House Communications to Examine Resilient Networks Act, Other Public Safety Communications Bills

The hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn, the House Commerce Committee said Thursday. HR-5926, filed by House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., would require the FCC to issue rules to “provide for coordination among providers of advanced communications service during times of emergency.” It would mandate FCC rulemakings aimed at improving coordination between providers and public safety answering points and creating a master point-of-contact directory “to provide for effective communication during times of emergency between public safety and communications entities." The measure would make the FCC do triennial reviews of whether those rulemakings “are substantially improving the resiliency of advanced communications services in times of emergency.” HR-5926 “requires the creation of stronger, enforceable protections for consumers,” Pallone and McNerney said Thursday. “This will ensure that Americans have access to vital and lifesaving communications service before, during and after major disasters. We look forward to moving this bill through the Committee process soon.” Also on the docket: the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act (HR-451/S-2748), the Preserving Home and Office Numbers in Emergencies Act (HR-1289), the Wireless Infrastructure Resiliency during Emergencies and Disasters Act (HR-3836), the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act (HR-4194), the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act (HR-4856), a bill to direct the FCC to issue reports after activating the Disaster Information Reporting System and to make improvement to network outage reporting (HR-5918) and the Fee Integrity and Responsibilities and To Regain Essential Spectrum for Public-safety Operators Needed to Deploy Equipment Reliably (First Responder) Act (HR-5928). HR-451/S-2748 would repeal a provision of the 2012 spectrum law that mandates public safety move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021. HR-1289 would restrict the reassignment of phone numbers during a declared natural disaster except at a subscriber’s request. HR-2165 would bar states from engaging in 911 fee diversion and give the FCC the power to decide on “acceptable” uses for the money (see 1905140060). HR-3836 would authorize states to require wireless companies to deploy infrastructure that can withstand natural disasters. HR-4194 would designate 988 the hotline code and give the FCC a one-year deadline to finish the nationwide upgrade of the legacy switches to support it (see 1908200070). HR-4856 would eliminate the option for people to opt out of receiving certain federal alerts on cellphones and require active White House and Federal Emergency Management Agency alerts be repeated. It would update the process for creating and approving state plans and examine the feasibility of expanding EAS to also distribute warnings to online streaming services (see 1910240060). HR-5928, filed earlier this week by House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore. (see 2002180065), addresses both T-band mandate repeal and 911 fee diversion.