FORECAST Act

Summary#

This bill, called the Federal Operational Resilience in Emergency Conditions And Storm Tracking (FORECAST) Act, requires the Secretary of Commerce to exempt certain National Weather Service (NWS) jobs from any federal hiring freeze. The exemption covers NWS positions in job series 1340 (meteorology), 1315 (hydrology), and 856 (electronics technician), or successor series. The Secretary must put the exemption in place within 30 days after the bill becomes law. The bill also requires the Secretary to send Congress a report on staffing for these covered positions one year after enactment and then every year after that. The law would retroactively negate any job offer for a covered position that was rescinded on or after January 20, 2025.

What it means for you#

• The NWS can continue hiring for meteorologists, hydrologists, and electronics technicians even if a federal hiring freeze is in effect.
• People who had job offers for those covered NWS positions rescinded on or after January 20, 2025, would have those rescissions negated under this bill.
• The public should continue to have staff available to issue weather and flood warnings and to maintain critical weather equipment, according to the bill's terms.

Expenses#

No publicly available information on estimated costs, budgetary impacts, or funding changes is included in the bill text.

Proponents' View#

The bill states these positions are necessary for public safety because they help issue weather and flood warnings, maintain critical observational equipment, and protect life and property from weather-related hazards. Supporters, as reflected in the bill, want to keep those jobs open during hiring freezes to preserve those safety functions.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information on opponents' views or objections is included in the bill text.