42 U.S.C. § 15703 — National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program

(a) Establishment. This section creates the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. Its purpose is to achieve big, measurable cuts in the loss of life and property from windstorms. It does this through a coordinated federal effort, working with other levels of government, academia, and the private sector. The goal is to better understand windstorms and their impacts, and to develop and encourage cost-effective ways to reduce those impacts. (b) Responsibilities of Program agencies. (1) Lead agency. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has primary responsibility for planning and coordinating the Program. The Director must: (A) make sure the Program helps federal, state, and local governments, national standards and model building code organizations, architects, engineers, and others involved in planning and building, actually put windstorm risk reduction measures into practice; (B) support the development of performance-based engineering tools and work with groups to put those tools to commercial use, including through wind-related model building codes, voluntary standards, and best construction practices; (C) ask other federal agencies for help when needed to carry out this chapter; (D) coordinate federal investigations after windstorms, as much as practical; and (E) when research findings justify it, issue recommendations to help shape model codes, and tell Congress how those recommendations are being used. (2) National Institute of Standards and Technology. Beyond its lead-agency duties, NIST must also do research and development to improve model building codes, voluntary standards, and best practices for designing, building, and retrofitting buildings, structures, and lifelines. (3) National Science Foundation. The National Science Foundation must support research into (A) the engineering and atmospheric science needed to understand how windstorms behave and affect buildings, structures, and lifelines; and (B) the economic and social factors that influence whether people adopt windstorm risk reduction measures. (4) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA must support atmospheric science research to improve understanding of windstorm behavior and impacts on buildings, structures, and lifelines. (5) Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA must: (A) support (i) developing risk assessment tools and effective mitigation techniques; (ii) collecting and analyzing windstorm data; (iii) public outreach and sharing information; and (iv) promoting windstorm preparedness and mitigation for households, businesses, and communities, in line with FEMA's all-hazards approach; and (B) work closely with national standards and model building code organizations, together with NIST, to put research results into practice and improve building practices among architects, engineers, contractors, builders, and inspectors. (c) Program components. (1) In general. The Program has three main parts: understanding windstorms better, assessing windstorm impacts, and reducing windstorm impacts. These parts are carried out through data collection and analysis, risk assessment, outreach, technology transfer, and research and development. As much as practical, research must be peer-reviewed, and the Program's parts must complement — not duplicate — other public and private hazard-reduction efforts. (2) Understanding of windstorms. This includes research to learn more about, and collect data on, how severe wind affects buildings, structures, and infrastructure. (3) Windstorm impact assessment. This includes (A) building ways to collect and catalog information on how buildings, structures, and infrastructure perform during windstorms, including better information-gathering from the design and construction industry, insurance companies, and building officials; (B) research and technology transfer to improve loss estimation and risk assessment systems; and (C) research and technology transfer to improve computer modeling and simulation of windstorm impacts. (4) Windstorm impact reduction. This includes (A) better ways to turn existing information and research into cost-effective, affordable practices that design and construction professionals and state and local officials can use; (B) developing affordable windstorm-resistant systems, structures, and materials for new construction and for retrofitting existing buildings; and (C) sharing information about affordable construction techniques, loss estimation methods, risk assessment methods, and other windstorm-related information with federal, state, and local officials, the construction industry, and the public. (d) Budget activities. The Directors of NIST, the National Science Foundation, NOAA, and FEMA must each include, in their agency's yearly budget request to Congress, a description of their planned Program activities for that year and an estimate of what they plan to spend on them. (e) Interagency Coordinating Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction. (1) Establishment. This section creates the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction, chaired by the NIST Director or the Director's designee. (2) Membership. Besides the chair, the Committee includes (A) the heads (or their designees) of FEMA, NOAA, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Office of Management and Budget; and (B) the head (or designee) of any other federal agency the chair thinks should be included. (3) Meetings. The Committee must meet at least once a year, whenever the NIST Director calls a meeting. (4) General purpose and duties. The Committee oversees how the Program is planned and coordinated. (5) Strategic plan. Within 1 year after September 30, 2015, the Committee had to send Congress a Strategic Plan for the Program, covering (A) priority goals for cutting future windstorm losses of life and property; (B) short-term, mid-term, and long-term research goals; (C) what role each Program agency plays in reaching the priority goals; (D) how progress toward the goals will be measured; and (E) how the Program will turn research results into real outcomes, like improved model building codes. (6) Progress report. Within 18 months after September 30, 2015, the Committee had to send Congress a progress report covering (A) the activities the Program funded, how they line up with the Strategic Plan's goals, and each agency's budget for them; (B) the outcomes the Program achieved for each Strategic Plan goal; (C) any recommendations to change building codes that came out of the Program; and (D) how much the Program used recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction. (7) Coordinated budget. The Committee must build a combined budget for the Program and send it to Congress within 60 days after the President submits the federal budget each year.