Sponsors (27)
Official title: To improve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather research, support improvements in weather forecasting and prediction, expand commercial opportunities for the provision of weather data, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 2, 2025 by Frank D. Lucas · Last progress September 2, 2025
The bill channels significant, multi-year federal investment and technical modernization to make U.S. weather forecasting and warnings more accurate and interoperable—improving public safety, commerce, and research—while creating substantial taxpayer costs, greater reliance on commercial data, and new administrative, privacy, and implementation risks.
All Americans—especially people in hazard-prone communities, emergency managers, travelers, farmers, and homeowners—will receive more accurate and timely weather forecasts and warnings that reduce risk to life and property.
Provides multi-year, designated funding and program authorities (labs, tsunami mitigation, HAB efforts, commercial data program) that give NOAA and partners predictable resources to improve operations through 2030.
Direct investment in computing, AI, RDT&E, and testbeds will accelerate higher-resolution models, new forecasting tools, and partnerships that can spur innovation and jobs in the weather-tech ecosystem.
Taxpayers face substantial new and recurring federal costs — multiple appropriations and program spending through 2030 — increasing the fiscal burden without guaranteed near-term payoffs.
Greater reliance on purchased commercial data and private-sector providers raises the risk of vendor lock-in, higher long-term costs, redistribution/licensing restrictions, and operational dependency.
Expanded data sharing, commercial partnerships, cloud hosting, and purchase of private datasets create privacy, data-licensing, and data‑security concerns that could limit public access or expose sensitive information.
Based on analysis of 16 sections of legislative text.
Creates NOAA and interagency programs to expand commercial data use, radar RDT&E, HAB monitoring, S2S forecasting pilots, risk communication improvements, and authorizes multi‑year research funding.
Updates and expands federal weather, water, and coastal environmental programs across NOAA, EPA, and interagency partners. It creates and funds new NOAA programs for commercial data acquisition and radar RDT&E, strengthens an interagency council for meteorological services, expands harmful algal bloom and hypoxia monitoring and forecasting, and requires improved subseasonal-to-seasonal and water- and agriculture-focused forecasts and outreach for stakeholders. The bill defines new weather and risk-communication terms, sets program reporting and governance structures, requires data standards and inventories, and authorizes multi-year funding for research, observing systems, and technology transfer to improve forecasts, hazard warnings, and operational decision support for users such as water managers and farmers.