S. 258 119th Congress Senate

TORNADO Act

Official title: A bill to improve forecasting and understanding of tornadoes and other hazardous weather, and for other purposes.

Introduced: January 27, 2025 Introduced by: Roger F. Wicker Republican · Mississippi See on congress.gov

Science, Technology, Communications Atmospheric science and weatherCongressional oversightEarth sciencesEmergency communications systems

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Emergency planning and evacuationFloods and storm protectionGovernment information and archivesGovernment studies and investigationsNatural disastersPerformance measurementResearch and development

Everywhere this bill has been 5 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Jun 2, 2025

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 88.

Jun 2, 2025

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz with amendments. With written report No. 119-26.

Feb 5, 2025

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with amendments favorably.

Jan 27, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Jan 27, 2025

Introduced in Senate

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What's happening now June 2, 2025

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 88.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Tornado Observations Research and Notification Assessment for Development of Operations Act or the TORNADO Act

This bill requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to evaluate and improve its communications about hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, and other hazardous weather events.

Specifically, NOAA must establish a Risk Communication Office to evaluate the effectiveness of NOAA's communications and to identify ways to provide simpler and clearer information to the public about hazardous weather events. NOAA must also (1) establish a research program to modernize its communication systems, and (2) establish a pilot program to implement the research with respect to communications about tornadoes.

Additionally, the bill requires NOAA to develop a strategic plan for implementing the Warn-on-Forecast System, which aims to provide more advanced warnings of thunderstorm-related events (e.g., tornadoes). The bill also requires NOAA to evaluate its tornado rating system and to conduct post-storm assessments of significant events.

The bill also provides statutory authority for NOAA's Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (known as VORTEX-USA), a collaborative project between meteorologists and social scientists to study the conditions that contribute to dangerous tornadoes in the Southeast and the best ways to communicate these events to the public.

Finally, the Government Accountability Office must report on the National Weather Service's communication technology, particularly with respect to timely notices of hazardous weather events.

Hearings & markups 1

Business meeting to consider S.93, to amend the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 to ad…
Meeting Feb 5, 2025 · 10:00 AM EST · Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee

Bill text 2 versions

Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
Reported to Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
Senate

Lobbying activity 31

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

AMERICAN PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURANCE ASSOCIATION FKA PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURERS ASSOC. OF AMERICA
for AMERICAN PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURANCE ASSOCIATION · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2025 (July 1 - Sep 30)
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES
for NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
AMERICAN PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURANCE ASSOCIATION FKA PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURERS ASSOC. OF AMERICA
for AMERICAN PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURANCE ASSOCIATION · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
for AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
AMERICAN PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURANCE ASSOCIATION FKA PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURERS ASSOC. OF AMERICA
for AMERICAN PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURANCE ASSOCIATION · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES
for NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
31 filings
SENATE
31 filings
Transportation, Dept of (DOT)
24 filings
Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS)
17 filings
Treasury, Dept of
16 filings
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
14 filings
Agriculture, Dept of (USDA)
9 filings
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)
9 filings

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

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Cosponsors 9