# 119-hr-8846: Tornado Preparedness Act

119-hr-8846, Tornado Preparedness Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Bell, Wesley [D-MO-1] (D-MO); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8846
- As of: 2026-09-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-8846
- Congress: 119
- Title: Tornado Preparedness Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-05-15
- Sponsor: Rep. Bell, Wesley [D-MO-1] (D-MO)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Emergency Management
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**Upgrade how the U.S. detects and warns about tornadoes** to close gaps in forecasting and make local alerts and shelters more reliable. The bill pairs new NOAA-FEMA technical work with grants to strengthen community readiness, with special focus on high-risk and underserved areas. - Families and households: Funding can help build or retrofit community storm shelters in schools and mobile home parks and support local public education so people get timely, actionable warnings. - Local emergency managers and first responders: Requires better integration of Federal forecasts into State and local systems and investments in next-generation radar, satellites, sensors, and advanced forecasting models including artificial intelligence to improve situational awareness. - High-risk and underserved communities: Creates a FEMA Community Tornado Resilience Grant Program with priority for areas with elevated tornado risk, low-income communities, and places that lack shelters or modern warning systems. *Authorizes coordinated NOAA and FEMA action and a grant program but does not specify funding levels in the text.*

## Provisions PRIA read

- Community tornado resilience grants: benefit, medium. This bill would require FEMA to create a Community Tornado Resilience Grant Program. FEMA would award grants to State and local emergency management agencies serving areas identified as high tornado risk by FEMA and NOAA. Grants would pay to build or retrofit community storm shelters, including she…
- Upgrade tornado detection and warnings: benefit, medium. This bill would require NOAA, with FEMA, to create a National Tornado Detection and Warning Improvement Plan. The plan would fund next‑generation radar, satellite, and sensor technologies and develop advanced forecasting models, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. It would expan…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-6900: American Affordability Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-2945: Housing for All Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-8846 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8846)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-6900: American Affordability Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6900)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-2945: Housing for All Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2945)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8846 (as of 2026-09-21).