[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4500 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4500

   To modify operations of the National Water Center of the National 
    Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 11, 2024

 Mrs. Britt (for herself and Mr. Welch) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To modify operations of the National Water Center of the National 
    Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Water Research Optimization Act of 
2024''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF OPERATIONS OF NATIONAL WATER CENTER.

    Section 301 of the Coordinated Ocean Observations and Research Act 
of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 10371) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(A)--
                            (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 
                        inserting ``, within the Office of Water 
                        Prediction of the National Weather Service,'' 
                        after ``shall establish'';
                            (ii) in clause (i), by striking ``and'' 
                        after the semicolon;
                            (iii) in clause (ii), by striking the 
                        period and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iv) by adding at the end the following new 
                        clause:
                            ``(iii) to lead the transition of water 
                        research by the Federal Government, including 
                        model development, into operations of the 
                        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
                        and the National Weather Service.'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the 
                following:
                    ``(F) Serving as the primary center within the 
                National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for 
                research, development, collaboration, and coordination 
                of the water research and operational activities of the 
                Administration and other centers and networks of the 
                Federal Government, including those of the Department 
                of Agriculture, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau 
                of Reclamation, the United States Geological Survey, 
                and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
                    ``(G) Integrating and promoting consistency among 
                national and regional hydrological operations.''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Incorporation into unified forecast system.--The 
        Under Secretary shall use the Weather and Climate Operational 
        Supercomputing System, or any successor system, to support the 
        development and implementation of advanced water resources 
        modeling capabilities under paragraph (2)(B) and shall 
        incorporate those modeling capabilities into the unified 
        forecast system.'';
            (2) by striking subsection (b);
            (3) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and (e) as 
        subsections (b), (e), and (f), respectively;
            (4) by inserting after subsection (b), as redesignated by 
        paragraph (3), the following:
    ``(c) Organization With River Forecast Centers.--The Under 
Secretary, acting through the Director of the Office of Water 
Prediction of the National Weather Service, shall supervise and oversee 
the administration, management, and operations of each River Forecast 
Center of the National Weather Service and coordinate those operations 
with the National Water Center.
    ``(d) Administration and Management of Cooperative Institute for 
Research to Operations in Hydrology.--The Under Secretary, acting 
through the Director of the Office of Water Prediction of the National 
Weather Service, shall administer the duties and activities of the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration related to the 
Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology, or any 
successor entity, and coordinate the activities of the Institute with 
the National Water Center.''; and
            (5) in subsection (e)(4), as redesignated by paragraph (3), 
        by striking ``fiscal year 2024'' and inserting ``each of fiscal 
        years 2024 through 2028''.
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