Department of Homeland Security Climate Change Research Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2924 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland Security to research and develop approaches to mitigate identified or potential negative effects of climate change on homeland security, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 27, 2023 Ms. CLARKE of New York (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, and Mr. CARTER of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland Security to research and de- velop approaches to mitigate identified or potential nega- tive effects of climate change on homeland security, 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 ‘‘Department of Home- 4 land Security Climate Change Research Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2924.IH H2924 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2924 IH SEC. 2. CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Homeland Secu- 2 rity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended by 3 adding at the end the following new section: 4 ‘‘SEC. 324. CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH AND DEVELOP- 5 MENT. 6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary for Science 7 and Technology— 8 ‘‘(1) shall evaluate existing Federal research re- 9 garding approaches to mitigate identified or poten- 10 tial negative effects of climate change on homeland 11 security that includes consideration of— 12 ‘‘(A) the degree to which such identified or 13 potential negative effects affect preparedness 14 and emergency planning and policies, including 15 with respect to preparedness, response to, and 16 recovery from natural disasters; 17 ‘‘(B) the degree to which the Federal fund- 18 ing structure to respond to major disaster dec- 19 larations and emergency declarations is appro- 20 priately structured to address such identified or 21 potential negative effects; and 22 ‘‘(C) such other matters as the Under Sec- 23 retary determines appropriate; and 24 ‘‘(2) may, subject to the availability of appro- 25 priations, conduct research and development on ap- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2924.IH H2924 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2924 IH proaches to mitigate such identified or potential neg- 1 ative effects of climate change on homeland security 2 in response to the evaluation under paragraph (1). 3 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.—The scope of the research and develop- 4 ment under subsection (a)(2)— 5 ‘‘(1) shall prioritize mitigating identified or po- 6 tential negative effects that impact the ability of the 7 Department to carry out operations; and 8 ‘‘(2) may address the matters described in sub- 9 section (a)(1). 10 ‘‘(c) CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—In car- 11 rying out this section, the Under Secretary for Science and 12 Technology shall consult, and may, as appropriate, coordi- 13 nate, with— 14 ‘‘(1) the heads of— 15 ‘‘(A) other relevant Federal agencies and 16 departments; and 17 ‘‘(B) State, local, Tribal, and territorial 18 governments; and 19 ‘‘(2) relevant owners and operators of critical 20 infrastructure. 21 ‘‘(d) CLIMATE CHANGE DEFINED.—The term ‘cli- 22 mate change’ refers to detectable changes in one or more 23 climate system components that is directly or indirectly 24 attributed to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2924.IH H2924 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2924 IH ‘‘(1) human activity; and 1 ‘‘(2) altering the composition of the global at- 2 mosphere.’’. 3 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— Not later than one year 4 after the date of the enactment of this section and annu- 5 ally thereafter for three years, the Under Secretary for 6 Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland 7 Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Se- 8 curity and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech- 9 nology of the House of Representatives and the Committee 10 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 11 Senate a report on any research and development activi- 12 ties carried out pursuant to section 324 of the Homeland 13 Security Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a). 14 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 15 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 16 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 17 323 the following new item: 18 ‘‘Sec. 324. Climate change research and development.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2924.IH H2924 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS