Sponsors (10)
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Rafael Edward Cruz · Last progress February 25, 2026
The bill would substantially strengthen U.S. weather, water, and climate forecasting — improving public safety, sector resilience, research, and planning — but does so through significant new federal spending and greater reliance on commercial data/AI/cloud services that raise fiscal, security, privacy, and implementation risks that must be managed.
Millions of Americans — including homeowners, commuters, coastal, rural, and tribal communities — will get more accurate, timely, and localized forecasts and warnings (tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfire smoke, atmospheric rivers, etc.), improving evacuation decisions and reducing loss of life and property.
Substantial federal investment in computing, modeling, AI/ML, data lakes, cloud/HPC continuity, and centralized data releases will improve forecast accuracy, extend warning lead times, and make more weather and model data available to researchers, universities, and private innovators.
Targeted programs and funding will strengthen resilience and decision-support for specific sectors — agriculture (S2S forecasts), water management, harmful algal blooms monitoring, wildfire prediction and smoke forecasting, landslide and coastal flooding guidance — protecting livelihoods, public health, and local economies.
Federal taxpayers face substantial new and recurring spending (upfront appropriations and multi‑year authorizations) that could increase budget pressure and crowd out other priorities.
Greater reliance on commercial data, cloud/HPC contracts, and public–private partnerships risks vendor lock‑in and long‑term contractual obligations that can raise operational costs and limit flexibility if procurement is not carefully managed.
Making large volumes of NOAA data and AI models public, and integrating commercial sources, raises cybersecurity and national‑security risks (including adversary access or compromise) unless matched by stronger safeguards and controls.
Based on analysis of 30 sections of legislative text.
Modernizes NOAA forecasting, computing, radar, data procurement, risk communications, and fire/landslide planning; authorizes R&D, pilots, AI/HPC integration, and FY2026–2030 research funding.
Modernizes and expands U.S. weather, water, and related environmental programs led by NOAA and partners by directing new technical, procurement, and coordination activities. It requires NOAA to improve operational forecasting, integrate AI and high-performance computing, upgrade radar and forecasting systems, buy and standardize commercial weather and environmental data, and strengthen public risk communication and fire-weather services. The legislation creates pilots and new programs (including subseasonal-to-seasonal forecasting pilots and a Commercial Data Program), authorizes multi-year R&D and centers of excellence, sets specific OAR funding authorizations for FY2026–2030, updates definitions (precipitation, atmospheric rivers, landslides), expands harmful algal bloom authorities, mandates cybersecurity planning for the academic research fleet, and adds workforce, relocation, and contracting authorities and reporting requirements across agencies.