READI Act

II Calendar No. 596 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6096 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 18, 2020 Received; read twice and placed on the calendar AN ACT To improve oversight by the Federal Communications Com- mission of the wireless and broadcast emergency alert systems. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reliable Emergency 4 Alert Distribution Improvement Act of 2020’’ or the 5 ‘‘READI Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. RELIABLE EMERGENCY ALERT DISTRIBUTION IM- 7 PROVEMENT. 8 (a) WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERTS SYSTEM OFFER- 9 INGS.— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 6096 PCS (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 602(b)(2)(E) of the 1 Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act (47 2 U.S.C. 1201(b)(2)(E)) is amended— 3 (A) by striking the second and third sen- 4 tences; and 5 (B) by striking ‘‘other than an alert issued 6 by the President.’’ and inserting the following: 7 ‘‘other than an alert issued by— 8 ‘‘(i) the President; or 9 ‘‘(ii) the Administrator of the Federal 10 Emergency Management Agency.’’. 11 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days 12 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis- 13 sion, in consultation with the Administrator, shall 14 adopt regulations to implement the amendment 15 made by paragraph (1)(B). 16 (b) STATE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM PLANS AND 17 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEES.— 18 (1) STATE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COM- 19 MITTEE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of 20 enactment of this Act, the Commission shall adopt 21 regulations that— 22 (A) encourage the chief executive of each 23 State— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 6096 PCS (i) to establish an SECC if the State 1 does not have an SECC; or 2 (ii) if the State has an SECC, to re- 3 view the composition and governance of the 4 SECC; 5 (B) provide that— 6 (i) each SECC, not less frequently 7 than annually, shall— 8 (I) meet to review and update its 9 State EAS Plan; 10 (II) certify to the Commission 11 that the SECC has met as required 12 under subclause (I); and 13 (III) submit to the Commission 14 an updated State EAS Plan; and 15 (ii) not later than 60 days after the 16 date on which the Commission receives an 17 updated State EAS Plan under clause 18 (i)(III), the Commission shall— 19 (I) approve or disapprove the up- 20 dated State EAS Plan; and 21 (II) notify the chief executive of 22 the State of the Commission’s ap- 23 proval or disapproval of such plan, 24 and reason therefor; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 6096 PCS (C) establish a State EAS Plan content 1 checklist for SECCs to use when reviewing and 2 updating a State EAS Plan for submission to 3 the Commission under subparagraph (B)(i). 4 (2) CONSULTATION.—The Commission shall 5 consult with the Administrator regarding the adop- 6 tion of regulations under paragraph (1)(C). 7 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 8 (A) the term ‘‘SECC’’ means a State 9 Emergency Communications Committee; 10 (B) the term ‘‘State’’ means any State of 11 the United States, the District of Columbia, the 12 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United 13 States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, 14 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 15 lands, and any possession of the United States; 16 and 17 (C) the term ‘‘State EAS Plan’’ means a 18 State Emergency Alert System Plan. 19 (c) FALSE ALERT REPORTING.—Not later than 180 20 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis- 21 sion, in consultation with the Administrator, shall com- 22 plete a rulemaking proceeding to establish a system to re- 23 ceive from the Administrator or State, Tribal, or local gov- 24 ernments reports of false alerts under the Emergency 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 6096 PCS Alert System or the Wireless Emergency Alerts System 1 for the purpose of recording such false alerts and exam- 2 ining the causes of such false alerts. 3 (d) REPEATING EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM MES- 4 SAGES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis- 7 sion, in consultation with the Administrator, shall 8 complete a rulemaking proceeding to modify the 9 Emergency Alert System to provide for repeating 10 Emergency Alert System messages while an alert re- 11 mains pending that is issued by— 12 (A) the President; 13 (B) the Administrator; or 14 (C) any other entity determined appro- 15 priate under the circumstances by the Commis- 16 sion, in consultation with the Administrator. 17 (2) SCOPE OF RULEMAKING.—Paragraph (1) 18 shall— 19 (A) apply to warnings of national security 20 events, meaning emergencies of national signifi- 21 cance, such as a missile threat, terror attack, or 22 other act of war or threat to public safety; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 6096 PCS (B) not apply to more typical warnings, 1 such as a weather alert, AMBER Alert, or dis- 2 aster alert. 3 (3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 4 subsection shall be construed to impair, limit, or 5 otherwise change— 6 (A) the authority of the President granted 7 by law to alert and warn the public; or 8 (B) the role of the President as com- 9 mander-in-chief with respect to the identifica- 10 tion, dissemination, notification, or alerting of 11 information of missile threats against the 12 United States, or threats to public safety. 13 (e) INTERNET AND ONLINE STREAMING SERVICES 14 EMERGENCY ALERT EXAMINATION.— 15 (1) STUDY.—Not later than 180 days after the 16 date of enactment of this Act, and after providing 17 public notice and opportunity for comment, the 18 Commission shall complete an inquiry to examine 19 the feasibility of updating the Emergency Alert Sys- 20 tem to enable or improve alerts to consumers pro- 21 vided through the internet, including through 22 streaming services. 23 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after 24 completing the inquiry under paragraph (1), the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 6096 PCS Commission shall submit a report on the findings 1 and conclusions of the inquiry to— 2 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 3 and Transportation of the Senate; and 4 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com- 5 merce of the House of Representatives. 6 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 7 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad- 8 ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management 9 Agency; 10 (2) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 11 Communications Commission; 12 (3) the term ‘‘Emergency Alert System’’ means 13 the national public warning system, the rules for 14 which are set forth in part 11 of title 47, Code of 15 Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation); 16 and 17 (4) the term ‘‘Wireless Emergency Alerts Sys- 18 tem’’ means the wireless national public warning 19 system established under the Warning, Alert, and 20 Response Network Act (47 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.), the 21 rules for which are set forth in part 10 of title 47, 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 6096 PCS Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 1 lation). 2 Passed the House of Representatives November 17, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 596 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6096 AN ACT To improve oversight by the Federal Communica- tions Commission of the wireless and broadcast emergency alert systems. NOVEMBER 18, 2020 Received; read twice and placed on the calendar VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H6096.PCS H6096 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS