Sec. 902. Interagency Council on Extreme Weather Resilience, Preparedness, and Risk Identification and Management
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There is hereby established a council to be known as the Interagency Council on Extreme Weather Resilience, Preparedness, and Risk Identification and Management . The Interagency Council shall be composed of the following: Senior officials, to be appointed by the President, including representation from the following: The Council on Environmental Quality. The Office of Science and Technology Policy. The National Security Council. The Office of Management and Budget. The Department of Transportation.
The Environmental Protection Agency. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Department of Energy. The Department of Homeland Security. The Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Department of Defense. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Department of Agriculture. The Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Department of Justice. Senior officials, to be appointed by the President, who have relevant policy expertise and policy responsibilities, including in the following areas:
Economic policy and risk analysis. Foreign affairs. Defense and intelligence. Homeland security. Energy. Environmental protection. Natural resources. Coasts, oceans, rivers, and floodplains. Agriculture. Health. Transportation and infrastructure. Housing. Education. Extreme weather data analysis or meteorological science. Social science. Strategic planning. Urban and land use planning. Other areas the President determines appropriate. The Interagency Council shall be co-chaired by the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The President may appoint one or more additional members as co-chairs, as appropriate. The co-chairpersons shall— oversee the Interagency Council’s response to the Government Accountability Office’s recommendations under subsection (f)(5); use the evaluation framework and performance metrics developed pursuant to subsection (f)(6) to evaluate agency progress in meeting the goals and implementing the priorities described in subsection (f)(1)(A); and work to ensure that sufficient resources are available for agencies to— meet the goals and implement the priorities described in subsection (f)(1)(A); and implement the recommendations developed under subsection (f)(2).
The co-chairpersons of the Interagency Council (or staff designed by the co-chairpersons) shall provide administrative support and additional resources, as appropriate, to the Interagency Council to the extent permitted by law and within existing appropriations. The Interagency Council co-chairpersons shall determine the amount of funding and personnel necessary for the Interagency Council to carry out its duties and the amount of funding and personnel each agency represented on the Interagency Council should contribute in order for the Interagency Council to carry out such duties.
Agencies shall, upon the request of the co-chairpersons of the Interagency Council, make available personnel, administrative support services, and information to the Interagency Council. The co-chairpersons of the Interagency Council shall designate a subset of members of the Interagency Council to serve on a steering committee. Such steering committee shall assist the Interagency Council in determining its priorities and its strategic direction. The co-chairpersons of the Interagency Council and its steering committee may establish working groups as needed.
The Interagency Council shall establish Governmentwide goals and priorities for extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management. In establishing such goals and priorities, the Interagency Council shall consider the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, agency continuity of operations plans, the National Preparedness Goal, the National Preparedness Report, the National Global Change Research Plan, the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group’s National Mitigation Investment Strategy (if available), State and local mitigation plans, and all relevant provisions of the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk Series.
In executing the duties pursuant to this subsection, the Interagency Council shall coordinate with other groups in the Federal Government focused on extreme weather mitigation and recovery (including the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group, the Recovery Support Functions Leaders Group, and the Emergency Support Functions Leaders Group), to avoid duplication among Federal activities to the extent practicable. In carrying out subparagraph (A), the Interagency Council shall, in order to ensure that information relating to extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management is incorporated into everyday agency activities— work with agencies to assist such agencies in considering the goals and priorities described in subparagraph
(A)in agency strategic, programmatic, and budget planning; identify details to be included in agency extreme weather plans; and work to identify and communicate localized extreme weather and natural hazard risk to the extent possible using the best available information regarding risk, and encourage the development of thorough, updated maps, models, and tools to measure and evaluate risk. The Interagency Council shall develop, recommend, coordinate, and track implementation of priority interagency Federal Government actions related to extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management. The Interagency Council shall support regional, State, and local action to assess extreme weather-related vulnerabilities and cost effectively increase extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management of communities, critical economic sectors, natural and built infrastructure, and natural resources, including by— conducting inventories under section 906; convening meetings under section 907; providing guidance to agencies to produce tools and products that enhance extreme weather resilience planning, risk knowledge, and actions for use in all levels of government, including guidance on how to prioritize funding in order to produce such tools and products; and reviewing State and local mitigation plans. The Interagency Council shall facilitate the integration of meteorological and extreme weather science, in addition to other scientific disciplines such as physical, natural, and social science that the Council determines to be appropriate, in the policies risk evaluation and communication, and planning of agencies and the private sector, including by— promoting the development of innovative, actionable, and accessible Federal extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management-related information, data, tools, and examples of successful actions at appropriate scales for decisionmakers; and providing such information, data, tools, and examples to the agency or agencies designated under section 904 to include on the website established and maintained or designated pursuant to such section. The Interagency Council shall assess the specific recommendations relating to extreme weather in all relevant provisions of the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk Series, identify the feasibility of revising Federal programs to implement such recommendations, and develop a plan to address such recommendations when feasible that does not duplicate the National Preparedness Goal. The Interagency Council shall use existing and emerging science to develop or adopt— a framework for evaluating the progress and success of extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management-related efforts that is complementary to and not duplicative of any local or national indicator system developed as part of the National Preparedness Goal; and performance metrics that allow tracking of the actions taken and progress made toward meeting the goals and implementing the priorities described in paragraph (1)(A). The Interagency Council shall provide to the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of Homeland Security recommendations on how agencies should— develop or update agency extreme weather plans; remove barriers to State and local extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management, in agency regulations, guidance, and policies; and avoid duplication among Federal activities to the extent practicable. The Interagency Council shall solicit and incorporate public input and comment as appropriate into the decisions of the Interagency Council. The Interagency Council shall conduct inventories under section 906 and convene meetings under section 907. The Interagency Council shall consider and may update, not less frequently than every two years, in consultation with appropriate scientific bodies, the definition of extreme weather and what other weather events (in addition to those described in section 909(3)) qualify as extreme weather for purposes of this title. The definition of extreme weather shall be published and updated, as necessary, on the website of the Council and in the Federal Register. The Interagency Council shall carry out any other duties the co-chairpersons of the Interagency Council determine appropriate. The Interagency Council shall— make information available online— for tracking implementation of agency extreme weather plans and Governmentwide goals and priorities described in paragraph (1)(A); on recommendations relating to extreme weather in all relevant provisions of the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk Series; and on the results of the Council’s efforts to identify nationwide and localized risks (including updated mapping efforts); and make such High-Risk Series and the reports submitted under paragraph
(13)available as the Council determines appropriate. Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter (concurrently with the United States Global Change Research Program Annual Report and the National Preparedness Report), the Interagency Council shall submit to Congress, and make available to the United States Global Change Research Program and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a report that— describes how the goals and priorities described in paragraph (1)(A) are being met and implemented using— the performance metrics developed under paragraph (6)(B); and information on— agency expenditures, broken down by program activity level if practicable, that are directly related to extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management, including extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management of Federal facilities; and the effectiveness of such expenditures, along with associated financial impacts and community, infrastructure, and environmental benefits, to the extent such data are available; provides recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of such implementation and sets benchmarks to meet; describes the progress of the regional coordination efforts described in sections 906, 907, and 908; and includes a summary of public comments solicited under paragraph
(8)and any action the Interagency Council took to respond to such comments. In carrying out paragraphs
(2)through
(12)of subsection (f), the Interagency Council shall consult with agencies, State and local governments, academic and research institutions, and the private and nonprofit sectors. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, taking into consideration the recommendations provided by the Interagency Council under subsection (f)(7), shall issue guidance to agencies on— developing agency extreme weather plans, which shall incorporate existing agency reports, where appropriate, to prevent duplication and reduce overlap; and developing agency regulations, guidance, and policies to remove barriers to State and local extreme weather resilience, preparedness, and risk identification and management.