National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2025
The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2025 would reauthorize and strengthen the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977, expanding the scope and responsibilities of the national earthquake program. Key changes include explicit inclusion of tribal governments in program activities, broadening the work to cover designing, constructing, evaluating, and retrofitting facilities; expanding standards, guidelines, and consensus codes for earthquake hazards reduction; and adding post-earthquake recovery objectives focused on reoccupancy and downtime for community-prioritized buildings and lifeline services. The bill also enhances coordination on tsunami susceptibility, strengthens earthquake early warning capabilities, and requires closer collaboration with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure timely, multilingual emergency alerts. It directs the USGS to collaborate more with NOAA and FEMA on data sharing and response, expand early warning coverage to high-risk areas, and issue forecasts for aftershocks when appropriate. The funding provisions authorize specific annual appropriations through 2030 with a dedicated minimum for completing the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS). Overall, the bill aims to improve resilience and shorten downtime after earthquakes by broadening participation (including tribal governments), expanding technical standards and warning capabilities, and ensuring sustained funding for seismic monitoring infrastructure.
Key Points
- 1Expanded program scope and inclusivity
- 2- Adds tribal governments to program activities and emphasizes coordination with local and tribal entities.
- 3- Broadens activities to include designing, constructing, evaluating, and retrofitting structures, not just readiness or planning.
- 4Standards, guidelines, and recovery objectives
- 5- Requires development of standards, guidelines, and consensus codes for earthquake hazards reduction.
- 6- Introduces post-earthquake recovery-based performance objectives that address reoccupancy and downtime for critical community facilities and lifeline infrastructure.
- 7- Includes tsunami susceptibility in related hazard considerations.
- 8Enhanced warning and alert coordination
- 9- Directs coordination with the FCC on timely broadcasting of earthquake alerts.
- 10- In USGS responsibilities, emphasizes multilingual alert dissemination and expanding the earthquake early warning system to high-risk areas; includes aftershock forecasts when appropriate.
- 11Interagency collaboration and data sharing
- 12- USGS duties expanded to coordinate with NOAA and FEMA on data sharing and resource allocation for oceanic earthquakes and tsunamis.
- 13- Strengthens coordination for timely response to oceanic earthquakes and tsunamis.
- 14Advisory and reporting changes
- 15- Updates advisory committee composition to include the Chair of the Scientific Earthquake Studies Advisory Committee and Tribal governments.
- 16- Adjusts biennial reporting requirements to reflect new authorities and responsibilities.
- 17Funding and ANSS focus
- 18- Authorizes annual appropriations for FY 2026 through FY 2030, each year at $83,403,000.
- 19- Mandates that not less than $30,000,000 of each year’s funding be dedicated to completing the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS).