[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4141 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4141
To direct the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration to conduct collaborative research in order
to advance numerical weather and climate prediction in the United
States, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 25, 2025
Mr. Miller of Ohio (for himself and Mrs. Foushee) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural
Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration to conduct collaborative research in order
to advance numerical weather and climate prediction in the United
States, 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 ``Advanced Weather Model Computing
Development Act''.
SEC. 2. COMPUTING RESEARCH INITIATIVE.
(a) In General.--Section 108 of the Weather Research and
Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8518) is amended by
striking subsection (a)(3)(C) and all that follows through subsection
(b)(7) and inserting the following:
``(b) Artificial Intelligence Investments.--The Under Secretary
shall leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning
technologies to facilitate, optimize, and further leverage advanced
computing to accomplish critical missions of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
``(c) Centers of Excellence.--The Under Secretary may expand, and
where applicable establish, centers of excellence to aid the adoption
of next-generation artificial intelligence and machine learning enabled
advanced computing capabilities. Each such center may carry out
activities that include the following:
``(1) Leveraging robust public-private partnership models
to provide access to training, experience, and long-term
development of workforce and infrastructure.
``(2) Developing and optimizing tools, libraries,
algorithms, data structures, and other supporting software
necessary for specific applications on high performance
computing systems.
``(3) Applying modern artificial intelligence, deep
machine-learning, and advanced data analysis technologies to
address current and future mission challenges.
``(4) To the maximum extent practicable, exploring quantum
computing and related application partnerships with public,
private, and academic entities to improve the accuracy and
resolution of weather predictions.
``(d) Multi-Year Contracts.--The Under Secretary may enter into
multi-year contracts in accordance with section 3903 of title 41,
United States Code, and shall ensure compliance with all contract
clauses provided in such section to support operations, research, and
development related to high performance and cloud computing
infrastructure or systems with an unfunded contingent liability in the
event of cancellation.
``(e) Report.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than two years after the date
of the enactment of this subsection, the Under Secretary, in
collaboration with the Secretary of Energy shall submit to the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation and the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate a report evaluating the following:
``(A) A best estimate of the overall value of high-
resolution probabilistic forecast guidance for
hazardous weather or water events using a next-
generation weather forecast and warning framework.
``(B) The needs for cloud computing, quantum
computing, or high-performance computing,
visualization, and dissemination collaboration between
the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
``(C) A timeline and guidance for implementation of
the following:
``(i) High-resolution numerical weather
prediction models.
``(ii) Methods for meeting the cloud
computing, quantum computing, or high-
performance computing, visualization, and
dissemination needs identified under
subparagraph (b).
``(2) Hazardous weather or water events defined.--In this
subsection, the term `hazardous weather or water events' means
weather or water events that have a high risk of loss of life
or property, including the following:
``(A) Severe storms, such as hurricanes and short-
fused, small-scale hazardous weather or hydrologic
events produced by thunderstorms, including large hail,
damaging winds, tornadoes, and flash floods.
``(B) Winter storms, such as freezing or frozen
precipitation (including freezing rain, sleet, and
snow), or combined effects of freezing or frozen
precipitation and strong winds.
``(C) Other weather hazards, such as extreme heat
or cold, wildfire, drought, dense fog, high winds, and
river, coastal, or lakeshore flooding.''.
(b) Strategic Plan on High-Performance Computing and Data
Management Needs.--
(1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall make publicly
available not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and update every five years thereafter
until 2035, a 10-year strategic plan that outlines the high-
performance computing and data management requirements and
needs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
and actions and strategies to address such requirements and
needs.
(2) Plan elements.--At a minimum, the strategic plan
required by paragraph (1) shall include the following:
(A) A 10-year prospective outlook of computing
resources and upgrades needed to meet the mission needs
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
for fisheries management, oceanographic forecasting,
and ecological forecasting missions.
(B) A discussion of the following:
(i) Computing and processing resources of
the Administration and a 10-year projected need
for such resources, disaggregated by line
office of the Administration.
(ii) Facilities, commercial contracts, and
partnerships (with other Federal agencies or
other institutions or entities) of the
Administration that are providing computing and
data management support or capacity as of such
date.
(iii) The use by the Administration of
cloud computing and other emerging
technologies, such as artificial intelligence
and machine learning.
(iv) Additional technologies that have the
potential to increase effectiveness and
efficiency for data storage and processing
power, including challenges to access and use
of such technologies.
(v) The distribution of computing resources
among the operations and research functions of
the Administration.
(vi) Products and services of the
Administration that have not become available
to the public because of a lack of computing
resources.
(vii) Current and future workforce
development needs, such as information
technology and software engineering, of the
Administration.
(viii) The high-performance computing
requirements of the Administration, with a
special focus on requirements that are common
across line offices of the Administration.
(C) Timelines, and performance measures for
assessing progress toward attaining goals for the
following:
(i) Computing infrastructure and
architecture of the Administration (including
facilities, hardware, and software).
(ii) Use by the Administration of
technologies that will increase effectiveness
and efficiency for data storage and processing
power, including challenges to access and use
of such technologies.
(D) A 10-year life cycle analysis of the management
of facilities, hardware, and engineering involved in
the strategic plan that includes the following:
(i) Program formulation for project
conception, implementation, and closure.
(ii) Technical infrastructure, products,
processes, data, and personnel resources
required to achieve defined cost, schedule, and
performance objectives.
(E) If appropriate, a description of actions taken
to implement the previous plan.
(3) Public involvement.--In developing the strategic plan
required by paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall invite
comments and other feedback from the public to inform the
strategic plan.
(4) Annual briefings.--
(A) In general.--Not later than one year after the
date of the enactment of this Act and annually
thereafter until 2030, the Under Secretary shall brief
Congress on the progress made toward the objectives of
the strategic plan required by paragraph (1).
(B) Elements.--Each briefing required by
subparagraph (A) shall include the following:
(i) An evaluation of the progress made in
implementing the strategic plan.
(ii) Such updates to the strategic plan as
the Under Secretary considers appropriate.
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