US SB3923

Reauthorizes the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 with funding for NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research rising from $166.7 million in FY2026 to $173.5 million in FY2030, covering weather laboratories, cooperative institutes, the U.S. Weather Research Program, tornado and severe storm research, and technology transfer initiatives.

Establishes a comprehensive artificial intelligence framework for weather forecasting, requiring development of curated training datasets within four years, authorizing global and regional AI weather models, mandating public availability of operational AI models at no cost, and appropriating $311 million for FY2026 and $76 million annually for FY2027–2030.

Maintains and strengthens the VORTEX-USA tornado research program ($11 million/year, FY2026–2030) and the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program, both prioritizing the transition from warn-on-detection to warn-on-forecast using probabilistic guidance, improved risk communication grounded in social and behavioral science, and evaluation of innovative sensor technologies including uncrewed systems.

Creates a Fire Ready Nation framework by establishing a coordinated NOAA fire weather services program, a fire weather testbed, and uncrewed systems R&D for wildfire observation, with explicit requirements to ensure parity of forecasts, warnings, and decision support services for remote, isolated, and rural communities.

Expands NOAA's Commercial Data Program to acquire weather and environmental data from private sector sources—including satellite, ground-based, airborne, marine, and crowd-sourced observations—with mandatory data standards, an ombudsman position, a pilot program for testing commercial data viability, and multiyear contracting authority to sustain partnerships.

Reauthorizes the Tsunami Warning, Research, and Education Act at $30 million annually (FY2026–2030), requiring standardization of warning center operations, biannual backup drills, incorporation of GNSS networks, updated inundation maps, an assessment of alert-level terminology effectiveness, and a new congressional assessment of tsunami watch and warning delivery.

Reauthorizes the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act with $19.5 million/year for NOAA and $8 million/year for EPA (FY2026–2030), mandating a national action strategy every five years, establishing a national HAB observing network, creating a national-level incubator for mitigation technologies, and expanding protections for subsistence-use communities and Indian tribes.

Addresses NWS workforce challenges by requiring annual hiring assessments, an external study on health impacts of rotating shift work, designation of service hydrologists at each Weather Forecast Office, pilot projects for transformational decision support services, and protection of critical NOAA positions from hiring freezes through reclassification as protective service occupations within 30 days of enactment.

Requires NOAA to develop a 10-year strategic plan for high-performance computing and data management (updated every five years through 2035), consolidate data infrastructure using commercial cloud technologies, establish a Data Assimilation University Consortium, and create a publicly available NOAA Data Lake for numerical weather prediction data and metadata.

Includes additional provisions requiring a standard chemical-analysis methodology to verify seafood country of origin to combat IUU fishing, an NSF plan to improve cybersecurity and telecommunications for the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, an annual NOAA unfunded priorities list submitted within 15 days of the President's budget, and authority for alternative NWS employee relocation allowances.