Congress orders NOAA to restore public disaster-cost database
S. 2775 — Measuring the Cost of Disasters Act of 2025 · Filed by Peter Welch (D-VT) · 13 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 11, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create and maintain a public database and webpage tracking major disasters in the U.S. that cause at least $1 billion in damage. The database must be updated at least twice a year and include cost estimates, disaster type, location, dates, and visual maps showing disaster patterns over time—essentially restoring a public tracking tool that NOAA had maintained from 1980 to May 2025 but apparently discontinued.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to restore and mandate public access to disaster cost data. It is a transparency and accountability measure, not a regulatory or appropriations instrument. The mechanism is straightforward: require NOAA to maintain a public database.
What the text implies
- Restoring this database may increase public and media scrutiny of disaster costs and climate impacts, potentially influencing disaster preparedness and climate policy discussions.
- The bill does not appropriate new funding; it relies on NOAA's existing resources and partnerships, which may constrain update frequency or data quality if NOAA lacks capacity.
- By mandating biannual updates and archiving of historical data (1980–2024), the bill creates a long-term public record that could support litigation, insurance claims, or policy arguments related to disaster costs and climate trends.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens and researchers gain transparent, centralized access to disaster cost data that was previously available but is now missing from public view. This supports informed decision-making about climate risk, insurance, and disaster preparedness, and enables accountability for disaster response and recovery spending.
Named in the bill
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), U.S. federal government, COST (mapped stock reference — likely Costco or similar, unclear relevance)
Where it stands
13 cosponsors: 12 Democrats, 1 Independents.
- Sep 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 11, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 8, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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