Sponsors (4)
Introduced June 23, 2025 by Suzanne Bonamici · Last progress June 23, 2025
The bill strengthens tsunami detection, mapping, and interagency coordination to improve public safety for coastal communities, but requires modest ongoing federal funding and imposes new data, mapping, and operational burdens that will require agency resources and public outreach.
Coastal communities (and local/state emergency managers and families) will receive improved, standardized tsunami forecasts and alerts, increasing the likelihood of timely warnings and lifesaving evacuations.
NOAA tsunami operations, mapping, and research will receive stable funding ($32M/year, 2026–2030), supporting better detection, preparedness, and sustained program capacity at the federal level.
State and local planners, port and harbor operators, and infrastructure owners will get updated high-resolution coastal DEMs and inundation maps, improving resilience planning for critical coastal infrastructure.
Taxpayers may face higher federal spending commitments ($32M/year) that could require trade-offs with other priorities or increase fiscal pressure.
NOAA, partner agencies, state/local governments, and research institutions will face new compliance, data‑sharing, mapping, GNSS support, and drill requirements that increase administrative and operational costs and workload.
Changing alert terminology and expanding alert delivery methods could cause initial public confusion, requiring outreach and training so people know how to respond correctly.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Strengthens tsunami warning authorities by requiring data archiving and access, adding GNSS to forecasting tools, expanding interagency coordination, updating maps, and revising alert practices across U.S. ocean regions.
Revises and expands federal tsunami warning and preparedness authorities to improve data management, interagency coordination, forecasting, and community response. It requires federal agencies to archive and make tsunami-related data and metadata fully available, adds GNSS networks to operational assets, and directs NOAA and partner agencies to strengthen real-time data sharing, mapping, and warning integration across U.S. ocean regions. The bill also directs updates to inundation maps and models, expands the geographic scope of tsunami determinations to include the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic (including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico), and requires evaluation of alert language and timing with social scientists, emergency responders, and high-risk communities to improve public response and mitigation.