US Code

Public Law 119-73 (01/23/2026)

7 U.S.C. § 5856

Improvements to United States Drought Monitor

(a)

In general

The Secretary shall coordinate with the Director of the National Drought Mitigation Center and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to enhance the collection of data to improve the accuracy of the United States Drought Monitor.

(b)

Utilization

section 9081(c) of this title7 U.S.C. 1501To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall utilize a consistent source or sources of data for programs that are based on drought or precipitation indices, such as the livestock forage disaster program established under or policies or plans of insurance established under the Federal Crop Insurance Act ( et seq.).

(c)

Review

Not later than 1 year after , the Secretary shall conduct a review of—
(1)
the types of data currently utilized by the United States Drought Monitor;
(2)
the geographic coverage and density of existing data collection sites; and
(3)
other meteorological or climatological data that is being collected by other Federal agencies, State and local governments, and non-Federal entities that could be utilized by the United States Drought Monitor.
(d)

Improvements

(1)

In general

Upon the completion of the review prescribed in subsection (c), the Secretary shall—
(A)
seek to expand the collection of relevant data in States or geographic areas where coverage is currently lacking as compared to other States or geographic areas; and
(B)
to the maximum extent practicable, develop standards to allow the integration of meteorological or climatological data into the United States Drought Monitor derived from—
(i)
in-situ soil moisture profile measuring devices;
(ii)
15 U.S.C. 3724 citizen science (as defined in the Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act ()), including data from the Cooperative Observer Program of the National Weather Service; and
(iii)
other Federal agencies, State and local governments, and non-Federal entities.
(2)

Authorization of appropriations

There is to be authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this subsection $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023.

Pub. L. 115–334, title XII, § 12512132 Stat. 4995(, , .)

Editorial Notes

References in Text

act Feb. 16, 1938, ch. 3052 Stat. 72section 1501 of this titleThe Federal Crop Insurance Act, referred to in subsec. (b), is subtitle A of title V of , , which is classified generally to subchapter I (§ 1501 et seq.) of chapter 36 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see and Tables.

Codification

Section was enacted as part of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, and not as part of subtitle C of title XVI of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 which comprises this subchapter.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Definition of “Secretary”

section 2 of Pub. L. 115–334section 9001 of this title“Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture, see , set out as a note under .