LEGEND Act of 2021

II Calendar No. 211 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1127 To require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make certain operational models available to the public, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 14, 2021 Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation DECEMBER 17, 2021 Reported by Ms. CANTWELL, without amendment A BILL To require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- tration to make certain operational models available to the public, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Learning Excellence 4 and Good Examples from New Developers Act of 2021’’ 5 or the ‘‘LEGEND Act of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1127 RS SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra- 3 tion’’ means the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 4 Administration. 5 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 6 trator’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce for 7 Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the 8 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 9 (3) EARTH PREDICTION INNOVATION CEN- 10 TER.—The term ‘‘Earth Prediction Innovation Cen- 11 ter’’ means the community global weather research 12 modeling system described in paragraph (5)(E) of 13 section 102(b) of the Weather Research Forecasting 14 and Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8512(b)), as 15 redesignated by section 4(g). 16 (4) MODEL.—The term ‘‘model’’ means any 17 vetted numerical model and associated data assimila- 18 tion of the Earth’s system or its components— 19 (A) developed, in whole or in part, by sci- 20 entists and engineers employed by the Adminis- 21 tration; or 22 (B) otherwise developed using Federal 23 funds. 24 (5) OPERATIONAL MODEL.—The term ‘‘oper- 25 ational model’’ means any model that has an output 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1127 RS used by the Administration for operational func- 1 tions. 2 (6) SUITABLE MODEL.—The term ‘‘suitable 3 model’’ means a model that meets the requirements 4 described in paragraph (5)(E)(ii) of section 102(b) 5 of the Weather Research Forecasting and Innovation 6 Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8512(b)), as redesignated by 7 section 4(g), as determined by the Administrator. 8 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 9 The purposes of this Act are— 10 (1) to support innovation in modeling by allow- 11 ing interested stakeholders to have easy and com- 12 plete access to the models used by the Administra- 13 tion, as the Administrator determines appropriate; 14 and 15 (2) to use vetted innovations arising from ac- 16 cess described in paragraph (1) to improve modeling 17 by the Administration. 18 SEC. 4. PLAN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PLAN TO MAKE 19 CERTAIN MODELS AND DATA AVAILABLE TO 20 THE PUBLIC. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall develop 22 and implement a plan to make available to the public the 23 following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1127 RS (1) Operational models developed by the Ad- 1 ministration. 2 (2) Models that are not operational models, in- 3 cluding experimental and developmental models, as 4 the Administrator determines appropriate. 5 (3) Applicable information and documentation 6 for models described in paragraphs (1) and (2). 7 (4) Subject to section 7, all data owned by the 8 Federal Government and data that the Adminis- 9 trator has the legal right to redistribute that are as- 10 sociated with models made available to the public 11 pursuant to the plan and used in operational fore- 12 casting by the Administration, including— 13 (A) relevant metadata; 14 (B) data used for operational models used 15 by the Administration as of the date of the en- 16 actment of this Act; and 17 (C) a description of intended model out- 18 puts. 19 (b) ACCOMMODATIONS.—In developing and imple- 20 menting the plan under subsection (a), the Administrator 21 may make such accommodations as the Administrator 22 considers appropriate to ensure that the public release of 23 any model, information, documentation, or data pursuant 24 to the plan does not jeopardize— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1127 RS (1) national security; 1 (2) intellectual property or redistribution rights, 2 including under titles 17 and 35, United States 3 Code; 4 (3) any trade secret or commercial or financial 5 information subject to section 552(b)(4) of title 5, 6 United States Code; 7 (4) any models or data that are otherwise re- 8 stricted by contract or other written agreement; or 9 (5) the mission of the Administration to protect 10 lives and property. 11 (c) PRIORITY.—In developing and implementing the 12 plan under subsection (a), the Administrator shall 13 prioritize making available to the public the models de- 14 scribed in subsection (a)(1). 15 (d) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN MODELS.—In devel- 16 oping and implementing the plan under subsection (a), the 17 Administrator may exclude models that the Administrator 18 determines will be retired or superseded in fewer than 5 19 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20 (e) PLATFORMS.—In carrying out subsections (a) 21 and (b), the Administrator may use government servers, 22 contracts or agreements with a private vendor, or any 23 other platform consistent with the purpose of this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1127 RS (f) SUPPORT PROGRAM.—The Administrator shall 1 plan for and establish a program to support infrastruc- 2 ture, including telecommunications and technology infra- 3 structure of the Administration and the platforms de- 4 scribed in subsection (e), relevant to making operational 5 models and data available to the public pursuant to the 6 plan under subsection (a). 7 (g) TECHNICAL CORRECTION.—Section 102(b) of the 8 Weather Research Forecasting and Innovation Act of 9 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8512(b)) is amended by redesignating 10 the second paragraph (4) (as added by section 4(a) of the 11 National Integrated Drought Information System Reau- 12 thorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–423; 132 Stat. 13 5456)) as paragraph (5). 14 SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT TO REVIEW MODELS AND LEVER- 15 AGE INNOVATIONS. 16 The Administrator shall— 17 (1) consistent with the mission of the Earth 18 Prediction Innovation Center, periodically review in- 19 novations and improvements made by persons out- 20 side the Administration to the operational models 21 made available to the public pursuant to the plan 22 under section 4(a) in order to improve the accuracy 23 and timeliness of forecasts of the Administration; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1127 RS (2) if the Administrator identifies an innovation 1 for a suitable model, develop and implement a plan 2 to use the innovation to improve the model. 3 SEC. 6. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 6 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re- 7 port on the implementation of this Act that includes a de- 8 scription of— 9 (1) the implementation of the plan required by 10 section 4; 11 (2) the process of the Administration under sec- 12 tion 5— 13 (A) for engaging with interested stake- 14 holders to learn what innovations those stake- 15 holders have found; 16 (B) for reviewing those innovations; and 17 (C) for operationalizing innovations to im- 18 prove suitable models. 19 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES 20 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con- 21 gressional committees’’ means— 22 (1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 23 Transportation and the Committee on Appropria- 24 tions of the Senate; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1127 RS (2) the Committee on Science, Space, and 1 Technology and the Committee on Appropriations of 2 the House of Representatives. 3 SEC. 7. PROTECTION OF NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 5 sion of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with 6 the Secretary of Defense, as appropriate, may withhold 7 any model or data if the Administrator determines doing 8 so to be necessary to protect the national security interests 9 of the United States. 10 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 11 shall be construed to supersede any other provision of law 12 governing the protection of the national security interests 13 of the United States. 14 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro- 16 priated to carry out this Act $2,000,000 for each of fiscal 17 years 2022 through 2026. 18 (b) DERIVATION OF FUNDS.—Funds to carry out 19 this section shall be derived from amounts authorized to 20 be appropriated to the National Weather Service that are 21 enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 211 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1127 A BILL To require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make certain operational mod- els available to the public, and for other pur- poses. DECEMBER 17, 2021 Reported without amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S1127.RS S1127 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS