[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 162 (Tuesday, October 15, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5797-S5798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. Shatz):
S. 2597. A bill to require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to make certain operational models available to the
public, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 2597
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 ``Learning Excellence and Good
Examples from New Developers Act of 2019'' or the ``LEGEND
Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
(2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and
Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
(3) Model.--The term ``model'' means any numerical model of
the Earth's system or its components produced by scientists
employed by the Administration.
(4) Operational model.--The term ``operational model''
means any model that has an output used by the Administration
for operational or public service functions.
(5) Open source code.--The term ``open source code'' means
computer code or programming language that is available for
public use or modification.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to support innovation in modeling by allowing
interested stakeholders to have easy and complete access to
the models used by the Administration; and
(2) to use vetted innovations arising from access provided
under paragraph (1) to improve modeling by the
Administration.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO MAKE CERTAIN OPERATIONAL MODELS
AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC.
(a) In General.--The Administrator shall make available to
the public the following:
(1) Current and future operational models developed by the
Administration, in the form of open source code for a period
consistent with applicable records retention requirements.
(2) All Government-owned data, subject to redistribution
rights, associated with such models and used in operational
forecasting by the Administration, including--
(A) relevant metadata;
(B) data used for current operational forecasts; and
(C) a description of intended model outputs.
(b) Discretion to Make Experimental or Development Models
Available.--The Administrator may make experimental or
developmental models associated with development projects
funded by the Administration available to the public as open
source code.
(c) Platform.--In carrying out subsections (a) and (b), the
Administrator may use government servers, contracts or
agreements with a private vendor, or any other platform
consistent with the purpose of this Act.
(d) Technical Correction.--Section 102(b) of the Weather
Research Forecasting and Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C.
8512(b)) is amended by redesignating the second paragraph (4)
(as added by section 4(a) of the National Integrated Drought
Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law
115-423)) as paragraph (5).
(e) Phased Implementation.--
(1) Immediate effect for certain models.--For operational
models that, as of the date of the enactment of this Act,
meet the requirements described in paragraph (5)(E)(ii) of
section 102(b) of the Weather Research Forecasting and
Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8512(b)), as redesignated
by subsection (d), the Administrator shall implement the
requirements of subsection (a) as soon as practicable after
such date of enactment.
(2) New models.--For operational models that meet the
requirements described in paragraph (1) and are created or
substantially updated after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Administrator shall implement the requirements of
subsection (a) not later than 1 year after such date of
enactment.
SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT TO REVIEW MODELS AND LEVERAGE
INNOVATIONS.
The Administrator shall--
(1) consistent with the mission of the Earth Prediction
Innovation Center, periodically review innovations and
improvements made by persons outside the Administration to
the operational models made available to the public under
section 4 in order to improve the accuracy and timeliness of
forecasts of the Administration; and
(2) if the Administrator identifies an innovation for such
a model the Administrator considers suitable, develop and
implement a plan to use the innovation to improve the model.
SEC. 6. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.
(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report on the
implementation of this Act that includes a description of--
(1) how operational models have been made publicly
available as required by section 4(a);
(2) the process of the Administration under section 5--
(A) for engaging with interested stakeholders to learn what
innovations those stakeholders have found;
(B) for reviewing those innovations; and
(C) for operationalizing innovations the Administrator
considers suitable.
(b) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this
section, the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
SEC. 7. PROTECTION OF NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
this Act, the Administrator may withhold models or data used
in
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operational weather forecasting if the Administrator
determines doing so to be necessary to protect the national
security interests of the United States.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to supersede any other provision of law governing
the protection of the national security interests of the
United States.
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the
Administration for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2026
such sums may be necessary to carry out this Act.
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