IB
Union Calendar No. 142
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 369
[Report No. 118–178]
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 17, 2023
Mrs. Kim of California (for herself, Ms. Stansbury, and Mr. Neguse) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
September 1, 2023
Additional sponsors: Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Mike Garcia of California, and Mr. Jackson of North Carolina
September 1, 2023
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic
For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 17, 2023
A BILL
To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to conduct research on public safety communication coordination standards among wildland firefighters and fire management response officials.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the NIST Wildland Fire Communications and Information Dissemination Act
.
Research on wildland fire communications and information dissemination
In general
Public safety research
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director, acting through the head of the Public Safety and Communications Research Division and in consultation with the Fire Research Division and technology manufacturers, shall carry out research on the following:
Public safety communication coordination standards among Federal, State, Tribal, and local wildland firefighters, fire management response officials, and member agencies.
Improving and integrating existing communications systems to transmit secure real-time data, alerts, and advisories to and from fire management response officials and wildland firefighters.
Field testing and measurement of information dissemination and technology
The Public Safety and Communications Research Division, in consultation with the Fire Research Division and member agencies, shall conduct both live and virtual field testing of equipment, software, and other technologies to determine current times of information dissemination and develop standards for the delivery of useful and secure real-time data among member agencies, fire management response officials, and wildland firefighters, based on findings from research under subsection (a).
Recommendations
In general
The Director shall develop and publish recommendations to improve public safety communication coordination standards among wildland first responders and fire management response officials.
Transmittal
The Director shall transmit the recommendations under paragraph (1) to the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy for member agencies to implement.
Reporting requirements
In general
The Director shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report containing the recommendations published under paragraph (1).
Implementation
Not later than 1 year after the date of the publication of the Director’s recommendations under paragraph (1), the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report on the extent to which member agencies have implemented such recommendations.
Funding
From amounts made available to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Director shall allocate $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out this section.
Definitions
In this section:
Director
The term Director means the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Member agency
The term member agency means a member agency of the National Interagency Fire Center, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, United States Fire Administration, and the Department of Defense.
Wildland firefighter
The term wildland firefighter means any person who participates in wildland firefighting activities.
Fire management response officials
The term fire management response officials means regional fire directors, deputy regional fire directors, agency officials who directly oversee fire operations, fire management officers, and individuals serving on incident management teams.
Technology manufacturers
The term technology manufacturers means private sector entities that manufacture communications technologies used by Federal, State, Tribal, or local wildland fire authorities.
September 1, 2023
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed