[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1743 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1743

 To amend the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 
       1978 to modify the forest inventory and analysis program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 18, 2023

Mr. Ossoff (for himself and Mr. Cassidy) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 
       1978 to modify the forest inventory and analysis program.

    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 ``Forest Data Modernization Act of 
2023''.

SEC. 2. FOREST INVENTORY AND ANALYSIS.

    (a) In General.--Section 3(e) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable 
Resources Research Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 1642(e)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking ``their resources'' and inserting 
                ``the resources of those forests, including forest 
                carbon,'';
                    (B) by striking ``In compliance'' and inserting the 
                following:
                    ``(A) In general.--In compliance''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Additional methods.--Under the program under 
                this subsection, the Secretary shall carry out, as a 
                data collection method--
                            ``(i) a timber products output study; and
                            ``(ii) a national woodland owner survey.'';
            (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by inserting ``including with 
        respect to available forest carbon data,'' after ``2 
        decades,'';
            (3) in paragraph (4)--
                    (A) in the second sentence, by striking ``The 
                standards'' and inserting the following:
                    ``(B) Inclusions.--The standards described in 
                subparagraph (A)'';
                    (B) by striking ``(4) National standards and 
                definitions.--To ensure'' and inserting the following:
            ``(4) National consistency.--
                    ``(A) Standards and definitions.--To ensure''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Terminology.--The Secretary shall include a 
                clear description of the definition of `forest' used 
                for purposes of reporting data from inventories and 
                analyses of forests and the resources of forests under 
                this subsection with--
                            ``(i) any data or report provided under the 
                        program under this subsection;
                            ``(ii) Renewable Resource Assessments 
                        prepared under section 3(a) of the Forest and 
                        Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 
                        1974 (16 U.S.C. 1601(a)); and
                            ``(iii) any data or report provided to an 
                        entity outside the United States.'';
            (4) in paragraph (6)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by 
                striking ``Not later than 180 days after the date of 
                enactment of this subsection,'' and inserting ``In 
                accordance with paragraph (7),''; and
                    (B) by striking subparagraphs (D) and (E) and 
                inserting the following:
                    ``(D) the organization and procedures necessary to 
                understand and report on changes in land cover and use;
                    ``(E) the organization and procedures necessary to 
                evaluate carbon-related data variables, including soil 
                carbon, collected from forest inventory and analysis 
                plots, timber products output studies, and national 
                woodland owner surveys to ensure that carbon accounting 
                information needs can be met; and''; and
            (5) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(7) Updates to strategic plan.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 180 days after 
                the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary 
                shall prepare an update to the strategic plan under 
                paragraph (6) to include--
                            ``(i) a plan to implement nationally 
                        consistent data collection protocols and 
                        procedures to improve the statistical precision 
                        of base program estimates;
                            ``(ii) pathways to integrate and report on 
                        changes in forest carbon, including below-
                        ground carbon;
                            ``(iii) plans, including the identification 
                        of challenges, to collaborate with other 
                        Federal agencies, non-Federal partners, and the 
                        private sector to integrate existing nationally 
                        available data sets and best available 
                        commercial technologies, such as remote 
                        sensing, spatial analysis techniques, and other 
                        new technologies;
                            ``(iv) a plan to increase transparency and 
                        clarity in reporting in accordance with 
                        paragraph (4)(C);
                            ``(v) a plan to expand current data 
                        collection, further integrate remote sensing 
                        technology, or both, to include procedures to 
                        improve the statistical precision of estimates 
                        at the sub-State level;
                            ``(vi) a plan to expand current data 
                        collection, further integrate remote sensing 
                        technology, or both, to include information on 
                        renewable biomass supplies and carbon stocks at 
                        the local, State, regional, and national 
                        levels, including by ownership type; and
                            ``(vii) such other matters as the Secretary 
                        determines to be appropriate based on 
                        recommendations of the Forest Inventory and 
                        Analysis National User Group.
                    ``(B) Submission.--Not later than 180 days after 
                the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary 
                shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture, 
                Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the Committee 
                on Agriculture of the House of Representatives the 
                update to the strategic plan prepared under 
                subparagraph (A).
                    ``(C) Further updates.--Not later than 5 years 
                after the date on which the update is submitted under 
                subparagraph (B), and every 5 years thereafter, the 
                Secretary shall--
                            ``(i) prepare an additional update to the 
                        strategic plan; and
                            ``(ii) submit the additional update to the 
                        committees described in subparagraph (B).
            ``(8) Accessibility.--The Secretary shall ensure that data 
        collected under this subsection is--
                    ``(A) easily accessible to all public- and private-
                sector entities; and
                    ``(B) collected using means that ensure the 
                confidentiality, in accordance with section 1770 of the 
                Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 2276), of--
                            ``(i) plot locations;
                            ``(ii) nonaggregated data of woodland 
                        owners; and
                            ``(iii) forest industry information.
            ``(9) Biennial compilations.--Biennially, the Secretary 
        shall prepare and make publicly available a compilation of 
        national forest inventory and analysis forest statistics, which 
        shall be similar to the tables contained in the Renewable 
        Resource Assessments prepared under section 3(a) of the Forest 
        and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 
        U.S.C. 1601(a)).
            ``(10) External complex data requests.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall establish an 
                office, a data platform, or both to process and respond 
                to complex data requests submitted by external 
                organizations relating to the program under this 
                subsection.
                    ``(B) Fees.--To cover the costs of processing of 
                and responding to complex data requests described in 
                subparagraph (A), the Secretary may impose fees on the 
                external organizations submitting the requests.
            ``(11) Reports.--Each year, the Secretary shall publish as 
        part of the forest inventory and analysis business report a 
        detailed description of the progress of the Secretary in 
        implementing the programmatic elements of the strategic plan 
        described in paragraph (6), including--
                    ``(A) the costs and priorities of the strategic 
                plan; and
                    ``(B) how the program under this subsection 
                leverages new technology, improves and standardizes 
                collection protocols, and increases workforce 
                capacity.''.
    (b) Remote Sensing Technologies.--Section 8632(1) of the 
Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (16 U.S.C. 1642 note; Public Law 
115-334) is amended by striking ``technologies'' and inserting 
``technologies, such as microwave, LiDAR, hyperspectral, and high-
resolution remote sensing data for data collection, and machine 
learning for improved modeling,''.
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