Emergency Reporting Act

In this section:

The terms Automatic Location Information and Automatic Number Identification have the meanings given those terms in section 9.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.

The term broadband internet access service has the meaning given the term in section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.

The term commercial mobile service has the meaning given the term in section 332(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)).

The term commercial mobile data service has the meaning given the term in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401).

The term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission.

The terms Indian tribal government and local government have the meanings given those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).

The terms interconnected VoIP service and State have the meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153).

The term outage has the meaning given the term in section 4.5 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.

The term public safety answering point has the meaning given the term in section 222(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222(h)).

The term System means the Disaster Information Reporting System.

Not later than 6 weeks after the deactivation of the System with respect to an event for which the System was activated for not less than 7 days, the Commission shall issue a preliminary report on, with respect to such event and to the extent known—

(i) the number and duration of any outages of—

(I) broadband internet access service;

(II) interconnected VoIP service;

(III) commercial mobile service; and

(IV) commercial mobile data service;

(ii) the approximate number of users or the amount of communications infrastructure potentially affected by an outage described in clause (i);

(iii) the number and duration of any outages that prevent public safety answering points from receiving caller location or number information or receiving emergency calls and routing such calls to emergency service personnel; and

(iv) any additional information determined appropriate by the Commission.

The Commission shall develop the report required by subparagraph (A) using information collected by the Commission, including information collected by the Commission through the System.

Not later than 8 months after the deactivation of the System with respect to an event for which the System was activated for not less than 7 days, the Commission shall hold not less than 1 public field hearing in the area affected by such event.

For each public field hearing held under subparagraph (A), the Commission shall consider including—

(i) representatives of State government, local government, or Indian tribal governments in areas affected by such event;

(ii) residents of the areas affected by such event, or consumer advocates;

(iii) providers of communications services affected by such event;

(iv) faculty of institutions of higher education;

(v) representatives of other Federal agencies;

(vi) electric utility providers;

(vii) communications infrastructure companies; and

(viii) first responders, emergency managers, or 9–1–1 directors in areas affected by such event.

Not later than 12 months after the deactivation of the System with respect to an event for which the System was activated for not less than 7 days, the Commission shall issue a final report that includes, with respect to such event—

(A) the information described in paragraph (1)(A); and

(B) any recommendations of the Commission on how to improve the resiliency of affected communications or networks recovery efforts.

In developing a report required under this subsection, the Commission shall consider information collected by the Commission, including information collected by the Commission through the System, and any public hearing described in paragraph (2) with respect to the applicable event.

The Commission shall publish each report, excluding information that is otherwise exempt from public disclosure under the rules of the Commission, issued under this subsection on the website of the Commission upon the issuance of such report.

Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall investigate and publish a report on—

(1) the value to public safety agencies of originating service providers including visual information to improve situational awareness about outages in the notifications provided to public safety answering points, as required by rules issued by the Commission;

(2) the volume and nature of 911 outages that may go unreported under the outage notification thresholds of the Commission; and

(3) recommended changes to rules issued by the Commission to address paragraphs (1) and (2).