Emergency Reporting Act
Following prolonged disasters that knock out phone and internet service for at least a week, the Federal Communications Commission must hold public hearings with affected residents, first responders, and service providers to examine the failures. Within four months of each hearing, the agency must publish a public report detailing the scope of mobile, broadband, and 9-1-1 outages, estimating how many people were cut off, and recommending ways to strengthen local networks. Regulators must also study whether telecom companies should provide 9-1-1 centers with visual outage maps and investigate how many emergency system failures currently go unreported.
What this bill touches.
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- Emergency communications centers and 9-1-1 operatorsBenefit from federal review and recommendations aimed at improving situational awareness, identifying unreported 9-1-1 disruptions, and evaluating visual outage maps in notifications sent to call centers (Sec. 2(a)(2)(C), Sec. 2(b)).
- Residents of disaster-affected areasGain public access to detailed FCC reports documenting the extent and duration of broadband, mobile, and phone service failures during major disasters, as well as recommendations to improve network resiliency (Sec. 2(a)(2), Sec. 2(a)(4)).
Who it burdens
- Federal Communications CommissionMust hold at least one annual public hearing examining prolonged disaster reporting system activations, publish comprehensive reports on phone, broadband, and 9-1-1 outages within 120 days of each hearing, and complete an investigation into outage alert improvements within one year (Sec. 2(a), 2(b)).
The provisions, in plain language.
Requires the Federal Communications Commission to hold at least one annual public hearing examining major emergencies where its disaster reporting system was activated for at least seven days, inviting input from affected residents, local and tribal officials, utilities, and emergency responders.
Requires the Federal Communications Commission to publish a public report within 120 days after each hearing detailing the duration and scope of phone, broadband, and 9-1-1 outages during those disasters and recommending ways to strengthen communications network resilience.
Directs the Federal Communications Commission to study and report within one year on improving outage alerts sent to 9-1-1 call centers, including evaluating visual outage maps and identifying 9-1-1 disruptions that currently go unreported.