[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4373 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4373
To reauthorize the National Integrated Drought Information System,
maintain a National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 27, 2023
Mr. Collins (for himself, Mr. Baird, and Mr. Miller of Ohio) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To reauthorize the National Integrated Drought Information System,
maintain a National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network, 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 ``Weather Information for Agriculture
Act.''
SEC. 2. NATIONAL INTEGRATED DROUGHT INFORMATION SYSTEM.
(a) In General.--Section 3 of the National Integrated Drought
Information System Act of 2006 (15 U.S.C. 313d) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the period and
inserting a semicolon; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new
paragraphs:
``(7) advance and deploy next generation technologies
related to drought and related publicly available data, such as
forecasting capabilities utilizing artificial intelligence,
machine learning, and cloud technologies; and
``(8) strengthen observational networks and drought
indicators across a variety of spatial and temporal scales by
optimizing data and resources from across the Federal
Government, including investigating and addressing gaps in
snowpack monitoring, in-situ soil moisture monitoring,
groundwater data, and rapid intensification events.'';
(2) in subsection (c)--
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking the period and
inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
``(4) in partnership with the National Mesonet Program,
establish memoranda of understanding to provide coordinated,
high-quality, nationwide drought information for the public
good.''; and
(3) by amending subsection (f) to read as follows:
``(f) Modeling Update.--The Under Secretary, in partnership with
the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service, shall
undertake an effort to migrate existing products to probabilistic
forecasts and incorporate new and improved dynamical and statistical
forecast modeling tools.''.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--Section 4 of the National Integrated
Drought Information System Act of 2006 (15 U.S.C. 313d note) is
amended to read as follows:
``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--From amounts made available
to Operations, Research, and Facilities of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, there are authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this section the following:
``(1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2024.
``(2) $15,500,000 for fiscal year 2025.
``(3) $16,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.
``(4) $16,500,000 for fiscal year 2027.
``(5) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2028.''.
(2) Effective date.--The amendment made by paragraph (1)
shall take effect and apply beginning on October 1, 2023.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL COORDINATED SOIL MOISTURE MONITORING NETWORK.
(a) In General.--The Under Secretary shall support the development,
deployment, and maintenance of soil moisture monitoring networks by
managing the National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network of
the National Integrated Drought Information System under section 3 of
the National Integrated Drought Information System Act of 2006 (15
U.S.C. 313d) (in this section referred to as the ``network'').
(b) Activities.--The Under Secretary shall ensure the network
includes activities that carry out the following:
(1) Establishing a visible, user-friendly website.
(2) Developing a set of criteria for high-quality data
sources.
(3) Supporting research necessary to develop or improve
soil moisture monitoring products at the National scale.
(4) Increasing the number of long-term, high-quality, in
situ soil moisture monitoring stations across the United
States.
(5) Sharing methodologies and validation protocols with the
private sector.
(6) Engaging with the citizen science community.
(7) Developing, releasing, and promoting new, nationwide
point-based and gridded soil moisture data products that meet
the needs of diverse end-user groups.
(c) Partnerships.--In partnership with the National Integrated
Drought Information System under section 3 of the National Integrated
Drought Information System Act of 2006 (15 U.S.C. 313d) and the
National Mesonet Program, the network may establish memoranda of
understanding to acquire and provide coordinated, high-quality,
nationwide soil moisture information for the public good.
(d) Definition.--In this section, the term ``Under Secretary'' has
the meaning given such term in section 2 of the Weather Research and
Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501).
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