There is established the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, the purpose of which is to achieve major measurable reductions in the losses of life and property from windstorms through a coordinated Federal effort, in cooperation with other levels of government, academia, and the private sector, aimed at improving the understanding of windstorms and their impacts and developing and encouraging the implementation of cost-effective mitigation measures to reduce those impacts.
In addition to the lead agency responsibilities described under paragraph (1), the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall be responsible for carrying out research and development to improve model building codes, voluntary standards, and best practices for the design, construction, and retrofit of buildings, structures, and lifelines.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall support atmospheric sciences research to improve the understanding of the behavior of windstorms and their impact on buildings, structures, and lifelines.
The Program shall consist of three primary mitigation components: improved understanding of windstorms, windstorm impact assessment, and windstorm impact reduction. The components shall be implemented through activities such as data collection and analysis, risk assessment, outreach, technology transfer, and research and development. To the extent practicable, research activities authorized under this chapter shall be peer-reviewed, and the components shall be designed to be complementary to, and avoid duplication of, other public and private hazard reduction efforts.
Activities to enhance the understanding of windstorms shall include research to improve knowledge of and data collection on the impact of severe wind on buildings, structures, and infrastructure.
The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall each include in their agency’s annual budget request to Congress a description of their agency’s projected activities under the Program for the fiscal year covered by the budget request, along with an assessment of what they plan to spend on those activities for that fiscal year.
The Committee shall meet not less than once a year at the call of the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The Committee shall oversee the planning and coordination of the Program.
The Committee shall develop a coordinated budget for the Program, which shall be submitted to the Congress not later than 60 days after the date of the President’s budget submission for each fiscal year.