September 11, 2025
Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Alsobrooks, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Reed, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Booker, Ms. Smith, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Heinrich) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
To require the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish and maintain a database and webpage that is available to the public and contains information on the billion-dollar disasters that occur each year in the United States, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Measuring the Cost of Disasters Act of 2025
.
Sec. 2. Database and webpage for information on billion-dollar disasters
(a) In general
The Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (in this section referred to as the Administrator
) shall establish and maintain a database and webpage that is available to the public and contains information on each billion-dollar disaster that occurs each year in the United States.
(b) Update
Not less frequently than biannually, the Administrator shall update the database and webpage required under subsection (a) as new information is available.
(c) Matters To Be included
The database and webpage required under subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1)
With respect to each billion-dollar disaster included in the database and webpage—
(A)
the estimated cost of the disaster;
(B)
the type of disaster;
(C)
the location of the disaster;
(D)
the date or dates of the disaster; and
(E)
such other information regarding the disaster as the Administrator considers appropriate.
(2)
Visual graphs and mapping features showing the trajectory of disasters over time and the distribution of types of disasters across the United States that are similar, if not identical, to those features produced by the National Centers for Environmental Information from 1980 through 2024 and that were available and updated online at www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/ until May 9, 2025.
(d) Data To Be used
In establishing and maintaining the database required under subsection (a), the Administrator shall use data available to the Administrator and may collaborate with Federal and non-Federal partners as necessary, such as those partners with which the Administrator collaborated previously while the database specified under subsection (c)(2) was active from 1980 through 2024.
(e) Inclusion of other disasters
The Administrator may include in the database required under subsection (a) a disaster that is not a billion-dollar disaster if the Administrator determines that the inclusion of the disaster in the database would be appropriate.
(f) Maintenance of existing database
The Administrator shall maintain and update information contained in the previously existing disaster database specified under subsection (c)(2) on the webpage for the National Centers for Environmental Information for archiving and research purposes.
(g) Billion-Dollar disaster defined
In this section, the term billion-dollar disaster means a storm or severe weather event that results in $1,000,000,000 or more in combined direct costs and market costs as determined by the National Centers for Environmental Information.