Measuring the Cost of Disasters Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2775 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2775

 To require the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration to establish and maintain a database and webpage that is 
available to the public and contains information on the billion-dollar 
  disasters that occur each year in the United States, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 11, 2025

Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Alsobrooks, Mr. 
  Merkley, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Reed, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
Booker, Ms. Smith, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Heinrich) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration to establish and maintain a database and webpage that is 
available to the public and contains information on the billion-dollar 
  disasters that occur each year in the United States, 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 ``Measuring the Cost of Disasters Act 
of 2025''.

SEC. 2. DATABASE AND WEBPAGE FOR INFORMATION ON BILLION-DOLLAR 
              DISASTERS.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator of the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (in this section referred to as the 
``Administrator'') shall establish and maintain a database and webpage 
that is available to the public and contains information on each 
billion-dollar disaster that occurs each year in the United States.
    (b) Update.--Not less frequently than biannually, the Administrator 
shall update the database and webpage required under subsection (a) as 
new information is available.
    (c) Matters To Be Included.--The database and webpage required 
under subsection (a) shall include the following:
            (1) With respect to each billion-dollar disaster included 
        in the database and webpage--
                    (A) the estimated cost of the disaster;
                    (B) the type of disaster;
                    (C) the location of the disaster;
                    (D) the date or dates of the disaster; and
                    (E) such other information regarding the disaster 
                as the Administrator considers appropriate.
            (2) Visual graphs and mapping features showing the 
        trajectory of disasters over time and the distribution of types 
        of disasters across the United States that are similar, if not 
        identical, to those features produced by the National Centers 
        for Environmental Information from 1980 through 2024 and that 
        were available and updated online at www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/
        billions/ until May 9, 2025.
    (d) Data To Be Used.--In establishing and maintaining the database 
required under subsection (a), the Administrator shall use data 
available to the Administrator and may collaborate with Federal and 
non-Federal partners as necessary, such as those partners with which 
the Administrator collaborated previously while the database specified 
under subsection (c)(2) was active from 1980 through 2024.
    (e) Inclusion of Other Disasters.--The Administrator may include in 
the database required under subsection (a) a disaster that is not a 
billion-dollar disaster if the Administrator determines that the 
inclusion of the disaster in the database would be appropriate.
    (f) Maintenance of Existing Database.--The Administrator shall 
maintain and update information contained in the previously existing 
disaster database specified under subsection (c)(2) on the webpage for 
the National Centers for Environmental Information for archiving and 
research purposes.
    (g) Billion-Dollar Disaster Defined.--In this section, the term 
``billion-dollar disaster'' means a storm or severe weather event that 
results in $1,000,000,000 or more in combined direct costs and market 
costs as determined by the National Centers for Environmental 
Information.
                                 <all>