15 U.S.C. § 8512a — Learning excellence and good examples

Page 2426 TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE § 8512a (A) advanced radar, radar networking technologies, and other ground-based tech- nologies, including those emphasizing rapid, fine-scale sensing of the boundary layer and lower troposphere, and the use of innovative, dual-polarization, phased-array tech- nologies; (B) aerial weather observing systems; (C) high performance computing and infor- mation technology and wireless communica- tion networks; (D) advanced numerical weather prediction systems and forecasting tools and tech- niques that improve the forecasting of tim- ing, track, intensity, and severity of high impact weather, including through— (i) the development of more effective mesoscale models; (ii) more effective use of existing, and the development of new, regional and na- tional cloud-resolving models; (iii) enhanced global weather models; and (iv) integrated assessment models; (E) quantitative assessment tools for measuring the impact and value of data and observing systems, including Observing Sys- tem Simulation Experiments (as described in section 8517 of this title), Observing Sys- tem Experiments, and Analyses of Alter- natives; (F) atmospheric chemistry and inter- actions essential to accurately character- izing atmospheric composition and pre- dicting meteorological processes, including cloud microphysical, precipitation, and at- mospheric electrification processes, to more effectively understand their role in severe weather; and (G) additional sources of weather data and information, including commercial observ- ing systems. (4) A technology transfer initiative, carried out jointly and in coordination with the Direc- tor of the National Weather Service, and in co- operation with the United States weather in- dustry and academic partners, to ensure con- tinuous development and transition of the lat- est scientific and technological advances into operations of the National Weather Service and to establish a process to sunset outdated and expensive operational methods and tools to enable cost-effective transfer of new meth- ods and tools into operations. (5) Advancing weather modeling skill, re- claiming and maintaining international lead- ership in the area of numerical weather pre- diction, and improving the transition of re- search into operations by— (A) leveraging the weather enterprise to provide expertise on removing barriers to improving numerical weather prediction; (B) enabling scientists and engineers to ef- fectively collaborate in areas important for improving operational global numerical weather prediction skill, including model de- velopment, data assimilation techniques, systems architecture integration, and com- putational efficiencies; (C) strengthening the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ability to undertake research projects in pursuit of substantial advancements in weather fore- cast skill; (D) utilizing and leverage existing re- sources across the National Oceanic and At- mospheric Administration enterprise; and (E) creating a community global weather research modeling system that— (i) is accessible by the public; (ii) meets basic end-user requirements for running on public computers and net- works located outside of secure National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration information and technology systems; and (iii) utilizes, whenever appropriate and cost-effective, innovative strategies and methods, including cloud-based computing capabilities, for hosting and management of part or all of the system described in this subsection. (c) Extramural research (1) In general In carrying out the program under this sec- tion, the Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research shall collaborate with and support the non-Federal weather re- search community, which includes institu- tions of higher education, private entities, and nongovernmental organizations, by making funds available through competitive grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. (2) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that not less than 30 percent of the funds for weather research and development at the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research should be made avail- able for the purpose described in paragraph (1). (d) Annual report Each year, concurrent with the annual budget request submitted by the President to Congress under section 1105 of title 31 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Under Secretary shall submit to Congress a de- scription of current and planned activities under this section. (Pub. L. 115–25, title I, § 102, Apr. 18, 2017, 131 Stat. 92; Pub. L. 115–423, § 4(a), Jan. 7, 2019, 132 Stat. 5456; Pub. L. 117–263, div. J, title CVI, § 10601(c)(8), Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 3997.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2022—Subsec. (b)(4), (5). Pub. L. 117–263 redesignated par. (4) relating to advancing weather modeling skill as (5). 2019—Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 115–423 added par. (4) re- lating to advancing weather modeling skill. § 8512a. Learning excellence and good examples from new developers (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Administration The term ‘‘Administration’’ means the Na- tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion. Page 2427 TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE § 8512a 1 So in original. Probably should be ‘‘does’’. 2 See References in Text note below. (2) Administrator The term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmos- phere and Administrator of the National Oce- anic and Atmospheric Administration. (3) Earth Prediction Innovation Center The term ‘‘Earth Prediction Innovation Cen- ter’’ means the community global weather re- search modeling system described in para- graph (5)(E) of section 8512(b) of this title. (4) Model The term ‘‘model’’ means any vetted numer- ical model and associated data assimilation of the Earth’s system or its components— (A) developed, in whole or in part, by sci- entists and engineers employed by the Ad- ministration; or (B) otherwise developed, in whole or in part, using Federal funds. (5) Open license The term ‘‘open license’’ has the same mean- ing given such term in section 3502(21) of title 44. (6) Operational model The term ‘‘operational model’’ means any model that has an output used by the Admin- istration for operational functions. (7) Suitable model The term ‘‘suitable model’’ means a model that meets the requirements described in paragraph (5)(E)(ii) of section 8512(b) of this title, as determined by the Administrator. (b) Purposes The purposes of this section are— (1) to support innovation in modeling by al- lowing interested stakeholders to have easy and complete access to operational model codes and to other models, as the Adminis- trator determines appropriate; and (2) to use vetted innovations arising from ac- cess described in paragraph (1) to improve modeling by the Administration. (c) Plan and implementation of plan to make cer- tain models and data available to the public (1) In general The Administrator shall develop and imple- ment a plan to make available to the public, at no cost and with no restrictions on copying, publishing, distributing, citing, adapting, or otherwise using under an open license, the fol- lowing: (A) Operational models developed by the Administration. (B) Models that are not operational mod- els, including experimental and develop- mental models, as the Administrator deter- mines appropriate. (C) Applicable information and docu- mentation for models described in subpara- graphs (A) and (B), including a description of intended model outputs. (D) Subject to subsection (f), all data owned by the Federal Government and data that the Administrator has the legal right to redistribute that are associated with models made available to the public pursuant to the plan and used in operational forecasting by the Administration, including— (i) relevant metadata; and (ii) data used for operational models used by the Administration as of Decem- ber 23, 2022. (2) Accommodations In developing and implementing the plan under paragraph (1), the Administrator may make such accommodations as the Adminis- trator considers appropriate to ensure that the public release of any model, information, doc- umentation, or data pursuant to the plan do 1 not jeopardize— (A) national security; (B) intellectual property or redistribution rights, including under titles 17 and 35; (C) any trade secret or commercial or fi- nancial information subject to section 552(b)(4) of title 5; (D) any models or data that are otherwise restricted by contract or other written agreement; or (E) the mission of the Administration to protect lives and property. (3) Priority In developing and implementing the plan under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall prioritize making available to the public the models described in paragraph (1)(A). (4) Protections for privacy and statistical infor- mation In developing and implementing the plan under subsection (a), the Administrator shall ensure that all requirements incorporated into any models described in paragraph (1)(A) en- sure compliance with statistical laws and other relevant data protection requirements, including the protection of any personally identifiable information. (5) Exclusion of certain models In developing and implementing the plan under paragraph (1), the Administrator may exclude models that the Administrator deter- mines will be retired or superseded in fewer than 5 years after December 23, 2022. (6) Platforms In carrying out paragraphs (1) and (2), the Administrator may use government servers, contracts or agreements with a private ven- dor, or any other platform consistent with the purpose of this title.2 (7) Support program The Administrator shall plan for and estab- lish a program to support infrastructure, in- cluding telecommunications and technology infrastructure of the Administration and the platforms described in paragraph (6), relevant to making operational models and data avail- able to the public pursuant to the plan under subsection (a). (8) Omitted (d) Requirement to review models and leverage innovations The Administrator shall— Page 2428 TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE § 8513 (1) consistent with the mission of the Earth Prediction Innovation Center, periodically re- view innovations and improvements made by persons not employed by the Administration as Federal employees to the operational mod- els made available to the public pursuant to the plan under subsection (c)(1) in order to im- prove the accuracy and timeliness of forecasts of the Administration; and (2) if the Administrator identifies an innova- tion for a suitable model, develop and imple- ment a plan to use the innovation to improve the model. (e) Report on implementation (1) In general Not later than 2 years after December 23, 2022, the Administrator shall submit to the ap- propriate congressional committees a report on the implementation of this section that in- cludes a description of— (A) the implementation of the plan re- quired by subsection (c); (B) the process of the Administration under subsection (d)— (i) for engaging with interested stake- holders to learn what innovations those stakeholders have found; (ii) for reviewing those innovations; and (iii) for operationalizing innovations to improve suitable models; and (C) the use of any Federal financial assist- ance, including under section 3719 of this title 2 or the Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act (15 U.S.C. 3724), in order to fa- cilitate and incentivize the sharing of exter- nally developed improvements for testing, evaluation, validation, and application to further improve the mission of the Adminis- tration, and any other Administration prior- ities. (2) Appropriate congressional committees de- fined In this subsection, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means— (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Appro- priations of the House of Representatives. (f) Protection of national security interests (1) In general Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, for models developed in whole or in part with the Department of Defense, the Ad- ministrator, in consultation with the Sec- retary of Defense, as appropriate, shall with- hold any model or data if the Administrator or the Secretary of Defense determines doing so to be necessary to protect the national secu- rity interests of the United States. (2) Rule of construction Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any other provision of law gov- erning the protection of the national security interests of the United States. (g) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027. (Pub. L. 117–263, div. J, title CVI, § 10601, Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 3995.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This title, referred to in subsec. (c)(6), means title CVI of div. J of Pub. L. 117–263, which enacted this sec- tion and amended section 8512 of this title. Section 3719 of this title, referred to in subsec. (e)(1)(C), was in the original ‘‘section 24 of the Steven- son-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1990’’ and was translated as reading ‘‘section 24 of the Stevenson- Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980’’, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. The Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act, referred to in subsec. (e)(1)(C), is section 402 of title IV of Pub. L. 114–329, Jan. 6, 2017, 130 Stat. 3019, which is classified to section 3724 of this title. CODIFICATION Section was enacted as part of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, and not as part of the Weather Research and Fore- casting Innovation Act of 2017 which comprises this chapter. Section is comprised of section 10601 of div. J of Pub. L. 117–263. Subsec. (c)(8) of section 10601 of div. J of Pub. L. 117–263 amended section 8512 of this title. § 8513. Tornado warning improvement and exten- sion program (a) In general The Under Secretary, in collaboration with the United States weather industry and aca- demic partners, shall establish a tornado warn- ing improvement and extension program. (b) Goal The goal of such program shall be to reduce the loss of life and economic losses from torna- does through the development and extension of accurate, effective, and timely tornado fore- casts, predictions, and warnings, including the prediction of tornadoes beyond 1 hour in ad- vance. (c) Innovative observations The Under Secretary shall ensure that the pro- gram periodically examines the value of incor- porating innovative observations, such as acous- tic or infrasonic measurements, observations from phased array radars, and observations from mesonets, with respect to the improvement of tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings. (d) Program plan Not later than 180 days after April 18, 2017, the Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmos- pheric Research, in coordination with the Direc- tor of the National Weather Service, shall de- velop a program plan that details the specific re- search, development, and technology transfer activities, as well as corresponding resources and timelines, necessary to achieve the program goal. (e) Annual budget for plan submittal Following completion of the plan, the Under Secretary, acting through the Assistant Admin-