OLL18518 S.L.C. 115TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. ll To improve oversight by the Federal Communications Commission of the wireless and broadcast emergency alert systems. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES llllllllll Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on llllllllll A BILL To improve oversight by the Federal Communications Commission of the wireless and broadcast emergency alert systems. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reliable Emergency 5 Alert Distribution Improvement Act of 2018’’ or ‘‘READI 6 Act’’. 7 8 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. In this Act— OLL18518 S.L.C. 2 1 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad- 2 ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management 3 Agency; 4 5 (2) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal Communications Commission; 6 (3) the term ‘‘Emergency Alert System’’ means 7 the national public warning system, the rules for 8 which are set forth in part 11 of title 47, Code of 9 Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation); 10 and 11 (4) the term ‘‘Wireless Emergency Alert Sys- 12 tem’’ means the wireless national public warning 13 system established under the Warning, Alert, and 14 Response Network Act (47 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.), the 15 rules for which are set forth in part 10 of title 47, 16 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 17 lation). 18 SEC. 3. WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM OFFERINGS. 19 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 602(b)(2)(E) of the 20 Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act (47 U.S.C. 21 1201(b)(2)(E)) is amended— 22 23 (1) by striking the second and third sentences; and OLL18518 S.L.C. 3 1 (2) by striking ‘‘other than an alert issued by 2 the President.’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘other 3 than an alert issued by— 4 ‘‘(A) the President; or 5 ‘‘(B) the Administrator of the Federal 6 7 Emergency Management Agency.’’. (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 8 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission, in con9 sultation with the Administrator, shall adopt regulations 10 to implement the amendment made by subsection (a)(2). 11 SEC. 4. STATE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM PLANS AND 12 EMERGENCY 13 TEES. 14 15 16 COMMUNICATIONS COMMIT- (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— (1) the term ‘‘SECC’’ means a State Emergency Communications Committee; 17 (2) the term ‘‘State’’ means any State of the 18 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com- 19 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin 20 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Common- 21 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any 22 possession of the United States; and 23 24 (3) the term ‘‘State EAS Plan’’ means a State Emergency Alert System Plan. OLL18518 S.L.C. 4 1 2 (b) STATE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact- 3 ment of this Act, the Commission shall adopt regulations 4 that— 5 6 7 8 (1) encourage the chief executive of each State— (A) to establish an SECC if the State does not have an SECC; or 9 (B) if the State has an SECC, to review 10 the composition and governance of the SECC; 11 (2) provide that— 12 13 14 15 (A) each SECC, not less frequently than annually, shall— (i) meet to review and update its State EAS Plan; 16 (ii) certify to the Commission that the 17 SECC has met as required under clause 18 (i); and 19 (iii) submit to the Commission an up- 20 dated State EAS Plan; and 21 (B) not later than 60 days after the date 22 on which the Commission receives an updated 23 State EAS Plan under subparagraph (A)(iii), 24 the Commission shall— OLL18518 S.L.C. 5 1 2 (i) approve or disapprove the updated State EAS Plan; and 3 (ii) notify the chief executive of the 4 State of the Commission’s findings; and 5 (3) establish a State EAS Plan content check- 6 list for SECCs to use when reviewing and updating 7 a State EAS Plan for submission to the Commission 8 under paragraph (2)(A). 9 (c) CONSULTATION.—The Commission shall consult 10 with the Administrator regarding the adoption of regula11 tions under subsection (b)(3). 12 SEC. 5. EMERGENCY ALERT BEST PRACTICES. 13 (a) GUIDANCE.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis- 16 trator shall develop and issue guidance for State, 17 Tribal, and local governments regarding policies and 18 procedures relating to emergency alerts. 19 (2) CONTENTS.—The guidance developed under 20 paragraph (1) shall include best practices and rec- 21 ommendations for— 22 (A) the processes and procedures that a 23 State, Tribal, or local government official 24 should use to issue an alert that will use the 25 Emergency Alert System or Wireless Emer- OLL18518 S.L.C. 6 1 gency Alert System, including information 2 about the technology used to issue such an 3 alert; 4 (B) steps that a State, Tribal, or local gov- 5 ernment official should take to mitigate the 6 possibility of the issuance of a false alert 7 through the Emergency Alert System and re- 8 lated emergency alerting systems; 9 (C) the process that a State, Tribal, or 10 local government official should adopt to retract 11 a false alert in the case of the issuance of such 12 an alert; 13 (D) the annual training of State, Tribal, 14 and local alert origination staff related to the— 15 (i) issuance of alerts; 16 (ii) avoidance of false alerts; and 17 (iii) retracting of false alerts; and 18 (E) a plan by which participants in the 19 Emergency Alert System and the Wireless 20 Emergency Alert System and other relevant 21 State, Tribal, and local government officials 22 may, during an emergency, contact each other, 23 as well as Federal officials, when appropriate 24 and necessary, by telephone, text message, or OLL18518 S.L.C. 7 1 other means of communication, regarding an 2 alert that has been distributed to the public. 3 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub- 4 section (a) shall be construed to amend, supplement, or 5 abridge the authority of the Commission under the Com6 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) or in 7 any other manner give the Administrator authority over 8 communications service providers participating in the 9 Emergency Alert System or the Wireless Emergency Alert 10 System. 11 12 SEC. 6. FALSE ALERT REPORTING. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 13 of this Act, the Commission, in consultation with the Ad14 ministrator, shall complete a rulemaking proceeding to es15 tablish a system to receive from the Administrator or 16 State, Tribal, or local governments reports of false alerts 17 under the Emergency Alert System or the Wireless Emer18 gency Alert System for the purpose of recording such false 19 alerts and examining their causes. 20 SEC. 7. REPEATING EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM MES- 21 SAGES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY. 22 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 23 of this Act, the Commission, in consultation with the Ad24 ministrator, shall complete a rulemaking proceeding to 25 modify the Emergency Alert System to provide for repeat- OLL18518 S.L.C. 8 1 ing Emergency Alert System messages while an alert re2 mains pending that is issued by— 3 (1) the President; 4 (2) the Administrator; or 5 (3) any other entity under specified cir- 6 cumstances as determined by the Commission, in 7 consultation with the Administrator. 8 SEC. 8. ONLINE STREAMING SERVICES EMERGENCY ALERT 9 10 EXAMINATION. (a) STUDY.—Not later than 180 days after the date 11 of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall complete 12 an inquiry to examine the feasibility of establishing sys13 tems and signaling to offer Emergency Alert System alerts 14 to audio and video streaming services delivered over the 15 internet. 16 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after com- 17 pleting the inquiry under subsection (a), the Commission 18 shall submit a report on the findings and conclusions of 19 the inquiry to— 20 21 22 23 (1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; and (2) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives.