[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4912 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4912

To require the evaluation of certain criteria relating to locations for 
deployment of successor radar systems of the National Weather Service, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 26, 2023

Mr. Jackson of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 
      referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the evaluation of certain criteria relating to locations for 
deployment of successor radar systems of the National Weather Service, 
                        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. EVALUATION OF LOCATIONS FOR DEPLOYMENT OF SUCCESSOR RADAR 
              SYSTEMS OF THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

    (a) Plan To Improve Radar Coverage.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce and the 
        Director of the National Weather Service, in consultation with 
        the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, shall 
        submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and 
        the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 
        and Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the Senate a plan for improving 
        radar coverage, by integrating or upgrading, to the extent 
        practicable and as the case may be, additional observation 
        solutions to improve hazardous weather detection and 
        forecasting.
            (2) Determination.--
                    (A) In general.--In developing the plan to improve 
                radar coverage under paragraph (1), the Secretary of 
                Commerce and the Director of the National Weather 
                Service, in consultation with the Administrator of the 
                Federal Aviation Administration--
                            (i) shall prioritize locations for the 
                        deployment of the successor radar system that 
                        will replace the current Next Generation 
                        Weather Radar of the National Weather Radar 
                        Service (NEXRAD); and
                            (ii) may determine additional appropriate 
                        locations for the deployment of such successor 
                        radar system installations.
                    (B) Consideration.--In making a determination 
                pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Secretary of Commerce 
                and the Director of the National Weather Service shall 
                consider deployment in at least three locations that 
                are not less than 75 miles from an existing NEXRAD 
                station. In making such a determination for a 
                deployment location, the Secretary of Commerce and the 
                Director of the National Weather Service may also 
                consider the criteria described in subsection (b).
    (b) Criteria Described.--The criteria described in this subsection 
are the following:
            (1) Whether a population of 200,000 or more would be served 
        by a successor radar installation at the location.
            (2) The frequency of any of the following issuances at the 
        location:
                    (A) Severe thunderstorm watches or warnings.
                    (B) Tornado watches or warnings.
                    (C) Flash flood watches or warnings.
                    (D) Winter storm warnings.
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