Sponsors
The bill increases local and national forecasting and monitoring capacity—improving safety, agriculture, and transportation outcomes—at the cost of several hundred million dollars in federal spending, obligations on data providers, and additional administrative and privacy tradeoffs.
Local communities, emergency managers, and the public will get denser, more diverse observations for NOAA/NWS, improving forecasts and enabling 30‑minute severe‑weather warnings that enhance public safety during storms.
Farmers and water managers will receive improved soil moisture and drought monitoring to better inform irrigation and crop decisions, supporting food security and reducing climate‑related losses.
Transportation agencies and drivers will benefit from expanded roadway environmental sensors that provide real‑time road weather and surface condition data, improving safety and mobility.
All taxpayers fund an estimated $304 million over five years for the Program, which could crowd out other priorities or require tradeoffs in federal budgets and NWS funding.
Private and academic data providers face requirements for five‑year maintenance and data agreements, which may impose costs or deter participation by smaller providers and institutions.
Greater reliance on non‑Federal commercial data raises potential data‑sharing, privacy, and proprietary concerns for data holders and users, which could limit access or create legal/ethical issues.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Brian Emanuel Schatz · Last progress February 13, 2025
Creates a National Mesonet Program within NOAA to gather and integrate denser, more diverse environmental observations from federal, state, Tribal, academic, commercial, and private sources to improve weather, flood, drought, fire, and agricultural forecasts and warnings. It funds the program with authorizations from FY2025–FY2029 and requires grants and technical assistance to build or upgrade local and regional observation networks, plus annual congressional briefings through 2035.