Bill > HR5456

This bill aims to upgrade and modernize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio All Hazards network, which currently reaches 95 percent of the U.S. population but has limited internet and mobile accessibility. The legislation requires the NOAA Administrator to expand the network's coverage by maintaining existing systems, ensuring consistent equipment maintenance, and acquiring additional transmitters to serve rural, underserved, and remote communities, national parks, and recreation areas. The bill mandates a comprehensive modernization initiative that includes upgrading telecommunications infrastructure to internet protocol-based communications, improving weather alert systems to enable partial county notifications, consulting with stakeholders to enhance data accessibility, developing backup and continuity options during potential outages, researching alternative signal transmission methods, and transitioning critical applications to new dissemination programs. Additionally, the bill requires the Administrator to complete a comprehensive assessment within 12 months, examining the network's broadcast needs, stakeholder input, management systems, broadcast aggregation capabilities, interagency coordination, and potential vulnerabilities such as electromagnetic pulse or geomagnetic disturbance impacts, with a priority on maximizing accessibility, particularly in remote and underserved areas.

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https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5456/all-info