15 U.S.C. § 9705 — Improving National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration communication of future flood risks and hazardous flash flood events
submitted 4 years ago by Pub. L. 117-316 to r/title-15-COMMERCE-AND-TRADE · 738 words · no verdicts yet
The Administrator must assess National Weather Service flash-flood watches, warnings, and flood-information delivery, consult specified experts and users, report to Congress, and make needed improvements. Major recommendations must be scientifically validated and account for affected people, partners, and infrastructure.
(a)(1) Within two years after December 27, 2022, the Administrator* must assess the National Weather Service’s flash-flood watches and warnings and delivery of information supporting flood preparation and response, and must report the findings to Congress.
(2) The assessment must—
(A) evaluate whether the watches, warnings, and information effectively communicate risk to the public, inform action to prevent death and property loss, inform flood preparation and response, and deliver information in a way designed to prompt appropriate action; and
(B) subject to (b)(2), recommend legislative or administrative steps to improve the watches and warnings and research needed for the focus areas in paragraph (3).
(3) It must focus on ways to communicate hazardous flash-flood risks for informed mitigation decisions; provide actionable geographic information to watch or warning recipients, including suitable emergency-agency partnerships; and evaluate information delivery supporting flood preparation and response.
(4) The Administrator must consult academic people including social and behavioral scientists; other weather services; media and other distributors; floodplain managers and emergency planners and responders including State*, local, and Tribal agencies; other government users including the Federal Highway Administration*; and other Federal agencies relying on flash-flood watches and warnings for operations.
(5) As necessary and practicable, the Administrator must engage the National Academy of Sciences, including by contracting with the National Research Council to review the assessment’s scientific and technical soundness and its recommendations.
(6) The Administrator must use methods generally accepted by the weather enterprise, including social and behavioral sciences.
(b)(1) Based on the assessment, the Administrator must make needed improvements to the watches and warnings to improve communication of hazardous flash-flood risks and provide recipients actionable geographic information.
(2) For any recommendation the Administrator considers a major change, the Administrator must ensure that it is validated by social and behavioral science using a generalizable sample; accounts for demographics, vulnerable populations, and geographic regions; responds to Federal, State, local, Tribal, and media partners; and accounts for needed changes to federally operated watch-and-warning dissemination infrastructure and protocols.
(c)(1) Unless (B) applies, “watch” and “warning” for a hazardous flash-flood event mean NOAA products for the public that alert it to the event’s potential or presence and inform action to prevent death and property loss. They do not include technical or specialized meteorological or hydrological forecasts, outlooks, or model-guidance products.
(2) “Weather enterprise” has the meaning given in section 8501 of title 15.
Not later than 2 years after December 27, 2022, the Administrator* shall—
conduct an assessment of—
the flash flood watches and warnings of the National Weather Service; and
the information delivery to support preparation and responses to floods; and
submit to Congress a report on the findings of the Administrator with respect to the assessment required by subparagraph (A).
The assessment required by paragraph (1)(A) shall include the following:
An evaluation of whether the watches, warnings, and information described in paragraph (1)(A) effectively—
communicate risk to the general public;
inform action to prevent loss of life and property;
inform action to support flood preparation and response; and
deliver information in a manner designed to lead to appropriate action.
Subject to subsection (b)(2), such recommendations as the Administrator may have for—
legislative and administrative action to improve the watches and warnings described in paragraph (1)(A)(i); and
such research as the Administrator considers necessary to address the focus areas described in paragraph (3).
The assessment required by paragraph (1)(A) shall focus on the following areas:
Ways to communicate the risks posed by hazardous flash flood events to the public that are most likely to result in informed decision making regarding the mitigation of those risks.
Ways to provide actionable geographic information to the recipient of a watch or warning for a flash flood, including partnering with emergency response agencies, as appropriate.
Evaluation of information delivery to support the preparation for and response to floods.
In conducting the assessment required by paragraph (1)(A), the Administrator shall consult with—
individuals in the academic sector, including individuals in the field of social and behavioral sciences;
other weather services;
media outlets and other entities that distribute the watches and warnings described in paragraph (1)(A)(i);
floodplain managers and emergency planners and responders, including State*, local, and Tribal emergency management agencies;
other government users of the watches and warnings described in paragraph (1)(A)(i), including the Federal Highway Administration*; and
such other Federal agencies as the Administrator determines rely on watches and warnings regarding flash floods for operational decisions.
The Administrator shall engage with the National Academy of Sciences, as the Administrator considers necessary and practicable, including by contracting with the National Research Council to review the scientific and technical soundness of the assessment required by paragraph (1)(A), including the recommendations under paragraph (2)(B).
In conducting the assessment required by paragraph (1)(A), the Administrator shall use such methodologies as the Administrator considers are generally accepted by the weather enterprise, including social and behavioral sciences.
Based on the assessment required by subsection (a)(1)(A), the Administrator shall make such improvements to the watches and warnings described in that subsection as the Administrator considers necessary—
to improve the communication of the risks posed by hazardous flash flood events; and
to provide actionable geographic information to the recipient of a watch or warning for a flash flood.
In conducting the assessment required by subsection (a)(1)(A), the Administrator shall ensure that any recommendation under subsection (a)(2)(B) that the Administrator considers a major change—
is validated by social and behavioral science using a generalizable sample;
accounts for the needs of various demographics, vulnerable populations, and geographic regions;
responds to the needs of Federal, State, local, and Tribal government partners and media partners; and
accounts for necessary changes to federally operated watch and warning propagation and dissemination infrastructure and protocols.
In this section:
Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the terms “watch” and “warning”, with respect to a hazardous flash flood event, mean products issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, intended for use by the general public—
to alert the general public to the potential for or presence of the event; and
to inform action to prevent loss of life and property.
The terms “watch” and “warning” do not include technical or specialized meteorological and hydrological forecasts, outlooks, or model guidance products.
The term “weather enterprise” has the meaning given that term in section 8501 of this title.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 117–316, § 6, Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4410.)
- 2022Enacted · Pub. L. 117-316 · 136 Stat. 4410
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 117-316 on 2022-12-27.
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