IPAWS Modernization Act Ready for Senate Floor
The Senate Homeland Security Committee cleared an amended version of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act (S-1180) during a markup Wednesday. Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., introduced the bill earlier this week. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a Homeland…
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Security Committee member, is its one co-sponsor. Johnson posted a copy of the 17-page bill text on the committee website. The legislation, which would direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to revamp the integrated public alert and warning system, “will support our national security,” Johnson said in prepared remarks for his opening statement Wednesday, saying the bill “authorizes a ‘next generation’ system that enables the president to quickly alert the public during a national emergency.” McCaskill said “this legislation would result in more families and businesses across the country receiving lifesaving information quickly and effectively, and ensure our government has the flexibility it needs to evolve with future changes in technology,” in a statement, noting its backing from NAB. The legislation would create an Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Subcommittee that would include the FCC chairman. Two pieces of companion legislation, both with the same name but introduced by different committee lawmakers (HR-1738 and HR-1472), have been introduced in the House. The Broadcast Warning Working Group said the Senate legislation “will further modernize the public alert warning system of the United States to ensure that warnings about natural disasters, acts of terrorism and other disasters or threats are disseminated quickly and effectively.” The Warning, Alert and Response Network Act "that authorized creation of the Wireless Emergency Alert system harnessed the creativity of the wireless industry and leveraged ... the ubiquity of the mobile platform to augment the existing emergency alerting system," CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter said. "The program is working as Congress intended. CTIA is pleased that Senators Johnson and McCaskill recognize this success and seek to modernize IPAWS without conferring upon FEMA or DHS authority to regulate wireless carriers or altering a WEA system that is working effectively for Americans."