[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 369 Reported in House (RH)]
<DOC>
Union Calendar No. 142
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 369
[Report No. 118-178]
To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to
conduct research on public safety communication coordination standards
among wildland firefighters and fire management response officials.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 17, 2023
Mrs. Kim of California (for herself, Ms. Stansbury, and Mr. Neguse)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Science, Space, and Technology
September 1, 2023
Additional sponsors: Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Mike Garcia of
California, and Mr. Jackson of North Carolina
September 1, 2023
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January
17, 2023]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to
conduct research on public safety communication coordination standards
among wildland firefighters and fire management response officials.
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 ``NIST Wildland Fire Communications
and Information Dissemination Act''.
SEC. 2. RESEARCH ON WILDLAND FIRE COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
DISSEMINATION.
(a) In General.--
(1) Public safety research.--Not later than 60 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director, acting
through the head of the Public Safety and Communications
Research Division and in consultation with the Fire Research
Division and technology manufacturers, shall carry out research
on the following:
(A) Public safety communication coordination
standards among Federal, State, Tribal, and local
wildland firefighters, fire management response
officials, and member agencies.
(B) Improving and integrating existing
communications systems to transmit secure real-time
data, alerts, and advisories to and from fire
management response officials and wildland
firefighters.
(2) Field testing and measurement of information
dissemination and technology.--The Public Safety and
Communications Research Division, in consultation with the Fire
Research Division and member agencies, shall conduct both live
and virtual field testing of equipment, software, and other
technologies to determine current times of information
dissemination and develop standards for the delivery of useful
and secure real-time data among member agencies, fire
management response officials, and wildland firefighters, based
on findings from research under subsection (a).
(b) Recommendations.--
(1) In general.--The Director shall develop and publish
recommendations to improve public safety communication
coordination standards among wildland first responders and fire
management response officials.
(2) Transmittal.--The Director shall transmit the
recommendations under paragraph (1) to the Office of Management
and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy for
member agencies to implement.
(3) Reporting requirements.--
(A) In general.--The Director shall submit to the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report
containing the recommendations published under
paragraph (1).
(B) Implementation.--Not later than 1 year after
the date of the publication of the Director's
recommendations under paragraph (1), the Comptroller
General of the United States shall submit to the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report on
the extent to which member agencies have implemented
such recommendations.
(c) Funding.--From amounts made available to the National Institute
of Standards and Technology, the Director shall allocate $3,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out this section.
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
(2) Member agency.--The term ``member agency'' means a
member agency of the National Interagency Fire Center,
including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land
Management, National Park Service, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Forest Service, United States Fire Administration, and the
Department of Defense.
(3) Wildland firefighter.--The term ``wildland
firefighter'' means any person who participates in wildland
firefighting activities.
(4) Fire management response officials.--The term ``fire
management response officials'' means regional fire directors,
deputy regional fire directors, agency officials who directly
oversee fire operations, fire management officers, and
individuals serving on incident management teams.
(5) Technology manufacturers.--The term ``technology
manufacturers'' means private sector entities that manufacture
communications technologies used by Federal, State, Tribal, or
local wildland fire authorities.
Union Calendar No. 142
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 369
[Report No. 118-178]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to
conduct research on public safety communication coordination standards
among wildland firefighters and fire management response officials.
_______________________________________________________________________
September 1, 2023
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed