Rep. Stephanie Bice
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed numerous pieces of legislation supported by U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK), advancing the measures to the U.S. Senate for action.
“It was great to see so many provisions and bills that will benefit Oklahoma pass the House,” Rep. Bice said on Tuesday. “Over the weekend, severe weather ripped through our state, changing lives forever. Oklahomans must have the resources they need when critical weather events strike.”
The House on April 30 voted 394-19 to approve the bipartisan Weather Act Reauthorization Act, H.R. 6093, which Rep. Bice cosponsored with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK).
H.R. 6093 is a package of bills to help support research programs currently operating at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while also establishing new programs to advance forecasting, expand commercial data partnerships, strengthen emergency preparedness, and advance tools for farmers, ranchers, and resource managers, according to bill summaries provided by the congresswoman’s staff.
“Thankfully, the Weather Act Reauthorization will improve weather forecasting and modernize the systems we already have in place, ensuring they become more reliable and effective,” said Rep. Bice.
H.R. 6093 contains three of Rep. Bice’s bills: the NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) Modernization Act, H.R. 1482; the National Mesonet Authorization Act, H.R. 2995; and the Weather Innovation for Next Generation (WING) Act, H.R. 3764.
The bipartisan H.R. 1482, which Rep. Bice sponsored on March 9, 2023, with cosponsor U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), would update the nation’s emergency alert system.
“The NOAA Weather Radio Act which will help address the aging infrastructure in these systems and prevent outages or disruptions like those seen this weekend from occurring in the future,” the congresswoman said.
Next, the bipartisan H.R. 2995, which Rep. Bice also sponsored, would increase the overall coverage and accuracy of the National Mesonet Program to provide reliable, real-time data and observations for weather prediction, severe weather warnings, and emergency response. Rep. Bice introduced H.R. 2995 in April 2023 alongside lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY).
The larger bill also includes H.R. 3764, which Rep. Bice cosponsored in May 2023 with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) to direct the National Weather Service to establish a temporary research, development, test, and evaluation program to ensure that weather radar detection and prediction capabilities continue to perform despite physical obstructions in their line of sight, such as wind turbines, according to the congressional record bill summary.
The House on April 30 also voted 333-75 to pass another bipartisan bill supported by Rep. Bice, the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act, H.R. 4877, which she cosponsored in July 2023 with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA).
H.R. 4877 would establish a five-year abandoned wells research, development, and demonstration program at the U.S. Department of Energy, which would be tasked with improving data collection on the location of abandoned oil or gas wells; plugging, remediating, reclaiming, and repurposing the wells; and developing strategies to mitigate potential environmental impacts of documented and undocumented abandoned wells, according to the congressional record.
“I was also pleased to see that the House passed my legislation, the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act,” Rep. Bice said. “Oil and gas production are the heart of Oklahoma’s economy. While active wells support hundreds of thousands of jobs, legacy sites, and abandoned wells can present environmental and economic problems.”