42 U.S.C. § 7704 — National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program

(a) Establishment:
(1) In general: This section creates the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program^*.
(2) Program activities: The Program's activities must: (A) develop effective ways to reduce earthquake hazards; (B) get federal, state^*, and local governments, national standards and model code groups, architects, engineers, building owners, and others involved in building to adopt earthquake hazard reduction measures, through: (i) grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, and technical help; (ii) creating standards, guidelines, and voluntary codes for earthquake hazard reduction in buildings, structures, and lifeline infrastructure^* (things like power and water systems); (iii) building and maintaining a library of information, including technical data, on seismic risk, community resilience^*, and hazard reduction; and (iv) publishing maps showing active faults and folds, land likely to liquefy, land at risk of earthquake-caused landslides, and other earthquake-related hazards; (C) improve understanding of earthquakes and their effects on communities, buildings, structures, and infrastructure, through research combining engineering, natural science, and social, economic, and decision science; and (D) keep developing the Advanced National Seismic System, including early-warning capability and the Global Seismographic Network.

(3) Interagency Coordinating Committee^* on Earthquake Hazards Reduction:
(A) In general: This creates an Interagency Coordinating Committee, chaired by the Director^* of the National Institute of Standards and Technology ("the Director").
(B) Membership: Besides the Director, the Committee includes the heads of FEMA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Office of Management and Budget.
(C) Meetings: The Committee must meet at least once a year, when the Director calls a meeting.
(D) Duties: (i) General duty: The Committee oversees planning, managing, and coordinating the Program. (ii) Specific duties include: (I) within 6 months of October 25, 2004, and updated regularly after that, creating a strategic plan setting goals and priorities for the Program's (a)(2) activities, plus a detailed plan to carry it out; (II) creating a joint interagency budget for the Program that balances those activities, and sending that budget to the Office of Management and Budget on the schedule OMB sets for biennial budgets; (III) creating agreements between federal agencies on sharing data and committing resources if an earthquake disaster happens; (IV) coordinating with the Windstorm Impact Reduction Committee and other natural-hazard coordination groups the Director thinks appropriate, to share data and best practices^*; (V) coordinating with NASA and NOAA on sharing data and allocating resources, to make good use of government resources and keep earthquake information flowing freely; (VI) coordinating with the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior on using public land for earthquake monitoring and research stations, and related data collection; and (VII) coordinating with the Secretaries of Transportation and of Housing and Urban Development on how earthquakes affect transportation and housing. (iii) Help from Agriculture and Interior: As much as practical, the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior must speed up any request for a permit to use public land as described in (ii)(VI).

(4) Biennial report:
(A) In general: At least once every two years, the Committee must send a report on the Program to certain Senate and House committees — Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Energy and Natural Resources, and Homeland Security in the Senate; Science, Space, and Technology, Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, and Homeland Security in the House. The report must include: (i) each participating agency's Program budget for the current fiscal year, broken down by major goal; (ii) the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, the same way; (iii) a description of the Program's activities and results over the past year, including how well it's meeting the strategic plan's goals; (iv) how much the Program has used the Advisory Committee's recommendations; (v) a description, with current and proposed budgets, of related activities that Program agencies^* do but that aren't formally part of the Program; (vi) a description, with current and proposed budgets, of the grant program under (b)(2)(A)(i); and (vii) whether FEMA has lowered or waived the cost-share requirement for assistance under (b)(2)(A)(i).
(B) Support for preparing the report: Each Program agency head must give the Director whatever information the Director asks for to prepare the report, within 90 days of the Director's request.

(5) Advisory Committee^*:
(A) In general: The Director must create an Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction with at least 11 members. None can be a federal employee, using the definition in 5 U.S.C. § 7342(a)(1)(A)-(F). Members should include people from research and academic institutions, industry standards groups, state and local government, and the financial sector who can advise on earthquake hazard reduction and represent relevant scientific, architecture, and engineering fields. Federal agencies must consider the Advisory Committee's recommendations when running the Program.
(B) Assessment: The Advisory Committee must assess: (i) trends and developments in earthquake hazard reduction science and engineering; (ii) how well the Program is carrying out its (a)(2) activities; (iii) whether the Program needs to be revised; and (iv) how the Program is managed, coordinated, carried out, and run.
(C) Report: Within 1 year of October 25, 2004, and at least every 2 years after that, the Advisory Committee must report its assessment findings and improvement recommendations to the Director, considering recommendations from the U.S. Geological Survey's Scientific Earthquake Studies Advisory Committee.
(D) Chapter 10 of title 5 doesn't apply: Section 1013 of title 5 doesn't apply to the Advisory Committee.

(b) Responsibilities of Program agencies:
(1) Lead agency: The National Institute of Standards and Technology is mainly responsible for planning and coordinating the Program. To do that, its Director must: (A) make sure the Program includes steps to help federal, state, and local governments, national standards and model code groups, architects, engineers, and others get earthquake hazard reduction measures into planning, building, evaluating, and retrofitting buildings and lifeline infrastructure; (B) support developing performance-based seismic engineering tools, and work with relevant groups to get those tools used commercially through building codes, standards, and construction practices; (C) ask other federal agencies for help as needed to carry out this chapter; and (D) work with FEMA, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Geological Survey to build a full plan for earthquake engineering research — using and upgrading existing test facilities and labs, and adding new, innovative testing methods in an organized way.

(2) Department of Homeland Security and FEMA:
(A) Program responsibilities: FEMA's Administrator^* must: (i) run a grant and assistance program so states can create mitigation, preparedness, and response plans; buy needed instruments; inventory and inspect critical structures and infrastructure for seismic safety; update building, land-use, and zoning codes for seismic safety; boost earthquake awareness and education; and help multi-state groups do the same; (ii) support a full earthquake education, outreach, and awareness program, including making and widely sharing materials, and supporting public access to local information that helps people prepare for, reduce, respond to, and recover from earthquakes; (iii) work with NIST, other federal agencies, and private groups to use research results for creating, keeping current, and widely sharing seismic design guidance and building code information, help develop performance-based design guidelines, and support affordable model codes that improve design and construction practices and cut earthquake losses; (iv) make agreements or contracts with states, local governments, and other federal agencies for demonstration projects on earthquake mitigation, linking earthquake research to emergency management, or preparing nationwide education materials; and (v) support NIST's Director in meeting Program goals.
(B) State assistance program criteria: To get help under (A)(i), a state must: (i) show the help will make the state more seismically safe; (ii) pay 25% of the activity's cost — though the Administrator can lower or waive this for a small, impoverished community, as defined in section 5133; and (iii) meet any other requirements the Administrator sets.

(3) United States^* Geological Survey: USGS must report on major domestic and international earthquakes, and do research to identify earthquake hazards, assess risk, monitor seismic activity, and improve forecasting. Its Director must: (A) systematically assess seismic risk in every earthquake-prone U.S. region, including monitoring hazardous faults, studying urban seismic risk zones, and doing engineering seismology studies; (B) work with state and local officials so they understand their area's specific seismic risks; (C) develop standard procedures, with FEMA and NIST, for issuing earthquake alerts and early warnings; (D) issue alerts and warnings when necessary and possible, and notify FEMA, NIST, and state and local officials; (E) run a forum for international earthquake information exchange — including the National Earthquake Information Center — that: (i) promotes sharing earthquake research and preparedness information with other countries; (ii) keeps a library of relevant reports, papers, and Program data; (iii) answers other countries' requests for U.S. earthquake information; and (iv) directs foreign requests to whichever Program agency can best respond; (F) run a National Seismic System; (G) support regional seismic networks that complement the National Seismic Network; (H) work with NSF, FEMA, and NIST on the shared earthquake-engineering-research plan described above; (I) work with other Program agencies to coordinate with similar foreign hazard-reduction efforts, so the Program benefits from relevant foreign information and advances; (J) keep up seismic hazard maps and data to support building codes, including maps for performance-based design; and (K) support NIST's Director in meeting Program goals.

(4) National Science Foundation:
(A) In general: NSF funds research on earth sciences to understand what causes and drives earthquakes, on earthquake engineering, and on how people respond to earthquakes. Its Director must: (i) encourage quickly sharing important findings, data, samples, and other materials, and developing intellectual property so organizations can use results to reduce earthquake damage; (ii) support not just individual researchers but university research groups, state agencies, state geological surveys, and geoscience and earthquake-engineering research centers; (iii) work closely with USGS on making earthquake-related hazard maps and identifying regions that deserve targeted research funding; (iv) support research that improves the safety and performance of buildings, structures, and lifeline systems using test and computer facilities; (v) in earthquake engineering research, emphasize affordable ways to retrofit existing buildings and protect lifeline infrastructure; (vi) support research on the political, economic, and social factors that affect whether hazard-reduction measures get used; (vii) as much as possible, include diverse institutions, like Historically Black Colleges and Universities and schools serving many Hispanic, Native American, Asian-Pacific American, and other underrepresented students; (viii) work with FEMA, NIST, and USGS on the shared research-facilities plan described above; and (ix) support NIST's Director in meeting Program goals.
(B) Identifying funding: NSF must: (i) note, when practical, in Program funding notices that the money is part of the Program; (ii) track, when practical, federal funds awarded through the Program; and (iii) at least every 2 years, report to the Program's director how much federal money went to research that improves earthquake science.

(5) National Institute of Standards and Technology: Beyond its lead-agency role in (1), NIST is responsible for research and development that improves community resilience through building codes, standards, and practices for structures and infrastructure. Its Director must: (A) work closely with national standards and model building code groups, along with FEMA, to put research results into practice; (B) promote better building practices among architects and engineers; (C) work closely with national standards groups to develop seismic safety standards and practices for infrastructure, new and existing; (D) support developing and commercially applying affordable performance-based seismic engineering, by giving technical support for seismic engineering practices and related codes and standards; and (E) work with NSF, FEMA, and USGS on the shared research-facilities plan described above.

(c) Budget coordination:
(1) Guidance: Each year, the Committee must give the other Program agencies guidance on preparing their appropriations requests, and must prepare, with those agencies, an annual Program budget to send to the Office of Management and Budget.
(2) Reports: Each Program agency must include, with its yearly appropriations request to OMB, a report that: (A) identifies each part of the agency's proposed Program activities; (B) explains how each activity contributes to the Program; and (C) states how much of its funding request goes to each part of the Program.