Department of Homeland Security Climate Change Research Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2674 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2674

    To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Under 
  Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland 
 Security to research and develop approaches to mitigate identified or 
potential negative effects of climate change on homeland security, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 7, 2025

 Ms. Clarke of New York (for herself, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. 
   Kennedy of New York, and Mr. Carter of Louisiana) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland 
                                Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Under 
  Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland 
 Security to research and develop approaches to mitigate identified or 
potential negative effects of climate change on homeland security, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Homeland Security 
Climate Change Research Act''.

SEC. 2. CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--Title III of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``SEC. 324. CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--The Under Secretary for Science and Technology--
            ``(1) shall evaluate existing Federal research regarding 
        approaches to mitigate identified or potential negative effects 
        of climate change on homeland security that includes 
        consideration of--
                    ``(A) the degree to which such identified or 
                potential negative effects affect preparedness and 
                emergency planning and policies, including with respect 
                to preparedness, response to, and recovery from natural 
                disasters;
                    ``(B) the degree to which the Federal funding 
                structure to respond to major disaster declarations and 
                emergency declarations is appropriately structured to 
                address such identified or potential negative effects; 
                and
                    ``(C) such other matters as the Under Secretary 
                determines appropriate; and
            ``(2) may, subject to the availability of appropriations, 
        conduct research and development on approaches to mitigate such 
        identified or potential negative effects of climate change on 
        homeland security in response to the evaluation under paragraph 
        (1).
    ``(b) Scope.--The scope of the research and development under 
paragraph (2) of subsection (a)--
            ``(1) shall prioritize mitigating identified or potential 
        negative effects that impact the ability of the Department to 
        carry out operations; and
            ``(2) may address the matters described in paragraph (1) of 
        such subsection (a).
    ``(c) Consultation and Coordination.--In carrying out this section, 
the Under Secretary for Science and Technology shall consult, and may, 
as appropriate, coordinate, with--
            ``(1) the heads of--
                    ``(A) other relevant Federal agencies and 
                departments; and
                    ``(B) State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
                governments; and
            ``(2) relevant owners and operators of critical 
        infrastructure.
    ``(d) Climate Change Defined.--The term `climate change' refers to 
detectable changes in one or more climate system components that is 
directly or indirectly attributed to--
            ``(1) human activity; and
            ``(2) altering the composition of the global atmosphere.''.
    (b) Report to Congress.-- Not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this section and annually thereafter for three years, 
the Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department of 
Homeland Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security 
and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate a report on any research and development 
activities carried out pursuant to section 324 of the Homeland Security 
Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a).
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by inserting after the 
item relating to section 323 the following new item:

``Sec. 324. Climate change research and development.''.
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