Schatz Files Alert Act on Emergency Warnings in Response to Hawaii False Alarm
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, led Tuesday's filing of the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (Alert) Act to address issues with the emergency alert system highlighted in the Jan. 13 false missile warning in Hawaii, as…
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expected (see 1801160054 and 1802060055). Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, joined Schatz in sponsoring the bill. It would give the federal government the sole authority to issue missile threat alerts and pre-empt state and local governments' role in issuing such warnings. The legislation also would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency National Advisory Council's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System subcommittee to “make recommendations on the best practices that state and local governments should follow to maintain the integrity of IPAWS,” which would at minimum “make recommendations regarding the incident management tools used to originate alerts, and the procedures for testing and sending notifications to the public to avoid false alarms.” The bill would require FEMA to establish minimum requirements for state and local governments to participate in IPAWS within 120 days of receiving the subcommittee’s recommendations.