{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.schatz.senate.gov/news/press-releases/schatz-measures-to-improve-fire-weather-forecasts-and-warnings-promote-use-of-ai-to-predict-extreme-weather-passes-key-senate-committee", "Schatz Measures To Improve Fire Weather Forecasts And Warnings, Promote Use Of AI To Predict Extreme Weather Passes Key Senate Committee", "2024-07-31", "2024", "2024-07", "Democrat", "Senate", "HI", "Brian Schatz", "S001194", "www.schatz.senate.gov", "schatz", "https://www.schatz.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today approved seven measures authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai\u2018i). The provisions, included as amendments to several bills, would improve fire weather forecasts and warnings in remote or rural areas in Hawai\u2018i and across the country and promote the use of artificial intelligence to better predict and respond to extreme weather, among other things.\n\n\u201cBy improving fire weather forecasts and warnings, we can save lives and communities,\u201d said Senator Schatz, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. \u201cThe committee\u2019s vote today gets us one step closer to enacting life-saving measures that will improve weather forecasts and fire warnings in Hawai\u2018i and across the country. It also will help us realize AI\u2019s full potential in a safe and responsible way.\u201d\n\nThe seven Schatz provisions approved by the committee today will:\n\nImprove fire weather forecasts and warnings in remote or rural areas\n\nThe Lahaina wildfire highlighted the dangers that remote communities face from fire, and the need for forecasts and warning services to reach them in a timely and actionable way. Schatz\u2019s provision would mandate fire weather forecasts and warnings be disseminated to remote, isolated, or rural communities as effectively as anywhere else in the country.\n\nStrengthen weather forecasts with better data\n\nThe Schatz measure would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish and maintain a National Mesonet Program. Mesonets are weather observation data networks that observe and track mesoscale weather events, and that are crucial for collecting local meteorological data, such as soil moisture and water levels, to better forecast weather, flood, fire and agricultural impacts. Establishing the National Mesonet Program and outlining its objectives will help address critical gaps in weather data and forecasting.\n\nPromote AI technology to improve extreme weather forecasts\n\nSchatz\u2019s TAME Extreme Weather Act amendment requires NOAA to adopt and implement AI technologies to better predict and respond to extreme weather. The measure also urges NOAA to consider how to recruit and retain the AI workforce of the future, creating new scientific and technical jobs.\n\nHelp stop illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing\n\nSchatz\u2019s amendment authorizes the U.S. Department of Defense, in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard, to provide maritime technical assistance for combatting illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing to other nations. Some experts estimate that as much as one out of every five fish in the market is caught illegally with negative impacts to the future health of the oceans for a quick profit today, and this technical assistance will help solve this global problem.\n\nEncourage AI safety and innovation\n\nSchatz\u2019s amendment would award cash prizes to help encourage AI innovations.\n\nSupport open government datasets to improve AI training\n\nThe provision would build on Schatz\u2019s Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, which required that federal agencies by default publish their data in a machine-readable format. This amendment would ensure that the new, curated public datasets for AI systems that are included in the Future of AI Innovation Act build upon the foundation created by the OPEN Government Data Act. AI is only as useful as the data it\u2019s trained on, and making government data safely available for AI means that AI can help solve important problems.\n\nHelp boost research on AI benefits\n\nBy improving scientific discovery and automating some tasks, AI has the power to solve problems and help people. The amendment will spur studies to help update or remove unnecessary regulations and allow positive deployments of AI technology to occur.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:24:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.schatz.senate.gov/news/press-releases/schatz-measures-to-improve-fire-weather-forecasts-and-warnings-promote-use-of-ai-to-predict-extreme-weather-passes-key-senate-committee"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7712757214903831, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}