((a)) ** Establishment** The Director of the National Science Foundation shall establish the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation that will upgrade, link, and integrate a system of geographically distributed experimental facilities for earthquake engineering testing of full-sized structures and their components and partial-scale physical models. The system shall be integrated through networking software so that integrated models and databases can be used to create model-based simulation, and the components of the system shall be interconnected with a computer network and allow for remote access, information sharing, and collaborative research.

((b)) ** Authorization of appropriations** In addition to amounts appropriated under , there are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science Foundation for the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation—

((1)) $28,200,000 for fiscal year 2001;

((2)) $24,400,000 for fiscal year 2002;

((3)) $4,500,000 for fiscal year 2003;

((4)) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;

((5)) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, all of which shall be available for operations and maintenance;

((6)) $20,400,000 for fiscal year 2006, all of which shall be available for operations and maintenance;

((7)) $20,870,000 for fiscal year 2007, all of which shall be available for operations and maintenance;

((8)) $21,390,000 for fiscal year 2008, all of which shall be available for operations and maintenance; and

((9)) $21,930,000 for fiscal year 2009, all of which shall be available for operations and maintenance.