H.R. 369 — Reported in House

IB Union Calendar No. 142 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 369 [Report No. 118–178] IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 17, 2023Mrs. 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, 2023Additional sponsors: Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Mike Garcia of California, and Mr. Jackson of North Carolina September 1, 2023Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printedStrike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italicFor 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. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the NIST Wildland Fire Communications and Information Dissemination Act. 2. Research on wildland fire communications and information dissemination (a) In general (1) 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: (A) Public safety communication coordination standards among Federal, State, Tribal, and local wildland firefighters, fire management response officials, and member agencies. (B) 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. (2) 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). (b) Recommendations (1) 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. (2) 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. (3) Reporting requirements (A) 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). (B) 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. (c) 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. (d) Definitions In this section: (1) Director The term Director means the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2) 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. (3) Wildland firefighter The term wildland firefighter means any person who participates in wildland firefighting activities. (4) 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. (5) 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, 2023Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed