Sponsors (3)
The bill invests federal resources and mandates upgrades, assessments, and tribal consultation to strengthen tsunami warning, preparedness, and resilience—especially for coastal, rural, and Tribal communities—but does so at measurable fiscal and operational cost and under tight timelines that could strain agencies and unevenly affect communities.
Coastal communities (including Tribal and Native Hawaiian communities) will receive dedicated, authorized funding ($35M/year FY2027–2031 with set minimum shares for mitigation and research) to support warning, mitigation, and research activities, providing predictable federal resources for resilience.
Residents in tsunami-prone areas will benefit from upgraded warning and forecasting capacity—new sensors (GNSS, tide gauges, buoys), fail‑safe/back‑up drills, and maintained supercomputing and staff—improving warning accuracy, timeliness, and system resilience.
Coastal and tribal communities will get updated public inundation and evacuation maps plus standardized evacuation guidelines, improving local preparedness and evacuation decision-making.
Taxpayers and federal budgets could face increased costs or reallocation pressures because the bill authorizes $35M/year and may prompt additional mitigation spending, potentially reducing funding available for other programs.
NOAA, warning centers, and local emergency managers may face significant operational strain—new staffing, supercomputing, drills, expanded products, and outreach increase workload and could require reallocating staff and resources, potentially slowing implementation or service delivery elsewhere.
Tight statutory timelines for studies, MOUs, GAO assessments, and required responses could force rushed analyses and limit stakeholder engagement, producing recommendations that are harder or costlier to implement effectively.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Introduced February 12, 2026 by Maria E. Cantwell · Last progress February 12, 2026
Updates and strengthens the federal tsunami warning, mitigation, research, and community‑education system by expanding who is included, what sensors and data are used, and how warnings, maps, and evacuation guidance are produced and shared. It requires new studies and reviews (including a GAO assessment of major subduction-zone events), standardized procedures and regular drills, improved data management and public access, and directs NOAA to support tribal and Native Hawaiian organizations. Authorizes $35 million per year for FY2027–2031 to carry out the program, sets minimum funding shares for hazard mitigation and research, and establishes reporting, timelines, and consultation requirements for agencies, states, tribes, and localities.