S. 258, TORNADO Act

S. 258 would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve forecasting of and warnings about hazardous weather. The bill also would require NOAA to initiate a pilot program for communicating tornado hazards. Finally, the bill would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on the National Weather Service’s information technology infrastructure.

The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).

CBO assumes that S. 258 will be enacted in fiscal year 2025 and that the authorized and estimated amounts will be available in each year. Based on historical spending patterns, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $74 million over the 2025-2030 period, as described below.

VORTEX-USA

The bill would authorize the appropriation of $11 million annually from 2025 through 2032 for VORTEX-USA (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment) to develop accurate and timely tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings. In 2024, NOAA allocated $11 million to the project. CBO estimates that implementing this provision would cost $59 million over the 2025‑2030 period and $28 million after 2030, assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts.

Other Activities

Using information from NOAA, CBO estimates that the pilot program would require four full-time employees and one cooperative agreement with a research university at a total cost of $15 million over the 2025‑2030 period. Most of that cost would be for the cooperative agreement. CBO also estimates that the GAO report would cost less than $500,000. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Aurora Swanson and Johnny Willing. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.