Improving Drought Monitoring Act
Improving Drought Monitoring Act
Plain Language Summary
# Improving Drought Monitoring Act Summary **What the bill does:** This bill aims to improve how the U.S. government tracks and monitors droughts across the country. It requires the Department of Agriculture to set up an interagency working group—bringing together officials from multiple federal agencies—to improve the quality and availability of data used in the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). The USDM is a weekly map that shows where droughts are occurring and how severe they are.
The working group would study current practices and recommend changes to laws, regulations, or policies that could make drought monitoring better and more consistent. **Who it affects:** This bill primarily affects federal agencies involved in water and agriculture management, farmers, ranchers, water utilities, and communities affected by droughts. Better drought monitoring can help these groups prepare for and respond to drought conditions more effectively. The bill also reauthorizes funding for the USDM program through 2030, ensuring the monitoring system continues operating. **Current status:** The bill is currently in committee, meaning it has been introduced but has not yet been debated or voted on by the full House of Representatives. It was sponsored by Representative David Taylor, a Republican from Ohio.
CRS Official Summary
Improving Drought Monitoring ActThis bill requires increased interagency cooperation in drought monitoring and response activities and reauthorizes the Improvements to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) program through FY2030. Specifically, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) must establish an interagency working group to improve the availability of consistent, accurate, and reliable data for use in producing the USDM. (The USDM uses multiple indicators and indexes together with expert opinions and stakeholder information to estimate the intensity and effects of ongoing drought conditions across the United States. Using this data, the USDM map shows the location and intensity of drought across the United States.)The interagency working group must submit a report to Congress and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and the Interior that contains recommendations for changes in policies, regulations, guidance documents, or existing law related to USDM data. USDA, in coordination with the Departments of Commerce and the Interior, must incorporate, to the extent practicable, the recommendations of the working group to improve USDM data.The bill also reauthorizes through FY2030 the Improvements to the USDM program, which requires USDA to coordinate with the National Drought Mitigation Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to enhance the collection of data to improve the accuracy of the USDM.Further, the Farm Service Agency and the Forest Service must enter into a memorandum of understanding to better align their drought response activities.
Latest Action
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.