[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 369 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>





                                                 Union Calendar No. 142
118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 369

                          [Report No. 118-178]

   To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to 
conduct research on public safety communication coordination standards 
  among wildland firefighters and fire management response officials.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2023

  Mrs. Kim of California (for herself, Ms. Stansbury, and Mr. Neguse) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                     Science, Space, and Technology

                           September 1, 2023

     Additional sponsors: Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Mike Garcia of 
             California, and Mr. Jackson of North Carolina

                           September 1, 2023

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 
                               17, 2023]


_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to 
conduct research on public safety communication coordination standards 
  among wildland firefighters and fire management response officials.


 


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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``NIST Wildland Fire Communications 
and Information Dissemination Act''.

SEC. 2. RESEARCH ON WILDLAND FIRE COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION 
              DISSEMINATION.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Public safety research.--Not later than 60 days after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director, acting 
        through the head of the Public Safety and Communications 
        Research Division and in consultation with the Fire Research 
        Division and technology manufacturers, shall carry out research 
        on the following:
                    (A) Public safety communication coordination 
                standards among Federal, State, Tribal, and local 
                wildland firefighters, fire management response 
                officials, and member agencies.
                    (B) Improving and integrating existing 
                communications systems to transmit secure real-time 
                data, alerts, and advisories to and from fire 
                management response officials and wildland 
                firefighters.
            (2) Field testing and measurement of information 
        dissemination and technology.--The Public Safety and 
        Communications Research Division, in consultation with the Fire 
        Research Division and member agencies, shall conduct both live 
        and virtual field testing of equipment, software, and other 
        technologies to determine current times of information 
        dissemination and develop standards for the delivery of useful 
        and secure real-time data among member agencies, fire 
        management response officials, and wildland firefighters, based 
        on findings from research under subsection (a).
    (b) Recommendations.--
            (1) In general.--The Director shall develop and publish 
        recommendations to improve public safety communication 
        coordination standards among wildland first responders and fire 
        management response officials.
            (2) Transmittal.--The Director shall transmit the 
        recommendations under paragraph (1) to the Office of Management 
        and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy for 
        member agencies to implement.
            (3) Reporting requirements.--
                    (A) In general.--The Director shall submit to the 
                Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 
                House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
                Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report 
                containing the recommendations published under 
                paragraph (1).
                    (B) Implementation.--Not later than 1 year after 
                the date of the publication of the Director's 
                recommendations under paragraph (1), the Comptroller 
                General of the United States shall submit to the 
                Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 
                House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
                Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report on 
                the extent to which member agencies have implemented 
                such recommendations.
    (c) Funding.--From amounts made available to the National Institute 
of Standards and Technology, the Director shall allocate $3,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out this section.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
            (2) Member agency.--The term ``member agency'' means a 
        member agency of the National Interagency Fire Center, 
        including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land 
        Management, National Park Service, National Oceanic and 
        Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
        Forest Service, United States Fire Administration, and the 
        Department of Defense.
            (3) Wildland firefighter.--The term ``wildland 
        firefighter'' means any person who participates in wildland 
        firefighting activities.
            (4) Fire management response officials.--The term ``fire 
        management response officials'' means regional fire directors, 
        deputy regional fire directors, agency officials who directly 
        oversee fire operations, fire management officers, and 
        individuals serving on incident management teams.
            (5) Technology manufacturers.--The term ``technology 
        manufacturers'' means private sector entities that manufacture 
        communications technologies used by Federal, State, Tribal, or 
        local wildland fire authorities.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 142

118th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                               H. R. 369

                          [Report No. 118-178]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to 
conduct research on public safety communication coordination standards 
  among wildland firefighters and fire management response officials.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           September 1, 2023

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed