservation, 
        individually identified (including parenthetically) in the list 
        published most recently as of the date of enactment of this Act 
        pursuant to section 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian 
        Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (14) Under secretary.--The term ``Under 
        Secretary'' means the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans 
        and Atmosphere.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (15) Weather enterprise.--The term ``weather 
        enterprise'' means--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) individuals, organizations, offices, 
                programs, or any other form of entity from public, 
                private, and academic sectors that contribute to the 
                research, development, and production of weather 
                forecast products; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) primary consumers of those weather 
                forecast products.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (16) Wildfire.--The term ``wildfire'' means any 
        nonstructure fire that occurs in vegetation or natural fuels, 
        originating from an unplanned ignition.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (17) Wildland-urban interface.--The term 
        ``wildland-urban interface'' means the area, zone, or region of 
        transition between unoccupied or undeveloped land and human 
        development where structures and other human development meet 
        or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative 
        fuels.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRE WEATHER SERVICES 
              PROGRAM.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary shall establish and 
maintain a coordinated fire weather services program within the 
Administration.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Program Functions.--The functions of the program 
established under subsection (a), consistent with the priorities 
described in section 101 of the Weather Research and Forecasting 
Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8511), shall be--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) to support readiness, responsiveness, 
        understanding, and overall resilience of the United States to 
        wildfires, fire weather, smoke, and other associated 
        conditions, hazards, and impacts in built and natural 
        environments and at the wildland-urban interface;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) to collaboratively disseminate accurate, 
        precise, effective, and timely risk communications, forecasts, 
        watches, and warnings relating to wildfires, fire weather, air 
        quality, smoke, and other associated conditions, hazards, and 
        impacts, as applicable, in collaboration with Federal land 
        management agencies;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) to partner with and support the public, 
        Federal, State, and Tribal governments, and academic and local 
        partners through the development of capabilities, impact-based 
        decision support services, and overall service delivery and 
        utility;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) to conduct and support research and 
        development of new and innovative models, technologies, 
        techniques, products, systems, processes, and procedures to 
        improve understanding of wildfires, fire weather, air quality, 
        the fire environment, including impacts of climate variability 
        and changing climate conditions, smoke, and associated 
        conditions, hazards, and impacts, and to transition such 
        research into effective operations;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) to develop strong research-to-operations and 
        operations-to-research transitions, in order to facilitate 
        delivery of products, services, and tools to operational users 
        and platforms; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) to develop, in coordination with Federal land 
        management agencies, impact-based decision support services 
        that operationalize and integrate the functions described in 
        paragraphs (1) through (5) in order to provide comprehensive 
        impact-based decision support services that encompass the fire 
        environment.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Program Priorities.--In developing and implementing 
the program established under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall 
prioritize--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) development of a fire weather-enabled Earth 
        system model and data assimilation systems that--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) are capable of prediction and 
                forecasting across all timescales;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) include variables associated with fire 
                weather, air quality from smoke, and the fire 
                environment, and other variables, as determined by the 
                Under Secretary;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) improve understanding of the 
                connections between fire weather and modes of climate 
                variability; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (D) incorporate emerging techniques such 
                as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud 
                computing;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) advancement of observational capabilities, 
        including satellite-, airborne-, air-, and ground-based systems 
        and technologies that--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) identify--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (i) high-risk pre-ignition 
                        conditions;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ii) conditions that influence 
                        fire behavior and spread including those 
                        conditions that suppress active fire events; 
                        and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (iii) fire risk values;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) support real-time notification of 
                ignitions;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) support observations and data 
                collection of fire weather and fire environment 
                variables for development of the model and systems 
                under paragraph (1); and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (D) support forecasts and advancing 
                understanding and research of the impacts of wildfires 
                on human health, ecosystems, climate, transportation, 
                and economies; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) development and implementation of advanced and 
        user-oriented impact-based decision tools, science, and 
        technologies that--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) ensure real-time and retrospective 
                data, products, and services are findable, accessible, 
                interoperable, usable, inform further research, and are 
                analysis- and decision-ready;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) provide targeted information 
                throughout the fire lifecycle including pre-ignition, 
                detection, forecasting, post-fire, and monitoring 
                phases; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) support early assessment of post-fire 
                hazards, such as air quality, debris flows, mudslides, 
                and flooding.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Program Activities.--In developing and implementing 
the program established under subsection (a), the Under Secretary may--
</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) conduct relevant physical and social science 
        research activities in support of the functions described in 
        subsection (b) and the priorities described in subsection 
        (c);</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) conduct relevant activities, in coordination 
        with Federal land management agencies, to assess fuel 
        characteristics, including moisture, loading, and other 
        parameters used to determine fire risk levels and 
        outlooks;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) support and conduct research that assesses 
        impacts to marine, riverine, and other relevant ecosystems, 
        which may include forest and rangeland ecosystems, resulting 
        from activities associated with mitigation of and response to 
        wildfires;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) support and conduct attribution science 
        research relating to wildfires, fire weather, fire risk, smoke, 
        and associated conditions, risks, and impacts;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) develop smoke and air quality forecasts, 
        forecast guidance, and prescribed burn weather forecasts, and 
        conduct research on the impact of such forecasts on response 
        behavior that minimizes health-related impacts from smoke 
        exposure;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) use, in coordination with Federal land 
        management agencies, wildland fire resource intelligence to 
        inform fire environment impact-based decision support products 
        and services for safety;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (7) evaluate and provide data, tools, and services 
        to support determinations for the implementation of mitigation 
        measures such as prescribed burns and selective 
        thinning;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (8) provide comprehensive training to ensure staff 
        of the program established under subsection (a) is properly 
        equipped to deliver the impact-based decision support products 
        and services described in paragraphs (1) through (6); 
        and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (9) acquire through contracted purchase private 
        sector-produced observational data to fill identified gaps, as 
        needed.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (e) Collaboration; Agreements.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Collaboration.--The Under Secretary shall, as 
        the Under Secretary considers appropriate, collaborate and 
        consult with partners in the weather and climate enterprises, 
        academic institutions, States, Tribal governments, local 
        partners, and Federal agencies, including land and fire 
        management agencies, in the development and implementation of 
        the program established under subsection (a).</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Agreements.--The Under Secretary may enter 
        into agreements in support of the functions described in 
        subsection (b), the priorities described in subsection (c), the 
        activities described in subsection (d), and activities carried 
        out under section 8.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 4. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION DATA 
              MANAGEMENT.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    Section 301 of the Weather Research and Forecasting 
Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8531) is amended--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as 
        subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the 
        following:</DELETED>
<DELETED>    ``(f) Data Availability and Management.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall--
        </DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) make data and metadata generated or 
                collected by the National Oceanic and Administration 
                that the Under Secretary has the legal right to 
                redistribute fully and openly available, in accordance 
                with chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code and the 
                Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 
                (Public Law 115-435; 132 Stat. 5529) and the amendments 
                made by that Act, and preserve and curate such data and 
                metadata, in accordance with chapter 31 of title 44, 
                United States Code (commonly known as the `Federal 
                Records Act of 1950'), in order to maximize use of such 
                data and metadata; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) manage and steward the access, 
                archival, and retrieval activities for the data and 
                metadata described in subparagraph (A) by--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(i) using--</DELETED>
                                <DELETED>    ``(I) enterprise-wide 
                                infrastructure, emerging technologies, 
                                commercial partnerships, and the 
                                skilled workforce needed to provide 
                                appropriate data management from 
                                collection to broad access; 
                                and</DELETED>
                                <DELETED>    ``(II) associated 
                                information services; and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(ii) pursuing the maximum 
                        interoperability of data and information by--
                        </DELETED>
                                <DELETED>    ``(I) leveraging data, 
                                information, knowledge, and tools from 
                                across the Federal Government to 
                                support equitable access, cross-
                                sectoral collaboration and innovation, 
                                and local planning and decision-making; 
                                and</DELETED>
                                <DELETED>    ``(II) developing 
                                standards and practices for the 
                                adoption and citation of digital object 
                                identifiers for datasets, models, and 
                                analytical tools.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(2) Collaboration.--In carrying out this 
        subsection, the Under Secretary shall collaborate with such 
        Federal partners and stakeholders as the Under Secretary 
        considers relevant--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) to develop standards to pursue 
                maximum interoperability of data, information, 
                knowledge, and tools across the Federal Government, 
                convert historical records into common digital formats, 
                and improve access and usability of data by partners 
                and stakeholders;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) to identify and solicit relevant 
                data from Federal and international partners and other 
                relevant stakeholders, as the Under Secretary considers 
                appropriate; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(C) to develop standards and practices 
                for the adoption and citation of digital object 
                identifiers for datasets, models, and analytical 
                tools.''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 5. DIGITAL FIRE WEATHER SERVICES AND DATA 
              MANAGEMENT.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) In General.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Digital presence.--The Under Secretary shall 
        develop and maintain a comprehensive, centralized, and publicly 
        accessible digital presence designed to promote findability, 
        accessibility, interoperability, usability, and utility of the 
        services, tools, data, and information produced by the program 
        established under section 3(a).</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Digital platform and tools.--In carrying out 
        paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) seek to ensure the digital platform 
                and tools of the Administration integrate geospatial 
                data, decision support tools, training, and best 
                practices to provide real-time fire weather forecasts 
                and address fire-related issues and needs; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) strive to enhance community 
                resilience, ecosystem values, and economic growth and 
                development by helping communities and other users of 
                the digital platform and tools address their issues, 
                needs, and challenges through maximum usability and 
                utility.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Public Availability.--The Under Secretary shall make 
all data, research, reports, findings, surveys, and assessments 
relevant to the program established under section 3(a), as determined 
by the Under Secretary, available in a publicly accessible digital 
format.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Internet-Based Tools.--In carrying out subsections (a) 
and (b), the Under Secretary shall develop and implement internet-based 
tools, such as webpages and smartphone and other mobile applications, 
to increase utility and access to services and products for the benefit 
of users.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Data Management.--The Under Secretary shall develop 
and maintain services that provide public access to digital fire 
weather data and information--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) to improve understanding and historical 
        analysis of wildfire and fire weather science, including 
        inventories of fire emissions required for multi-decadal model 
        runs;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) to support--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) the archiving, stewardship, utility, 
                and preservation of wildfire and fire weather data 
                including satellite-, ground-, airborne-, and air-based 
                observations; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) real-time and retrospective model 
                forecasts;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) to promote findability, interoperability, 
        analysis- and decision-readiness, and reusability of historical 
        and near real-time data across Federal, State, Tribal, and 
        local users, including ensuring digital access and machine-
        readability of historical fire weather records; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) to support equitable access, cross-sectoral 
        collaboration and innovation, and local planning and decision 
        making.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 6. HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary shall seek to acquire 
sufficient high-performance computing resources and capacity for 
research, operations, and data storage in support of the program 
established under section 3(a).</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Considerations.--In acquiring high-performance 
computing capacity under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall 
consider requirements needed for--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) the transition of research and testbed 
        developments into operations; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) skilled workforce development.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 7. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT ON FIRE 
              WEATHER SERVICES PROGRAM.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) In General.--Not later than 5 years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit to Congress a report on the program established under 
section 3(a).</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) 
shall--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) evaluate the performance of the program by 
        establishing initial baseline capabilities and tracking 
        progress made toward fully operationalizing the functions 
        described in section 3(b);</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) assess the efficacy of cross-agency 
        collaboration and stakeholder engagement in carrying out the 
        program and provide recommendations to improve such 
        activities;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) assess the program for inefficiencies, 
        identify duplicative efforts across Federal efforts, and 
        provide relevant recommendations; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) include such other recommendations as the 
        Comptroller General determines are appropriate to improve the 
        program.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 8. FIRE WEATHER TESTBED.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Establishment of Fire Weather Testbed.--The Under 
Secretary shall establish a fire weather testbed that enables 
engagement across the Federal Government, State and local governments, 
academia, private and federally funded research laboratories, the 
private sector, and end-users in order to evaluate the accuracy and 
usability of technology, models, fire weather products and services, 
and other research to accelerate the implementation, transition to 
operations, and use of new capabilities by the Administration, Federal 
and land management agencies, and other relevant 
stakeholders.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Uncrewed Aircraft Systems.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall--
        </DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) research and assess the role and 
                potential of uncrewed aircraft systems to improve data 
                collection in support of modeling, observations, 
                predictions, forecasts, and impact-based decision 
                support services; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) transition uncrewed aircraft systems 
                technologies from research to operations as the Under 
                Secretary considers appropriate.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Pilot required.--In carrying out paragraph 
        (1), not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 
        this Act, the Under Secretary shall conduct at least 1 pilot of 
        uncrewed aircraft systems for fire weather and fire environment 
        observations.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Savings clause.--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) In general.--In carrying out 
                activities under this subsection, the Under Secretary 
                shall ensure that any testing or deployment of uncrewed 
                aircraft systems follow procedures, restrictions, and 
                protocols established by the heads of the Federal 
                agencies with statutory or regulatory jurisdiction over 
                any airspace in which wildfire response activities are 
                conducted during an active wildfire event.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) Consultation and coordination.--The 
                Under Secretary shall consult and coordinate with 
                relevant Federal land management agencies and the 
                Federal Aviation Administration to develop processes 
                for the appropriate deployment of the systems described 
                in subparagraph (A).</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 9. FIRE WEATHER SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Annual Post-Fire-Weather Season Survey and 
Assessment.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--During the second winter 
        following the enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, 
        the Under Secretary shall conduct a post-fire-weather season 
        survey and assessment.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Elements.--After conducting a post-fire-
        weather season survey and assessment under paragraph (1), the 
        Under Secretary shall--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) investigate any gaps in data collected 
                during the assessment;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) identify and implement strategies and 
                procedures to improve program services and information 
                dissemination;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) update systems, processes, strategies, 
                and procedures to enhance the efficiency and 
                reliability of data obtained from the 
                assessment;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (D) evaluate the accuracy and efficacy of 
                physical fire weather forecasting information for each 
                incident included in the survey and assessment; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (E) assess and refine performance 
                measures, as needed.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Surveys and Assessments Following Individual Wildfire 
Events.--The Under Secretary may conduct surveys and assessments 
following individual wildfire events as the Under Secretary determines 
necessary.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Goal.--In carrying out activities under this section, 
the Under Secretary shall seek to increase the number of post-wildfire 
community impact studies, including by surveying individual and 
collective responses and incorporating other applicable topics of 
social science research.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Annual Briefing.--Not less frequently than once each 
year, the Under Secretary shall provide a briefing to the appropriate 
committees of Congress that provides--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) an overview of the fire season; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) an outlook for the fire season for the coming 
        year.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (e) Coordination.--In conducting any survey or assessment 
under this section, the Under Secretary shall coordinate with Federal, 
State, and local partners, Tribal governments, private entities, and 
such institutions of higher education as the Under Secretary considers 
relevant in order to--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) improve operations and collaboration; 
        and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) optimize data collection, sharing, 
        integration, assimilation, and dissemination.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (f) Data Availability.--The Under Secretary shall make the 
data and findings obtained from each assessment conducted under this 
section available to the public in an accessible digital format as soon 
as practicable after conducting the assessment.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (g) Service Improvements.--The Under Secretary shall make 
best efforts to incorporate the results and recommendations of each 
assessment conducted under this section into the research and 
development plan and operations of the Administration.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 10. INCIDENT METEOROLOGIST SERVICE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Establishment.--The Under Secretary shall establish 
and maintain an Incident Meteorologist Service within the National 
Weather Service (in this section referred to as the 
``Service'').</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Inclusion of Existing Incident Meteorologists.--The 
Service shall include--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) the incident meteorologists of the 
        Administration as of the date of this enactment of this Act; 
        and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) such incident meteorologists of the 
        Administration as may be appointed after such date.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Functions.--The Service shall provide--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) on-site impact-based decision support services 
        to Federal, State, Tribal government, and local government 
        emergency response agencies preceding, during, and following 
        wildland fires or other events that threaten life or property, 
        including high-impact and extreme weather events; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) support to Federal, State, Tribal government, 
        and local government decision makers, partners, and 
        stakeholders for seasonal planning.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Deployment.--The Service shall be deployed--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) as determined by the Under Secretary; 
        or</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) at the request of the head of another Federal 
        agency.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (e) Staffing and Resources.--In establishing and 
maintaining the Service, the Under Secretary shall identify, acquire, 
and maintain adequate levels of staffing and resources to meet user 
needs.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (f) Symbol.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--The Under Secretary may--
        </DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) create, adopt, and publish in the 
                Federal Register a symbol for the Service; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) restrict the use of such symbol as 
                appropriate.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Use of symbol.--The Under Secretary may 
        authorize the use of a symbol adopted under this subsection by 
        any individual or entity as the Under Secretary considers 
        appropriate.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Contract authority.--The Under Secretary may 
        award contracts for the creation of symbols under this 
        subsection.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) Offense.--It shall be unlawful for any 
        person--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) to represent themselves as an official 
                of the Service absent the designation or approval of 
                the Under Secretary;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) to manufacture, reproduce, or 
                otherwise use any symbol adopted by the Under Secretary 
                under this subsection, including to sell any item 
                bearing such a symbol, unless authorized by the Under 
                Secretary; or</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) to violate any regulation promulgated 
                by the Secretary under this subsection.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (g) Support for Incident Meteorologists.--The Under 
Secretary shall provide resources, access to real-time fire weather 
forecasts, training, administrative and logistical support, and access 
to professional counseling or other forms of support as the Under 
Secretary considers appropriate for the betterment of the emotional and 
mental health and well-being of incident meteorologists and other 
employees of the Administration involved with response to high-impact 
and extreme fire weather events.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 11. AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVING SYSTEM.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Joint Assessment and Plan.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--The Under Secretary, in 
        collaboration with the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
        Administration and the Secretary of Defense, shall--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) conduct an assessment of resources, 
                personnel, procedures, and activities necessary to 
                maximize the functionality and utility of the automated 
                surface observing system of the United States that 
                identifies--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (i) key system upgrades needed to 
                        improve observation quality and utility for 
                        weather forecasting, aviation safety, and other 
                        users;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ii) improvements needed in 
                        observations within the planetary boundary 
                        layer, including mixing height;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (iii) improvements needed in 
                        public accessibility of observational 
                        data;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (iv) improvements needed to reduce 
                        latency in reporting of observational 
                        data;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (v) relevant data to be collected 
                        for the production of forecasts or forecast 
                        guidance relating to atmospheric composition, 
                        including particulate and air quality data, and 
                        aviation safety;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (vi) areas of concern regarding 
                        operational continuity and reliability of the 
                        system, which may include needs for on-night 
                        staff, particularly in remote and rural areas 
                        and areas where system failure would have the 
                        greatest negative impact to the 
                        community;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (vii) stewardship, data handling, 
                        data distribution, and product generation needs 
                        arising from upgrading and changing the 
                        automated surface observation 
                        systems;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (viii) possible solutions for 
                        areas of concern identified under clause (vi), 
                        including with respect to the potential use of 
                        backup systems, power and communication system 
                        reliability, staffing needs and personnel 
                        location, and the acquisition of critical 
                        component backups and proper storage location 
                        to ensure rapid system repair necessary to 
                        ensure system operational continuity; 
                        and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ix) research, development, and 
                        transition to operations needed to develop 
                        advanced data collection, quality control, and 
                        distribution so that the data are provided to 
                        models, users, and decision support systems in 
                        a timely manner; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) develop and implement a plan that 
                addresses the findings of the assessment conducted 
                under subparagraph (A), including by seeking and 
                allocating resources necessary to ensure that system 
                upgrades are standardized across the Administration, 
                the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department 
                of Defense to the extent practicable.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Standardization.--Any system standardization 
        implemented under paragraph (1)(B) shall not impede activities 
        to upgrade or improve individual units of the system.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Remote automatic weather station 
        coordination.--The Under Secretary, in collaboration with 
        relevant Federal agencies and the National Interagency Fire 
        Center, shall assess and develop cooperative agreements to 
        improve coordination, interoperability standards, operations, 
        and placement of remote automatic weather stations for the 
        purpose of improving utility and coverage of remote automatic 
        weather stations, automated surface observation systems, and 
        other similar stations and systems for weather and climate 
        operations.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Report to Congress.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary, in 
        collaboration with the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
        Administration and the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to 
        the appropriate committees of Congress a report that--
        </DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) details the findings of the assessment 
                required by subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1); 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) the plan required by subparagraph (B) 
                of such subsection.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph 
        (1) shall include a detailed assessment of appropriations 
        required--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) to address the findings of the 
                assessment required by subparagraph (A) of subsection 
                (a)(1); and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) to implement the plan required by 
                subparagraph (B) of such subsection.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Government Accountability Office Report.--Not later 
than 4 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a 
report that--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) evaluates the functionality, utility, 
        reliability, and operational status of the automated surface 
        observing system across the Administration, the Federal 
        Aviation Administration, and the Department of 
        Defense;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) evaluates the progress, performance, and 
        implementation of the plan required by subsection 
        (a)(1)(B);</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) assesses the efficacy of cross-agency 
        collaboration and stakeholder engagement in carrying out the 
        plan and provides recommendations to improve such 
        activities;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) evaluates the operational continuity and 
        reliability of the system, particularly in remote and rural 
        areas and areas where system failure would have the greatest 
        negative impact to the community, and provides recommendations 
        to improve such continuity and reliability;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) assesses Federal coordination regarding the 
        remote automatic weather station network, air resource 
        advisors, and other Federal observing assets used for weather 
        and climate modeling and response activities, and provides 
        recommendations for improvements; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) includes such other recommendations as the 
        Comptroller General determines are appropriate to improve the 
        system.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 12. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIVITIES.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Definitions.--In this section:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Basic pay.--The term ``basic pay'' includes 
        any applicable locality-based comparability payment under 
        section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, any applicable 
        special rate supplement under section 5305 of such title, or 
        any equivalent payment under a similar provision of 
        law.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Covered employee.--The term ``covered 
        employee'' means an employee of the Department of 
        Commerce.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Covered services.--The term ``covered 
        services'' means services performed by a covered employee 
        while--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) serving as an incident meteorologist 
                accompanying a wildland firefighter crew;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) serving--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (i) on an incident management 
                        team;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ii) as an emergency response 
                        specialist;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (iii) at the National Interagency 
                        Fire Center;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (iv) at a Geographic Area 
                        Coordination Center; or</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (v) at an operations center; 
                        or</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) serving in a capacity determined by 
                the Secretary, or the Under Secretary acting on behalf 
                of the Secretary, to be primarily relating to emergency 
                response activities.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) Employee.--The term ``employee'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 2105 of title 5, United 
        States Code.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) Premium pay.--The term ``premium pay'' means 
        premium pay for the purposes of section 5547(a) of title 5, 
        United States Code.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Waiver.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--Any premium pay received by a 
        covered employee for covered services shall be disregarded in 
        calculating the aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay for 
        the covered employee for purposes of applying the limitation on 
        premium pay under section 5547(a) of title 5, United States 
        Code.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Limitation.--A covered employee may be paid 
        premium pay that is disregarded under paragraph (1) only to the 
        extent that the aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay paid 
        to that covered employee in the applicable calendar year, 
        including premium pay that is disregarded under that paragraph, 
        does not exceed the rate of basic pay for a position at level 
        II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, 
        United States Code, as in effect at the end of that calendar 
        year.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Application.--If the application of subsection (b) 
results in the payment of additional pay to a covered employee of a 
type that is normally creditable as basic pay for retirement or any 
other purpose, that additional pay shall not--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) be considered to be basic pay of the covered 
        employee for any purpose; or</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) be used in computing a lump-sum payment to the 
        covered employee for accumulated and accrued annual leave under 
        section 5551 or 5552 of title 5, United States Code.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Amendment.--Section 5542(a)(5) of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting ``, the Department of Commerce,'' 
after ``Interior''.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (e) Effective Date.--This section and the amendment made 
by this section shall take effect as if enacted on January 1, 
2020.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (f) Derivation of Funds.--Any amounts used to pay covered 
employees for covered services shall not be derived from amounts made 
available to the Administration or amounts saved by reducing the number 
of full-time-equivalent employees of the Administration.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (g) Policies and Procedures for Health, Safety, and Well-
Being.--The Under Secretary shall maintain policies and procedures that 
ensure that the deployment of a covered employee to perform a covered 
service will not compromise the health, safety, and well-being of the 
covered employee.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 13. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT ON 
              INTERAGENCY WILDFIRE FORECASTING, PREVENTION, PLANNING, 
              AND MANAGEMENT BODIES.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to 
Congress a report that--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) identifies all Federal interagency bodies 
        established for the purpose of wildfire forecasting, 
        prevention, planning, and management (such as wildfire 
        councils, commissions, and workgroups), including--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) the Wildland Fire Leadership 
                Council;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) the National Interagency Fire 
                Center;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) the Wildland Fire Management Policy 
                Committee;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (D) the Wildland Fire Mitigation and 
                Management Commission;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (E) the National Interagency Fire 
                Center;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (F) the National Interagency Coordination 
                Center;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (G) the National Predictive Services 
                Oversight Group;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (H) the Interagency Council for Advancing 
                Meteorological Services;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (I) the National Wildfire Coordinating 
                Group;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (J) the National Multi-Agency Coordinating 
                Group; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (K) the Mitigation Framework Leadership 
                Group;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) evaluates the roles, functionality, and 
        utility of such interagency bodies;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) evaluates the progress, performance, and 
        implementation of such interagency bodies;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) assesses efficacy and identifies potential 
        overlap and duplication of such interagency bodies in carrying 
        out interagency collaboration with respect to wildfire 
        prevention, planning, and management; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) includes such other recommendations as the 
        Comptroller General determines are appropriate to streamline 
        and improve wildfire forecasting, prevention, planning, and 
        management, including recommendations regarding the interagency 
        bodies for which the addition of the Administration is 
        necessary to improve wildfire forecasting, prevention, 
        planning, and management.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 14. AMENDMENTS TO INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS ACT 
              RELATING TO WILDFIRE MITIGATION.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 
117-58; 135 Stat. 429) is amended--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) in section 70202--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) in paragraph (1)--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (i) in subparagraph (J), by 
                        striking ``; and'' and inserting a 
                        semicolon;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ii) in subparagraph (K), by 
                        striking the period at the end and inserting a 
                        semicolon; and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (iii) by adding at the end the 
                        following:</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(L) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
                and Transportation of the Senate; and'';</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(M) the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                Technology of the House of Representatives.''; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) in paragraph (6)--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (i) in subparagraph (B), by 
                        striking ``; and'' and inserting a 
                        semicolon;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ii) in subparagraph (C), by 
                        striking the period at the end and inserting 
                        ``; and''; and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (iii) by adding at the end the 
                        following:</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(D) The Secretary of Commerce, acting 
                through the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and 
                Atmosphere.''; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) in section 70203(b)(1)(B)--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 
                striking ``9'' and inserting ``not fewer than 
                10'';</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) in clause (i)--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (i) in subclause (IV), by striking 
                        ``; and'' and inserting a semicolon;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ii) in subclause (V), by adding 
                        ``and'' at the end; and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (iii) by adding at the end the 
                        following:</DELETED>
                                <DELETED>    ``(VI) the National 
                                Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                                Administration.'';</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) in clause (iv), by striking ``; and'' 
                and inserting a semicolon; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (D) by adding at the end the 
                following:</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(vi) if the Secretaries 
                        determine it to be appropriate, 1 or more 
                        representatives from the relevant line offices 
                        of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                        Administration; and''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 15. WILDFIRE TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION 
              AMENDMENTS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    Section 1114 of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, 
Management, and Recreation Act (43 U.S.C. 1748b-1) is amended--
</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting ``the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,'' after 
        ``Federal Aviation Administration,'';</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) in subsection (e)(2)--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 
                subparagraph (C); and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 
                the following:</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) Consultation.--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(i) In general.--In carrying out 
                        subparagraph (A), the Secretaries shall consult 
                        with the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans 
                        and Atmosphere regarding any development of 
                        impact-based decision support services that 
                        relate to wildlife-related activities of the 
                        National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                        Administration.</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(ii) Definition of impact-based 
                        decision support services.--In this 
                        subparagraph, the term `impact-based decision 
                        support services' means forecast advice and 
                        interpretative services the National Oceanic 
                        and Atmospheric Administration provides to help 
                        core partners, such as emergency personnel and 
                        public safety officials, make decisions when 
                        weather, water, and climate impact the lives 
                        and livelihoods of the people of the United 
                        States.''; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) in subsection (f)--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and 
                (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and 
                moving such subparagraphs, as so redesignated, 2 ems to 
                the right;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) by striking ``The Secretaries'' and 
                inserting the following:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(1) In general.--The Secretaries''; 
        and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) by adding at the end the 
                following:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(2) Collaboration.--In carrying out paragraph 
        (1), the Secretaries shall collaborate with the Under Secretary 
        of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to improve coordination, 
        utility of systems and assets, and interoperability of data for 
        smoke prediction, forecasting, and modeling.''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 16. COOPERATION; COORDINATION; SUPPORT TO NON-FEDERAL 
              ENTITIES.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Cooperation.--Each Federal agency shall cooperate and 
coordinate with the Under Secretary, as appropriate, in carrying out 
this Act and the amendments made by this Act.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Coordination.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--In meeting the requirements under 
        this Act and the amendments made by this Act, the Under 
        Secretary shall coordinate, and as appropriate, establish 
        agreements with Federal and external partners to fully use and 
        leverage existing assets, systems, networks, technologies, and 
        sources of data.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Inclusions.--Coordination carried out under 
        paragraph (1) shall include coordination with--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) the National Interagency Fire Center, 
                including the Predictive Services Program that provides 
                impact-based decision support services to the wildland 
                fire community at the Geographic Area Coordination 
                Center and the National Interagency Coordination 
                Center;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) the National Wildfire Coordinating 
                Group; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) relevant interagency bodies identified 
                in the report required by section 13.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Consultation.--In carrying out this 
        subsection, the Under Secretary shall consult with Federal 
        partners including--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) the National Aeronautics and Space 
                Administration;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) the Department of the 
                Interior;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) the Federal Emergency Management 
                Agency;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (D) the National Science 
                Foundation;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (E) the United States Geological 
                Survey;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (F) the Department of 
                Agriculture;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (G) the Environmental Protection 
                Agency;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (H) the Department of Energy;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (I) the Department of Defense;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (J) the National Institute of Standards 
                and Technology; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (K) such other departments and agencies as 
                the Under Secretary considers relevant.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Coordination With Non-Federal Entities.--Not later 
than 540 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under 
Secretary shall develop and submit to the appropriate committees of 
Congress a process for annual coordination with Tribal, State, and 
local governments to assist the development of improved fire weather 
products and services.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Support to Non-Federal Entities.--In carrying out the 
activities under this Act and the amendments made by this Act, the 
Under Secretary may provide support to non-Federal entities by making 
funds and resources available through--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) competitive grants;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) contracts under the mobility program under 
        subchapter VI of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code 
        (commonly referred to as the ``Intergovernmental Personnel Act 
        Mobility Program'');</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) cooperative agreements; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) colocation agreements as described in section 
        502 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
        Commissioned Officer Corps Amendments Act of 2020 (33 U.S.C. 
        851 note prec.).</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 17. INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary may develop 
collaborative relationships and agreements with foreign partners and 
counterparts to address transboundary issues pertaining to wildfires, 
fire weather, smoke, air quality, and associated conditions and hazards 
or other relevant meteorological phenomena, as appropriate, to 
facilitate full and open exchange of data and information.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Consultation.--In carrying out activities under this 
section, the Under Secretary shall consult with the Department of State 
and such other Federal partners as the Under Secretary considers 
relevant.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 18. SUBMISSIONS TO CONGRESS REGARDING THE FIRE WEATHER 
              SERVICES PROGRAM, INCIDENT METEOROLOGIST WORKFORCE NEEDS, 
              AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WORKFORCE SUPPORT.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Report to Congress.--Not later than 540 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall submit to 
the appropriate committees of Congress--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) the plan described in subsection 
        (b);</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) the assessment described in subsection (c); 
        and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) the assessment described in subsection 
        (d).</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Fire Weather Services Program Plan.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Elements.--The plan submitted under subsection 
        (a)(1) shall detail--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) the observational data, modeling 
                requirements, ongoing computational needs, research, 
                development, and technology transfer activities, data 
                management, skilled-personnel requirements, engagement 
                with relevant Federal emergency and land management 
                agencies and partners, and corresponding resources and 
                timelines necessary to achieve the functions described 
                in subsection (b) of section 3 and the priorities 
                described in subsection (c) of such section; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) plans and needs for all other 
                activities and requirements under this Act and the 
                amendments made by this Act.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Submittal of annual budget for plan.--
        Following completion of the plan submitted under subsection 
        (a)(1), the Under Secretary shall, not less frequently than 
        once each year concurrent with the submission of the budget by 
        the President to Congress under section 1105 of title 31, 
        submit to Congress a proposed budget corresponding with the 
        elements detailed in the plan.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Incident Meteorologist Workforce Needs Assessment.--
</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall conduct 
        a workforce needs assessment on the current and future demand 
        for additional incident meteorologists for wildfires and other 
        high-impact fire weather events.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Elements.--The assessment required by 
        paragraph (1) shall include the following:</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) A description of staffing levels as of 
                the date on which the assessment is submitted under 
                subsection (a)(2) and projected future staffing 
                levels.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) An assessment of the state of the 
                infrastructure of the National Weather Service as of 
                the date on which the assessment is submitted and 
                future needs of such infrastructure in order to meet 
                current and future demands, including with respect to 
                information technology support and logistical and 
                administrative operations.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Considerations.--In conducting the assessment 
        required by paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall consider 
        factors including projected climate conditions, infrastructure, 
        all hazard meteorological response system equipment, user 
        needs, and feedback from relevant stakeholders.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Support Services Assessment.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall conduct 
        a workforce support services assessment with respect to 
        employees of the National Weather Service engaged in emergency 
        response.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Elements.--The assessment required by 
        paragraph (1) shall include the following:</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) An assessment of need for further 
                support of employees of the National Weather Service 
                engaged in emergency response through services provided 
                by the Public Health Service.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) A detailed assessment of 
                appropriations required to secure the level of support 
                services needed as identified in the assessment 
                described in subparagraph (A).</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Additional support services.--Following the 
        completion of the assessment required by paragraph (1), the 
        Under Secretary shall seek to acquire additional support 
        services to meet the needs identified in the 
        assessment.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 19. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    There is authorized to be appropriated to the 
Administration to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this 
Act--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2023;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) $125,000,000 for fiscal year 2024;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) $135,000,000 for fiscal year 2025;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 
        and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2027.</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Fire Ready Nation 
Act of 2022''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Establishment of fire weather services program.
Sec. 4. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data 
                            management.
Sec. 5. Digital fire weather services and data management.
Sec. 6. High-performance computing.
Sec. 7. Government Accountability Office report on fire weather 
                            services program.
Sec. 8. Fire weather testbed.
Sec. 9. Fire weather surveys and assessments.
Sec. 10. Incident Meteorologist Service.
Sec. 11. Automated surface observing system.
Sec. 12. Emergency response activities.
Sec. 13. Government Accountability Office report on interagency 
                            wildfire forecasting, prevention, planning, 
                            and management bodies.
Sec. 14. Amendments to Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act relating 
                            to wildfire mitigation.
Sec. 15. Wildfire technology modernization amendments.
Sec. 16. Cooperation; coordination; support to non-Federal entities.
Sec. 17. International coordination.
Sec. 18. Submissions to Congress regarding the fire weather services 
                            program, incident meteorologist workforce 
                            needs, and National Weather Service 
                            workforce support.
Sec. 19. Government Accountability Office report; Fire Science and 
                            Technology Working Group; strategic plan.
Sec. 20. Fire weather rating system.
Sec. 21. Avoidance of duplication.
Sec. 22. Authorization of appropriations.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
            (2) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                Transportation of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
                of the House of Representatives.
            (3) Earth system model.--The term ``Earth system model'' 
        means a mathematical model containing all relevant components 
        of the Earth, namely the atmosphere, oceans, land, cryosphere, 
        and biosphere.
            (4) Fire environment.--The term ``fire environment'' 
        means--
                    (A) the environmental conditions, such as soil 
                moisture, vegetation, topography, snowpack, atmospheric 
                temperature, moisture, and wind, that influence--
                            (i) fuel and fire behavior; and
                            (ii) smoke dispersion and transport; and
                    (B) the associated environmental impacts occurring 
                during and after fire events.
            (5) Fire weather.--The term ``fire weather'' means the 
        weather conditions that influence the start, spread, character, 
        or behavior of wildfire or fires at the wildland-urban 
        interface and relevant meteorological and chemical phenomena, 
        including air quality, smoke, and meteorological parameters 
        such as relative humidity, air temperature, wind speed and 
        direction, and atmospheric composition and chemistry, including 
        emissions and mixing heights.
            (6) Impact-based decision support services.--The term 
        ``impact-based decision support services'' means forecast 
        advice and interpretative services the Administration provides 
        to help core partners, such as emergency personnel and public 
        safety officials, make decisions when weather, water, and 
        climate impact the lives and livelihoods of the people of the 
        United States.
            (7) Seasonal.--The term ``seasonal'' has the meaning given 
        that term in section 2 of the Weather Research and Forecasting 
        Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501).
            (8) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Commerce.
            (9) Smoke.--The term ``smoke'' means emissions, including 
        the gases and particles released into the air as a result of 
        combustion.
            (10) State.--The term ``State'' means a State, the District 
        of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American 
        Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 
        United State Virgin Islands, the Federated States of 
        Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the 
        Republic of Palau.
            (11) Subseasonal.--The term ``subseasonal'' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 2 of the Weather Research and 
        Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501).
            (12) Tribal government.--The term ``Tribal government'' 
        means the recognized governing body of any Indian or Alaska 
        Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, community, 
        component band, or component reservation, individually 
        identified (including parenthetically) in the list published 
        most recently as of the date of enactment of this Act pursuant 
        to section 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List 
        Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).
            (13) Under secretary.--The term ``Under Secretary'' means 
        the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.
            (14) Weather enterprise.--The term ``weather enterprise'' 
        has the meaning given that term in section 2 of the Weather 
        Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 
        8501).
            (15) Wildfire.--The term ``wildfire'' means any non-
        structure fire that occurs in vegetation or natural fuels, 
        originating from an unplanned ignition.
            (16) Wildland-urban interface.--The term ``wildland-urban 
        interface'' means the area, zone, or region of transition 
        between unoccupied or undeveloped land and human development 
        where structures and other human development meet or 
        intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRE WEATHER SERVICES PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary shall establish and maintain a 
coordinated fire weather services program among the offices of the 
Administration in existence as of the date of the enactment of this Act 
and designated by the Under Secretary.
    (b) Program Functions.--The functions of the program established 
under subsection (a), consistent with the priorities described in 
section 101 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 
2017 (15 U.S.C. 8511), shall be--
            (1) to support readiness, responsiveness, understanding, 
        and overall resilience of the United States to wildfires, fire 
        weather, smoke, and other associated conditions, hazards, and 
        impacts in built and natural environments and at the wildland-
        urban interface;
            (2) to collaboratively develop and disseminate accurate, 
        precise, effective, and timely risk communications, forecasts, 
        watches, and warnings relating to wildfires, fire weather, 
        smoke, and other associated conditions, hazards, and impacts, 
        as applicable, with Federal land management agencies;
            (3) to partner with and support the public, Federal, State, 
        and Tribal governments, and academic and local partners through 
        the development of capabilities, impact-based decision support 
        services, and overall service delivery and utility;
            (4) to conduct and support research and development of new 
        and innovative models, technologies, techniques, products, 
        systems, processes, and procedures to improve understanding of 
        wildfires, fire weather, air quality, and the fire environment;
            (5) to develop strong research-to-operations and 
        operations-to-research transitions, in order to facilitate 
        delivery of products, services, and tools to operational users 
        and platforms; and
            (6) to develop, in coordination with Federal land 
        management agencies, impact-based decision support services 
        that operationalize and integrate the functions described in 
        paragraphs (1) through (5) in order to provide comprehensive 
        impact-based decision support services that encompass the fire 
        environment.
    (c) Program Priorities.--In developing and implementing the program 
established under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall 
prioritize--
            (1) development of a fire weather-enabled Earth system 
        model and data assimilation systems that--
                    (A) are capable of prediction and forecasting 
                across relevant spatial and temporal timescales;
                    (B) include variables associated with fire weather, 
                air quality from smoke, and the fire environment;
                    (C) improve understanding of the connections 
                between fire weather and modes of climate variability; 
                and
                    (D) incorporate emerging techniques such as 
                artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud 
                computing;
            (2) advancement of existing and new observational 
        capabilities, including satellite-, airborne-, air-, and 
        ground-based systems and technologies and social networking and 
        other public information-gathering applications that--
                    (A) identify--
                            (i) high-risk pre-ignition conditions;
                            (ii) conditions that influence fire 
                        behavior and spread including those conditions 
                        that suppress active fire events; and
                            (iii) fire risk values;
                    (B) support real-time notification and monitoring 
                of ignitions;
                    (C) support observations and data collection of 
                fire weather and fire environment variables, including 
                smoke, for development of the model and systems under 
                paragraph (1); and
                    (D) support forecasts and advancing understanding 
                and research of the impacts of wildfires on human 
                health, ecosystems, climate, transportation, and 
                economies; and
            (3) development and implementation of advanced and user-
        oriented impact-based decision tools, science, and technologies 
        that--
                    (A) ensure real-time and retrospective data, 
                products, and services are findable, accessible, 
                interoperable, usable, inform further research, and are 
                analysis- and decision-ready;
                    (B) provide targeted information throughout the 
                fire lifecycle including pre-ignition, detection, 
                forecasting, post-fire, and monitoring phases; and
                    (C) support early assessment of post-fire hazards, 
                such as air quality, debris flows, mudslides, and 
                flooding.
    (d) Program Activities.--In developing and implementing the program 
established under subsection (a), the Under Secretary may--
            (1) conduct relevant physical and social science research 
        activities in support of the functions described in subsection 
        (b) and the priorities described in subsection (c);
            (2) conduct relevant activities, in coordination with 
        Federal land management agencies and Federal science agencies, 
        to assess fuel characteristics, including moisture, loading, 
        and other parameters used to determine fire risk levels and 
        outlooks;
            (3) support and conduct research that assesses impacts to 
        marine, riverine, and other relevant ecosystems, which may 
        include forest and rangeland ecosystems, resulting from 
        activities associated with mitigation of and response to 
        wildfires;
            (4) support and conduct attribution science research 
        relating to wildfires, fire weather, fire risk, smoke, and 
        associated conditions, risks, and impacts;
            (5) develop smoke and air quality forecasts, forecast 
        guidance, and prescribed burn weather forecasts, and conduct 
        research on the impact of such forecasts on response behavior 
        that minimizes health-related impacts from smoke exposure;
            (6) use, in coordination with Federal land management 
        agencies, wildland fire resource intelligence to inform fire 
        environment impact-based decision support products and services 
        for safety;
            (7) work with Federal agencies to provide data, tools, and 
        services to support determinations by such agencies for the 
        implementation of mitigation measures;
            (8) provide training and support to ensure effective media 
        utilization of impact-based decision support products and 
        guidance to the public regarding actions needing to be taken;
            (9) provide comprehensive training to ensure staff of the 
        program established under subsection (a) is properly equipped 
        to deliver the impact-based decision support products and 
        services described in paragraphs (1) through (6); and
            (10) acquire through contracted purchase private sector-
        produced observational data to fill identified gaps, as needed.
    (e) Collaboration; Agreements.--
            (1) Collaboration.--The Under Secretary shall, as the Under 
        Secretary considers appropriate, collaborate and consult with 
        partners in the weather and climate enterprises, academic 
        institutions, States, Tribal governments, local partners, and 
        Federal agencies, including land and fire management agencies, 
        in the development and implementation of the program 
        established under subsection (a).
            (2) Agreements.--The Under Secretary may enter into 
        agreements in support of the functions described in subsection 
        (b), the priorities described in subsection (c), the activities 
        described in subsection (d), and activities carried out under 
        section 8.
    (f) Program Administration Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall submit to 
        the appropriate committees of Congress a plan that details how 
        the program established under subsection (a) will be 
        administered and governed within the Administration.
            (2) Elements.--The plan required by paragraph (1) should 
        include a description of--
                    (A) how the functions described in subsection (b), 
                the priorities described in subsection (c), and the 
                activities described in subsection (d) will be 
                distributed among the line offices of the 
                Administration; and
                    (B) the mechanisms in place to ensure seamless 
                coordination among those offices.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION DATA 
              MANAGEMENT.

    Section 301 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act 
of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8531) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as subsections 
        (g) and (h), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
    ``(f) Data Availability and Management.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) make data and metadata generated or collected 
                by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
                that the Under Secretary has the legal right to 
                redistribute fully and openly available, in accordance 
                with chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, and 
                the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 
                2018 (Public Law 115-435; 132 Stat. 5529) and the 
                amendments made by that Act, and preserve and curate 
                such data and metadata, in accordance with chapter 31 
                of title 44, United States Code (commonly known as the 
                `Federal Records Act of 1950'), in order to maximize 
                use of such data and metadata; and
                    ``(B) manage and steward the access, archival, and 
                retrieval activities for the data and metadata 
                described in subparagraph (A) by--
                            ``(i) using--
                                    ``(I) enterprise-wide 
                                infrastructure, emerging technologies, 
                                commercial partnerships, and the 
                                skilled workforce needed to provide 
                                appropriate data management from 
                                collection to broad access; and
                                    ``(II) associated information 
                                services; and
                            ``(ii) pursuing the maximum 
                        interoperability of data and information by--
                                    ``(I) leveraging data, information, 
                                knowledge, and tools from across the 
                                Federal Government to support equitable 
                                access, cross-sectoral collaboration 
                                and innovation, and local planning and 
                                decision-making; and
                                    ``(II) developing standards and 
                                practices for the adoption and citation 
                                of digital object identifiers for 
                                datasets, models, and analytical tools.
            ``(2) Collaboration.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        Under Secretary shall collaborate with such Federal partners 
        and stakeholders as the Under Secretary considers relevant--
                    ``(A) to develop standards to pursue maximum 
                interoperability of data, information, knowledge, and 
                tools across the Federal Government, convert historical 
                records into common digital formats, and improve access 
                and usability of data by partners and stakeholders;
                    ``(B) to identify and solicit relevant data from 
                Federal and international partners and other relevant 
                stakeholders, as the Under Secretary considers 
                appropriate; and
                    ``(C) to develop standards and practices for the 
                adoption and citation of digital object identifiers for 
                datasets, models, and analytical tools.''.

SEC. 5. DIGITAL FIRE WEATHER SERVICES AND DATA MANAGEMENT.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Digital presence.--The Under Secretary shall develop 
        and maintain a comprehensive, centralized, and publicly 
        accessible digital presence designed to promote findability, 
        accessibility, interoperability, usability, and utility of the 
        services, tools, data, and information produced by the program 
        established under section 3(a).
            (2) Digital platform and tools.--In carrying out paragraph 
        (1), the Under Secretary shall seek to ensure the digital 
        platform and tools of the Administration integrate geospatial 
        data, decision support tools, training, and best practices to 
        provide real-time fire weather forecasts and address fire-
        related issues and needs.
    (b) Internet-based Tools.--In carrying out subsections (a) and (b), 
the Under Secretary shall develop and implement internet-based tools, 
such as webpages and smartphone and other mobile applications, to 
increase utility and access to services and products for the benefit of 
users.

SEC. 6. HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING.

    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary shall seek to acquire 
sufficient high-performance computing resources and capacity for 
research, operations, and data storage in support of the program 
established under section 3(a).
    (b) Considerations.--In acquiring high-performance computing 
capacity under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall consider 
requirements needed for--
            (1) conducting research and development;
            (2) the transition of research and testbed developments 
        into operations;
            (3) capabilities existing in other Federal agencies and the 
        commercial sector; and
            (4) skilled workforce development.

SEC. 7. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT ON FIRE WEATHER 
              SERVICES PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 3 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit to Congress a report on the program established under 
section 3(a).
    (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall--
            (1) evaluate the performance of the program by establishing 
        initial baseline capabilities and tracking progress made toward 
        fully operationalizing the functions described in section 3(b); 
        and
            (2) include such other recommendations as the Comptroller 
        General determines are appropriate to improve the program.

SEC. 8. FIRE WEATHER TESTBED.

    (a) Establishment of Fire Weather Testbed.--The Under Secretary 
shall establish a fire weather testbed that enables engagement across 
the Federal Government, State and local governments, academia, private 
and federally funded research laboratories, the private sector, and 
end-users in order to evaluate the accuracy and usability of 
technology, models, fire weather products and services, and other 
research to accelerate the implementation, transition to operations, 
and use of new capabilities by the Administration, Federal and land 
management agencies, and other relevant stakeholders.
    (b) Uncrewed Aircraft Systems.--
            (1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall--
                    (A) research and assess the role and potential of 
                uncrewed aircraft systems to improve data collection in 
                support of modeling, observations, predictions, 
                forecasts, and impact-based decision support services;
                    (B) transition uncrewed aircraft systems 
                technologies from research to operations as the Under 
                Secretary considers appropriate; and
                    (C) coordinate with other Federal agencies that may 
                be developing uncrewed aircraft systems and related 
                technologies to meet the challenges of wildland fire 
                management.
            (2) Pilot required.--In carrying out paragraph (1), not 
        later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
        the Under Secretary shall conduct pilots of uncrewed aircraft 
        systems for fire weather and fire environment observations, 
        including--
                    (A) testing of unscrewed systems in approximations 
                of real-world scenarios;
                    (B) assessment of the utility of meteorological 
                data collected from fire response and assessment 
                aircraft;
                    (C) input of the collected data into appropriate 
                models to predict fire behavior, including coupled 
                atmosphere and fire models; and
                    (D) collection of best management practices for 
                deployment of unscrewed systems and other remote data 
                technology, including for communication and 
                coordination between the stakeholders described in 
                subsection (a).
            (3) Prohibition.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as provided under 
                subparagraphs (B) and (C), the Under Secretary may not 
                procure any covered unmanned aircraft system that is 
                manufactured or assembled by a covered foreign entity, 
                which includes associated elements (consisting of 
                communication links and the components that control the 
                unmanned aircraft) that are required for the operator 
                to operate safely and efficiently in the national 
                airspace system. The Federal Acquisition Security 
                Council, in coordination with the Secretary of 
                Transportation, shall develop and update a list of 
                associated elements.
                    (B) Exemption.--The Under Secretary, in 
                consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
                is exempt from the prohibition under subparagraph (A) 
                if the operation or procurement is necessary for the 
                sole purpose of marine or atmospheric science or 
                management.
                    (C) Waiver.--The Under Secretary may waive the 
                prohibition under subparagraph (A) on a case-by-case 
                basis--
                            (i) with the approval of the Secretary of 
                        Homeland Security or the Secretary of Defense; 
                        and
                            (ii) upon notification to Congress.
                    (D) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            (i) Covered foreign entity.--The term 
                        ``covered foreign entity'' means an entity 
                        included on a list developed and maintained by 
                        the Federal Acquisition Security Council. The 
                        list shall include entities in the following 
                        categories:
                                    (I) An entity included on the 
                                Consolidated Screening List.
                                    (II) Any entity that is subject to 
                                extrajudicial direction from a foreign 
                                government, as determined by the 
                                Secretary of Homeland Security.
                                    (III) Any entity the Secretary of 
                                Homeland Security, in coordination with 
                                the Director of National Intelligence 
                                and the Secretary of Defense, 
                                determines poses a national security 
                                risk.
                                    (IV) Any entity domiciled in the 
                                People's Republic of China or subject 
                                to influence or control by the 
                                Government of the People's Republic of 
                                China or the Communist Party of the 
                                People's Republic of China, as 
                                determined by the Secretary of Homeland 
                                Security.
                                    (V) Any subsidiary or affiliate of 
                                an entity described in subclauses (I) 
                                through (IV).
                            (ii) Covered unmanned aircraft system.--The 
                        term ``covered unmanned aircraft system'' has 
                        the meaning given the term ``unmanned aircraft 
                        system'' in section 44801 of title 49, United 
                        States Code.
            (4) Savings clause.--
                    (A) In general.--In carrying out activities under 
                this subsection, the Under Secretary shall ensure that 
                any testing or deployment of uncrewed aircraft systems 
                follow procedures, restrictions, and protocols 
                established by the heads of the Federal agencies with 
                statutory or regulatory jurisdiction over any airspace 
                in which wildfire response activities are conducted 
                during an active wildfire event.
                    (B) Consultation and coordination.--The Under 
                Secretary shall consult and coordinate with relevant 
                Federal land management agencies, Federal science 
                agencies, and the Federal Aviation Administration to 
                develop processes for the appropriate deployment of the 
                systems described in subparagraph (A).
    (c) Additional Pilot Projects.--The Under Secretary shall establish 
additional pilot projects relating to the fire weather testbed that may 
include the following elements:
            (1) Advanced satellite detection products.
            (2) Procurement and use of commercial data.

SEC. 9. FIRE WEATHER SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS.

    (a) Annual Post-fire-weather Season Survey and Assessment.--
            (1) In general.--During the second winter following the 
        enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, the Under 
        Secretary shall conduct a post-fire-weather season survey and 
        assessment.
            (2) Elements.--After conducting a post-fire-weather season 
        survey and assessment under paragraph (1), the Under Secretary 
        shall--
                    (A) investigate any gaps in data collected during 
                the assessment;
                    (B) identify and implement strategies and 
                procedures to improve program services and information 
                dissemination;
                    (C) update systems, processes, strategies, and 
                procedures to enhance the efficiency and reliability of 
                data obtained from the assessment;
                    (D) evaluate the accuracy and efficacy of physical 
                fire weather forecasting information for each incident 
                included in the survey and assessment; and
                    (E) assess and refine performance measures, as 
                needed.
    (b) Surveys and Assessments Following Individual Wildfire Events.--
The Under Secretary may conduct surveys and assessments following 
individual wildfire events as the Under Secretary determines necessary.
    (c) Goal.--In carrying out activities under this section, the Under 
Secretary shall seek to increase the number of post-wildfire community 
impact studies, including by surveying individual and collective 
responses and incorporating other applicable topics of social science 
research.
    (d) Annual Briefing.--Not less frequently than once each year, the 
Under Secretary shall provide a briefing to the appropriate committees 
of Congress that provides--
            (1) an overview of the fire season; and
            (2) an outlook for the fire season for the coming year.
    (e) Coordination.--In conducting any survey or assessment under 
this section, the Under Secretary shall coordinate with Federal, State, 
and local partners, Tribal governments, private entities, and such 
institutions of higher education as the Under Secretary considers 
relevant in order to--
            (1) improve operations and collaboration; and
            (2) optimize data collection, sharing, integration, 
        assimilation, and dissemination.
    (f) Data Availability.--The Under Secretary shall make the data and 
findings obtained from each assessment conducted under this section 
available to the public in an accessible digital format as soon as 
practicable after conducting the assessment.
    (g) Service Improvements.--The Under Secretary shall make best 
efforts to incorporate the results and recommendations of each 
assessment conducted under this section into the research and 
development plan and operations of the Administration.

SEC. 10. INCIDENT METEOROLOGIST SERVICE.

    (a) Establishment.--The Under Secretary shall establish and 
maintain an Incident Meteorologist Service within the National Weather 
Service (in this section referred to as the ``Service'').
    (b) Inclusion of Existing Incident Meteorologists.--The Service 
shall include--
            (1) the incident meteorologists of the Administration as of 
        the date of the enactment of this Act; and
            (2) such incident meteorologists of the Administration as 
        may be appointed after such date.
    (c) Functions.--The Service shall provide--
            (1) on-site impact-based decision support services to 
        Federal, State, Tribal government, and local government 
        emergency response agencies preceding, during, and following 
        wildland fires or other events that threaten life or property, 
        including high-impact and extreme weather events; and
            (2) support to Federal, State, Tribal government, and local 
        government decision makers, partners, and stakeholders for 
        seasonal planning.
    (d) Deployment.--The Service shall be deployed--
            (1) as determined by the Under Secretary; or
            (2) at the request of the head of another Federal agency 
        and with the approval of the Under Secretary.
    (e) Staffing and Resources.--In establishing and maintaining the 
Service, the Under Secretary shall identify, acquire, and maintain 
adequate levels of staffing and resources to meet user needs.
    (f) Symbol.--
            (1) In general.--The Under Secretary may--
                    (A) create, adopt, and publish in the Federal 
                Register a symbol for the Service; and
                    (B) restrict the use of such symbol as appropriate.
            (2) Use of symbol.--The Under Secretary may authorize the 
        use of a symbol adopted under this subsection by any individual 
        or entity as the Under Secretary considers appropriate.
            (3) Contract authority.--The Under Secretary may award 
        contracts for the creation of symbols under this subsection.
            (4) Offense.--It shall be unlawful for any person--
                    (A) to represent themselves as an official of the 
                Service absent the designation or approval of the Under 
                Secretary;
                    (B) to manufacture, reproduce, or otherwise use any 
                symbol adopted by the Under Secretary under this 
                subsection, including to sell any item bearing such a 
                symbol, unless authorized by the Under Secretary; or
                    (C) to violate any regulation promulgated by the 
                Secretary under this subsection.
    (g) Support for Incident Meteorologists.--The Under Secretary shall 
provide resources, access to real-time fire weather forecasts, 
training, administrative and logistical support, and access to 
professional counseling or other forms of support as the Under 
Secretary considers appropriate for the betterment of the emotional and 
mental health and well-being of incident meteorologists and other 
employees of the Administration involved with response to high-impact 
and extreme fire weather events.

SEC. 11. AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVING SYSTEM.

    (a) Joint Assessment and Plan.--
            (1) In general.--The Under Secretary, in collaboration with 
        the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and 
        the Secretary of Defense, shall--
                    (A) conduct an assessment of resources, personnel, 
                procedures, and activities necessary to maximize the 
                functionality and utility of the automated surface 
                observing system of the United States that identifies--
                            (i) key system upgrades needed to improve 
                        observation quality and utility for weather 
                        forecasting, aviation safety, and other users;
                            (ii) improvements needed in observations 
                        within the planetary boundary layer, including 
                        mixing height;
                            (iii) improvements needed in public 
                        accessibility of observational data;
                            (iv) improvements needed to reduce latency 
                        in reporting of observational data;
                            (v) relevant data to be collected for the 
                        production of forecasts or forecast guidance 
                        relating to atmospheric composition, including 
                        particulate and air quality data, and aviation 
                        safety;
                            (vi) areas of concern regarding operational 
                        continuity and reliability of the system, which 
                        may include needs for on-night staff, 
                        particularly in remote and rural areas and 
                        areas where system failure would have the 
                        greatest negative impact to the community;
                            (vii) stewardship, data handling, data 
                        distribution, and product generation needs 
                        arising from upgrading and changing the 
                        automated surface observation systems;
                            (viii) possible solutions for areas of 
                        concern identified under clause (vi), including 
                        with respect to the potential use of backup 
                        systems, power and communication system 
                        reliability, staffing needs and personnel 
                        location, and the acquisition of critical 
                        component backups and proper storage location 
                        to ensure rapid system repair necessary to 
                        ensure system operational continuity; and
                            (ix) research, development, and transition 
                        to operations needed to develop advanced data 
                        collection, quality control, and distribution 
                        so that the data are provided to models, users, 
                        and decision support systems in a timely 
                        manner; and
                    (B) develop and implement a plan that addresses the 
                findings of the assessment conducted under subparagraph 
                (A), including by seeking and allocating resources 
                necessary to ensure that system upgrades are 
                standardized across the Administration, the Federal 
                Aviation Administration, and the Department of Defense 
                to the extent practicable.
            (2) Standardization.--Any system standardization 
        implemented under paragraph (1)(B) shall not impede activities 
        to upgrade or improve individual units of the system.
            (3) Remote automatic weather station coordination.--The 
        Under Secretary, in collaboration with relevant Federal 
        agencies and the National Interagency Fire Center, shall assess 
        and develop cooperative agreements to improve coordination, 
        interoperability standards, operations, and placement of remote 
        automatic weather stations for the purpose of improving utility 
        and coverage of remote automatic weather stations, automated 
        surface observation systems, smoke monitoring platforms, and 
        other similar stations and systems for weather and climate 
        operations.
    (b) Report to Congress.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary, in 
        collaboration with the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
        Administration and the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to 
        the appropriate committees of Congress a report that--
                    (A) details the findings of the assessment required 
                by subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1); and
                    (B) the plan required by subparagraph (B) of such 
                subsection.
            (2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall 
        include a detailed assessment of appropriations required--
                    (A) to address the findings of the assessment 
                required by subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1); and
                    (B) to implement the plan required by subparagraph 
                (B) of such subsection.
    (c) Government Accountability Office Report.--Not later than 4 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report that--
            (1) evaluates the functionality, utility, reliability, and 
        operational status of the automated surface observing system 
        across the Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, 
        and the Department of Defense;
            (2) evaluates the progress, performance, and implementation 
        of the plan required by subsection (a)(1)(B);
            (3) assesses the efficacy of cross-agency collaboration and 
        stakeholder engagement in carrying out the plan and provides 
        recommendations to improve such activities;
            (4) evaluates the operational continuity and reliability of 
        the system, particularly in remote and rural areas and areas 
        where system failure would have the greatest negative impact to 
        the community, and provides recommendations to improve such 
        continuity and reliability;
            (5) assesses Federal coordination regarding the remote 
        automatic weather station network, air resource advisors, and 
        other Federal observing assets used for weather and climate 
        modeling and response activities, and provides recommendations 
        for improvements; and
            (6) includes such other recommendations as the Comptroller 
        General determines are appropriate to improve the system.

SEC. 12. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Basic pay.--The term ``basic pay'' includes any 
        applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 
        5304 of title 5, United States Code, any applicable special 
        rate supplement under section 5305 of such title, or any 
        equivalent payment under a similar provision of law.
            (2) Covered employee.--The term ``covered employee'' means 
        an employee of the Department of Commerce.
            (3) Covered services.--The term ``covered services'' means 
        services performed by a covered employee while serving as an 
        incident meteorologist accompanying a wildland firefighter 
        crew.
            (4) Employee.--The term ``employee'' has the meaning given 
        that term in section 2105 of title 5, United States Code.
            (5) Premium pay.--The term ``premium pay'' means premium 
        pay for the purposes of section 5547(a) of title 5, United 
        States Code.
    (b) Waiver.--
            (1) In general.--Any premium pay received by a covered 
        employee for covered services shall be disregarded in 
        calculating the aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay for 
        the covered employee for purposes of applying the limitation on 
        premium pay under section 5547(a) of title 5, United States 
        Code.
            (2) Limitation.--A covered employee may be paid premium pay 
        that is disregarded under paragraph (1) only to the extent that 
        the aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay paid to that 
        covered employee in the applicable calendar year, including 
        premium pay that is disregarded under that paragraph, does not 
        exceed the rate of basic pay for a position at level II of the 
        Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States 
        Code, as in effect at the end of that calendar year.
    (c) Application.--If the application of subsection (b) results in 
the payment of additional pay to a covered employee of a type that is 
normally creditable as basic pay for retirement or any other purpose, 
that additional pay shall not--
            (1) be considered to be basic pay of the covered employee 
        for any purpose; or
            (2) be used in computing a lump-sum payment to the covered 
        employee for accumulated and accrued annual leave under section 
        5551 or 5552 of title 5, United States Code.
    (d) Amendment.--Section 5542(a)(5) of title 5, United States Code, 
is amended by inserting ``, the Department of Commerce,'' after 
``Interior''.
    (e) Effective Date.--This section and the amendment made by this 
section shall take effect as if enacted on January 1, 2020.
    (f) Policies and Procedures for Health, Safety, and Well-being.--
The Under Secretary shall maintain polices and procedures to promote 
the health, safety, and well-being of covered employees.

SEC. 13. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT ON INTERAGENCY 
              WILDFIRE FORECASTING, PREVENTION, PLANNING, AND 
              MANAGEMENT BODIES.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a 
report that--
            (1) identifies all Federal interagency bodies established 
        for the purpose of wildfire forecasting, prevention, planning, 
        and management (such as wildfire councils, commissions, and 
        workgroups), including--
                    (A) the Wildland Fire Leadership Council;
                    (B) the National Interagency Fire Center;
                    (C) the Wildland Fire Management Policy Committee;
                    (D) the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management 
                Commission;
                    (E) the Joint Science Fire Program;
                    (F) the National Interagency Coordination Center;
                    (G) the National Predictive Services Oversight 
                Group;
                    (H) the Interagency Council for Advancing 
                Meteorological Services;
                    (I) the National Wildfire Coordinating Group;
                    (J) the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group; 
                and
                    (K) the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group;
            (2) evaluates the roles, functionality, and utility of such 
        interagency bodies;
            (3) evaluates the progress, performance, and implementation 
        of such interagency bodies;
            (4) assesses efficacy and identifies potential overlap and 
        duplication of such interagency bodies in carrying out 
        interagency collaboration with respect to wildfire prevention, 
        planning, and management; and
            (5) includes such other recommendations as the Comptroller 
        General determines are appropriate to streamline and improve 
        wildfire forecasting, prevention, planning, and management, 
        including recommendations regarding the interagency bodies for 
        which the addition of the Administration is necessary to 
        improve wildfire forecasting, prevention, planning, and 
        management.

SEC. 14. AMENDMENTS TO INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS ACT RELATING 
              TO WILDFIRE MITIGATION.

    The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58; 135 
Stat. 429) is amended--
            (1) in section 70202--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (J), by striking ``; 
                        and'' and inserting a semicolon;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (K), by striking the 
                        period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 
                        and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(L) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                Transportation of the Senate; and
                    ``(M) the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                Technology of the House of Representatives.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (6)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``; 
                        and'' and inserting a semicolon;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking the 
                        period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) The Secretary of Commerce, acting through the 
                Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and 
                Atmosphere.''; and
            (2) in section 70203(b)(1)(B)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking 
                ``9'' and inserting ``not fewer than 10'';
                    (B) in clause (i)--
                            (i) in subclause (IV), by striking ``; 
                        and'' and inserting a semicolon;
                            (ii) in subclause (V), by adding ``and'' at 
                        the end; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                                    ``(VI) the National Oceanic and 
                                Atmospheric Administration.'';
                    (C) in clause (iv), by striking ``; and'' and 
                inserting a semicolon; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(vi) if the Secretaries determine it to 
                        be appropriate, 1 or more representatives from 
                        the relevant line offices of the National 
                        Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and''.

SEC. 15. WILDFIRE TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION AMENDMENTS.

    Section 1114 of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, 
and Recreation Act (43 U.S.C. 1748b-1) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting ``the National 
        Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,'' after ``Federal 
        Aviation Administration,'';
            (2) in subsection (e)(2)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 
                subparagraph (C); and
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the 
                following:
                    ``(B) Consultation.--
                            ``(i) In general.--In carrying out 
                        subparagraph (A), the Secretaries shall consult 
                        with the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans 
                        and Atmosphere regarding any development of 
                        impact-based decision support services that 
                        relate to wildlife-related activities of the 
                        National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                        Administration.
                            ``(ii) Definition of impact-based decision 
                        support services.--In this subparagraph, the 
                        term `impact-based decision support services' 
                        means forecast advice and interpretative 
                        services the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                        Administration provides to help core partners, 
                        such as emergency personnel and public safety 
                        officials, make decisions when weather, water, 
                        and climate impact the lives and livelihoods of 
                        the people of the United States.''; and
            (3) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and moving 
                such subparagraphs, as so redesignated, 2 ems to the 
                right;
                    (B) by striking ``The Secretaries'' and inserting 
                the following:
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretaries''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Collaboration.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the 
        Secretaries shall collaborate with the Under Secretary of 
        Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to improve coordination, 
        utility of systems and assets, and interoperability of data for 
        smoke prediction, forecasting, and modeling.''.

SEC. 16. COOPERATION; COORDINATION; SUPPORT TO NON-FEDERAL ENTITIES.

    (a) Cooperation.--Each Federal agency shall cooperate and 
coordinate with the Under Secretary, as appropriate, in carrying out 
this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
    (b) Coordination.--
            (1) In general.--In meeting the requirements under this Act 
        and the amendments made by this Act, the Under Secretary shall 
        coordinate, and as appropriate, establish agreements with 
        Federal and external partners to fully use and leverage 
        existing assets, systems, networks, technologies, and sources 
        of data.
            (2) Inclusions.--Coordination carried out under paragraph 
        (1) shall include coordination with--
                    (A) the National Interagency Fire Center, including 
                the Predictive Services Program that provides impact-
                based decision support services to the wildland fire 
                community at the Geographic Area Coordination Center 
                and the National Interagency Coordination Center;
                    (B) the National Wildfire Coordinating Group; and
                    (C) relevant interagency bodies identified in the 
                report required by section 13.
            (3) Consultation.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        Under Secretary shall consult with Federal partners including--
                    (A) the National Aeronautics and Space 
                Administration;
                    (B) the Department of the Interior;
                    (C) the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
                    (D) the National Science Foundation;
                    (E) the United States Geological Survey;
                    (F) the Department of Agriculture;
                    (G) the Environmental Protection Agency;
                    (H) the Department of Energy;
                    (I) the Department of Defense;
                    (J) the National Institute of Standards and 
                Technology; and
                    (K) such other departments and agencies as the 
                Under Secretary considers relevant.
    (c) Coordination With Non-Federal Entities.--Not later than 540 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 
shall develop and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 
process for annual coordination with Tribal, State, and local 
governments to assist the development of improved fire weather products 
and services.
    (d) Support to Non-Federal Entities.--In carrying out the 
activities under this Act and the amendments made by this Act, the 
Under Secretary may provide support to non-Federal entities by making 
funds and resources available through--
            (1) competitive grants;
            (2) contracts under the mobility program under subchapter 
        VI of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code (commonly 
        referred to as the ``Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility 
        Program'');
            (3) cooperative agreements; and
            (4) colocation agreements as described in section 502 of 
        the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
        Commissioned Officer Corps Amendments Act of 2020 (33 U.S.C. 
        851 note prec.).

SEC. 17. INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION.

    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary may develop collaborative 
relationships and agreements with foreign partners and counterparts to 
address transboundary issues pertaining to wildfires, fire weather, 
smoke, air quality, and associated conditions and hazards or other 
relevant meteorological phenomena, as appropriate, to facilitate full 
and open exchange of data and information.
    (b) Consultation.--In carrying out activities under this section, 
the Under Secretary shall consult with the Department of State and such 
other Federal partners as the Under Secretary considers relevant.

SEC. 18. SUBMISSIONS TO CONGRESS REGARDING THE FIRE WEATHER SERVICES 
              PROGRAM, INCIDENT METEOROLOGIST WORKFORCE NEEDS, AND 
              NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WORKFORCE SUPPORT.

    (a) Report to Congress.--Not later than 540 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall submit to the 
appropriate committees of Congress--
            (1) the plan described in subsection (b);
            (2) the assessment described in subsection (c); and
            (3) the assessment described in subsection (d).
    (b) Fire Weather Services Program Plan.--
            (1) Elements.--The plan submitted under subsection (a)(1) 
        shall detail--
                    (A) the observational data, modeling requirements, 
                ongoing computational needs, research, development, and 
                technology transfer activities, data management, 
                skilled-personnel requirements, engagement with 
                relevant Federal emergency and land management agencies 
                and partners, and corresponding resources and timelines 
                necessary to achieve the functions described in 
                subsection (b) of section 3 and the priorities 
                described in subsection (c) of such section; and
                    (B) plans and needs for all other activities and 
                requirements under this Act and the amendments made by 
                this Act.
            (2) Submittal of annual budget for plan.--Following 
        completion of the plan submitted under subsection (a)(1), the 
        Under Secretary shall, not less frequently than once each year 
        concurrent with the submission of the budget by the President 
        to Congress under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, 
        submit to Congress a proposed budget corresponding with the 
        elements detailed in the plan.
    (c) Incident Meteorologist Workforce Needs Assessment.--
            (1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall conduct a 
        workforce needs assessment on the current and future demand for 
        additional incident meteorologists for wildfires and other 
        high-impact fire weather events.
            (2) Elements.--The assessment required by paragraph (1) 
        shall include the following:
                    (A) A description of staffing levels as of the date 
                on which the assessment is submitted under subsection 
                (a)(2) and projected future staffing levels.
                    (B) An assessment of the state of the 
                infrastructure of the National Weather Service as of 
                the date on which the assessment is submitted and 
                future needs of such infrastructure in order to meet 
                current and future demands, including with respect to 
                information technology support and logistical and 
                administrative operations.
            (3) Considerations.--In conducting the assessment required 
        by paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall consider factors 
        including projected climate conditions, infrastructure, 
        relevant hazard meteorological response system equipment, user 
        needs, and feedback from relevant stakeholders.
    (d) Support Services Assessment.--
            (1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall conduct a 
        workforce support services assessment with respect to employees 
        of the National Weather Service engaged in emergency response.
            (2) Elements.--The assessment required by paragraph (1) 
        shall include the following:
                    (A) An assessment of need for further support of 
                employees of the National Weather Service engaged in 
                emergency response through services provided by the 
                Public Health Service.
                    (B) A detailed assessment of appropriations 
                required to secure the level of support services needed 
                as identified in the assessment described in 
                subparagraph (A).
            (3) Additional support services.--Following the completion 
        of the assessment required by paragraph (1), the Under 
        Secretary shall seek to acquire additional support services to 
        meet the needs identified in the assessment.

SEC. 19. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT; FIRE SCIENCE AND 
              TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP; STRATEGIC PLAN.

    (a) Government Accountability Office Report.--Not later than 1 year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 
the United States shall submit to Congress a report that identifies--
            (1) the authorities, roles, and science and support 
        services relating to wildland fire prediction, detection, 
        forecasting, modeling, resilience, response, management, and 
        assessment provided by--
                    (A) the Department of Commerce, including the 
                Administration and the National Institute of Standards 
                and Technology;
                    (B) the National Aeronautics and Space 
                Administration;
                    (C) the Department of the Interior;
                    (D) the Department of Agriculture;
                    (E) the National Science Foundation;
                    (F) the Department of Energy;
                    (G) the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
                    (H) the Department of Transportation;
                    (I) the Environmental Protection Agency; and
                    (J) the Department of Defense; and
            (2) recommended areas in and mechanisms by which the 
        agencies listed under paragraph (1) could support and improve--
                    (A) coordination between Federal agencies, State 
                and local governments, Tribal governments, and other 
                relevant stakeholders, including through examination of 
                possible public-private partnerships;
                    (B) research and development, including 
                interdisciplinary research, related to fire 
                environments, wildland fires, associated smoke, and the 
                impacts of such environments, fires, and smoke, in 
                furtherance of a coordinated interagency effort to 
                address wildland fire risk reduction;
                    (C) data management and stewardship, the 
                development and coordination of data systems and 
                computational tools, and the creation of a centralized, 
                integrated data collaboration environment for agency 
                data, including historical data, relating to weather, 
                fire environments, wildland fires, associated smoke, 
                and the impacts of such environments, fires, and smoke, 
                and the assessment of wildland fire risk mitigation 
                measures;
                    (D) interoperability, usability, and accessibility 
                of the scientific data, data systems, and computational 
                and information tools of the agencies listed under 
                paragraph (1);
                    (E) coordinated public safety communications 
                relating to fire weather events, fire hazards, and 
                wildland fire and smoke risk reduction strategies; and
                    (F) secure and accurate real-time data, alerts, and 
                advisories to wildland firefighters and other decision 
                support tools for wildland fire incident command posts.
    (b) Fire Science and Technology Working Group.--
            (1) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Executive Director of the 
        Interagency Committee for Advancing Weather Services 
        established under section 402 of the Weather Research and 
        Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8542) (in this 
        section referred to as the ``Interagency Committee'') shall 
        establish a working group, to be known as the ``Fire Science 
        and Technology Working Group'' (in this section referred to as 
        the ``Working Group'').
            (2) Chair.--The Working Group shall be chaired by the Under 
        Secretary, or designee.
            (3) General duties.--
                    (A) In general.--The Working Group shall seek to 
                build efficiencies among the agencies listed under 
                subsection (a)(1) and coordinate the planning and 
                management of science, research, technology, and 
                operations related to science and support services for 
                wildland fire prediction, detection, forecasting, 
                modeling, resilience, response, management, and 
                assessments.
                    (B) Input.--The Working Group shall solicit input 
                from non-Federal stakeholders.
    (c) Strategic Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 540 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Interagency Committee shall 
        prepare and submit to Congress a strategic plan for interagency 
        coordination, research, and development that will improve the 
        assessment of fire environments and the understanding and 
        prediction of wildland fires, associated smoke, and the impacts 
        of such fires and smoke, including--
                    (A) at the wildland-urban interface;
                    (B) on communities, buildings, and other 
                infrastructure;
                    (C) on ecosystem services and watersheds;
                    (D) social and economic impacts;
                    (E) by developing and encouraging the adoption of 
                science-based and cost-effective measures--
                            (i) to enhance community resilience to 
                        wildland fires;
                            (ii) to address and mitigate the impacts of 
                        wildland fire and associated smoke; and
                            (iii) to restore natural fire regimes in 
                        fire-dependent ecosystems;
                    (F) by improving the understanding and mitigation 
                of the effects of weather and long-term drought on 
                wildland fire risk, frequency, and severity;
                    (G) through integrations of social and behavioral 
                sciences in public safety fire communication;
                    (H) by improving the forecasting and understanding 
                of prescribed fires and the impacts of such fires, and 
                how those impacts may differ from impacts of wildland 
                fires that originate from an unplanned ignition; and
                    (I) consideration and adoption of any 
                recommendations included in the report required by 
                subsection (a) pursuant to paragraph (2) of such 
                subsection.
            (2) Plan elements.--The strategic plan required by 
        paragraph (1) shall include the following:
                    (A) A description of the priorities and needs of 
                vulnerable populations.
                    (B) A description of high-performance computing, 
                visualization, and dissemination needs.
                    (C) A timeline and guidance for implementation of--
                            (i) an interagency data sharing system for 
                        data relevant to performing fire assessments 
                        and modeling fire risk and fire behavior;
                            (ii) a system for ensuring that the fire 
                        prediction models of relevant agencies can be 
                        interconnected; and
                            (iii) to the maximum extent practicable, 
                        any recommendations included in the report 
                        required by subsection (a).
                    (D) A plan for incorporating and coordinating 
                research and operational observations, including from 
                infrared technologies, microwave, radars, satellites, 
                mobile weather stations, and uncrewed aerial systems.
                    (E) A flexible framework to communicate clear and 
                simple fire event information to the public.
                    (F) Integration of social, behavioral, risk, and 
                communication research to improve the fire operational 
                environment and societal information reception and 
                response.

SEC. 20. FIRE WEATHER RATING SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary shall, in collaboration with 
the Chief of the United States Forest Service, the Director of the 
United States Geological Survey, the Director of the National Park 
Service, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
and such stakeholders as the Under Secretary considers appropriate--
            (1) evaluate the system used as of the date of the 
        enactment of this Act to rate the risk of wildfire; and
            (2) determine whether updates to that system are required 
        to ensure that the ratings accurately reflect the severity of 
        fire risk.
    (b) Update Required.--If the Under Secretary determines under 
subsection (a) that updates to the system described in paragraph (1) of 
such subsection are necessary, the Under Secretary shall update that 
system.

SEC. 21. AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION.

    (a) In General.--The Under Secretary shall ensure, to the greatest 
extent practicable, that activities carried out under this Act and the 
amendments made by this Act are not duplicative of activities supported 
by other parts of the Administration or other relevant Federal 
agencies.
    (b) Coordination.--In carrying out activities under this Act and 
the amendments made by this Act, the Under Secretary shall coordinate 
with the Administration and heads of other Federal research agencies--
            (1) to ensure those activities enhance and complement, but 
        do not constitute unnecessary duplication of, efforts; and
            (2) to ensure the responsible stewardship of funds.

SEC. 22. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--In addition to amounts appropriated under title 
VIII of division D of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 
(Public Law 117-58; 135 Stat. 1094), there are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Administration to carry out new policies and 
programs to address fire weather under this Act and the amendments made 
by this Act--
            (1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2023;
            (2) $111,360,000 for fiscal year 2024;
            (3) $116,928,000 for fiscal year 2025;
            (4) $122,774,400 for fiscal year 2026; and
            (5) $128,913,120 for fiscal year 2027.
    (b) Prohibition.--None of the amounts authorized to be appropriated 
by subsection (a) may be used to unnecessarily duplicate activities 
funded under title VIII of division D of the Infrastructure Investment 
and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58; 135 Stat. 1094).
                                                       Calendar No. 662

117th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                S. 4237

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To establish and maintain a coordinated program within the National 
  Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that improves wildfire, fire 
weather, fire risk, and smoke related forecasting, detection, modeling, 
observations, and service delivery, and to address growing needs in the 
           wildland-urban interface, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           December 15, 2022

                       Reported with an amendment