[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

[[Page S5798]]

     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.
                                 ______