TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending July 9, 2004

HR 3980 to establish a National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program

BRIEF

   Wind, Congress finds, can cause loss of life, injury, destruction of property and economic and social disruption. Several billions are spent each year as the result of wind damage and Americans seem to be rapidly increasing development and population totals in the areas most prone to wind damage. One in six Americans live along the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico coasts and those populations, particularly in hurricane prone Texas and the Carolinas, are growing rapidly.

   The bill would address the problem by first establishing the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program with the objective of reducing, measurably, losses of life and property from windstorms. The Program would try to achieve the goals by coordinating Federal agencies, academia and the private sector efforts to understand windstorms and their impacts and encouraging implementation of measures that would reduce the impact of such storms.

   First there would be established by the US Office of Science and Technology Policy the Interagency Working Group. Three agencies would support research into the behavior of windstorms and their impact on buildings, structures and life lines

The National Institute of Standards and Technology would support research and development to improve building codes and standards and practices for buildings, structures and lifelines.

The National Science Foundation would support research in engineering and the atmospheric sciences to improve the understanding of the behavior of windstorms and their impact on structures and lifelines

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would support atmospheric science research to improve the understanding of the behavior of windstorms and their impact on structures and lifelines and,

The Federal Emergency Management Agency would support development of risk assessment tools and effective mitigation techniques, windstorm-related data collection and analysis, public outreach and information dissemination.

Sponsor: Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX-19^th)

Vote: Passed House by 387 to 26 (RC 338) (July 8, 2004)  

Cost to the taxpayers: $68 million for 2005-2009 is authorized. ## All Rights Reserved. No reproduction or distribution without written permission from TheWeekInCongress.com.