[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3919 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3919
To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017
with respect to the hurricane forecast improvement program, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 25, 2026
Mr. Budd introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017
with respect to the hurricane forecast improvement program, 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 ``Hurricane Forecast Improvement
Program Enhancement Act''.
SEC. 2. HURRICANE FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.
Section 104 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act
of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8514) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 104. HURRICANE FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.
``(a) In General.--The Under Secretary, in collaboration with the
United States weather industry and academic partners, shall maintain a
program to improve hurricane forecasting, predictions, and warnings.
``(b) Goal.--The goal of the program under subsection (a) shall be
to develop and extend accurate hurricane forecasts, predictions, and
warnings in order to reduce the loss of life or property related to
hurricanes, with a focus on the following:
``(1) Improving the understanding, prediction, and
communication of rapid intensity change and projected path of
hurricanes, including probabilistic methods for hurricane
hazard mapping.
``(2) Improving the forecast and impact-based communication
of inland flooding, compound flooding, and storm surges from
hurricanes.
``(3) Incorporating social, behavioral, risk,
communication, and economic sciences to clearly inform response
to prevent the loss of life or property.
``(4) Evaluating and incorporating, as appropriate,
innovative observations, including acoustic or infrasonic
measurements, novel sensor technologies, observation tools or
networks, crewed or uncrewed systems, and hosted instruments on
commercial aircrafts, vessels, and satellites.
``(c) Activities.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Under
Secretary shall award grants for research, including relating to the
following:
``(1) Implementing key strategies and following priorities
and objectives outlined by the 2019 report of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration entitled, `Hurricane
Forecast Improvement Program'.
``(2) In coordination with the Social and Behavioral
Sciences Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology
Council and other relevant interagency committees, improving
the social, behavioral, and economic sciences related to risk
communication, and delivery of information critical for
reducing the loss of life or property related to hurricanes.
``(3) Improving the physical sciences, operational
modeling, and tools related to hurricane formation, the impacts
of wind and water-based hurricane hazards on the built and
natural environment, and the interaction of hurricanes and
tornadoes.
``(d) Warnings.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Under
Secretary shall--
``(1) conduct and transition to operations the research
necessary to develop and deploy probabilistic weather forecast
guidance technology relating to hurricanes and related weather
phenomena;
``(2) incorporate into hurricane modeling and forecasting,
as appropriate, social, behavioral, and economic sciences
research; and
``(3) expand computational resources, including cloud
computing, to support and improve higher resolution operational
modeling of hurricanes and related weather phenomena.
``(e) Annual Report.--Not later than June 1 of each year until
2029, the Under Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of
Defense, shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology of the House of Representatives a report that includes the
following:
``(1) The number and causes of missed mission requirements
for the National Hurricane Operations Plan and the National
Winter Season Operations Plan, including those related to
equipment malfunction, aircraft availability, aircraft
maintenance, flight hour limits, and availability of pilots or
other air and maintenance crew members.
``(2) Requirements related to the plans described in
paragraph (1) that were requested by forecasters but not
tasked, and the reasons why those were not tasked.
``(3) A workforce management plan addressing any shortfalls
in human capital resources that are necessary for hurricane
observational data collection aboard aircraft or uncrewed
systems.
``(4) A summary of--
``(A) hurricane technology that is under research
and development to improve confidence in hurricane
track and intensity predictions;
``(B) hurricane technology that is at the prototype
demonstration stage or beyond; and
``(C) plans for transitioning the hurricane
technology described in subparagraph (B) into
operations.''.
<all>