Congress locks in NOAA weather data access—no surprise shutdowns allowed
H.R. 6184 — NOAA Data Preservation Act · Filed by Sarah Elfreth (D-MD) · 17 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 20, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the Department of Commerce to maintain uninterrupted storage of NOAA's scientific data sets in the cloud and prohibits canceling contracts with cloud providers unless the department first develops a transition plan to another provider and coordinates with NOAA leadership. It ensures continuity of access to critical weather, ocean, and climate data that the public and researchers depend on.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to mandate operational continuity for NOAA's cloud-based data storage by requiring advance planning before any service disruption. It is a straightforward public-data-access safeguard.
What the text implies
- Establishes a procedural floor for cloud service transitions that may increase operational costs for NOAA if providers raise rates or if transition planning requires additional staffing.
- Does not specify funding mechanisms, leaving unclear whether NOAA must absorb transition costs or whether Congress will appropriate additional resources.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
cloud service providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, or other NOAA contractors)