Senate Passes Emergency Alert Bill

The Senate has passed the READI (Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement ) Act, a bipartisan bill meant to improve the emergency alert system, extend it to new platforms and avoid a repeat of the false alarm nuclear missile strike alert in Hawaii that drew an FCC investigation.

Among other things, the bill would allow broadcasters to repeat presidential and FEMA alerts, something they can't do now.

“NAB thanks the Senate for passing the READI Act, which would improve the timeliness, accuracy and availability of emergency alerts when disaster strikes," said National Association of Broadcasters EVP Dennis Wharton. "Local radio and TV broadcasters play a vital role as ‘first informers’ in keeping communities safe, and we understand the importance of relevant and up-to-date information when lives are at risk. We thank Sens. Schatz, Thune and Wicker for their leadership on the emergency alerting issue and urge passage of the READI Act in the House.”

The bill was introduced by Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

"When a missile alert went out across Hawaii in January, some people never got the message on their phones, while others missed it on their TVs and radios. Even though it was a false alarm, the missile alert exposed real flaws in the way people receive emergency alerts," said Senator Schatz, lead Democrat on the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet. "Our bill fixes a number of important problems with the system responsible for delivering emergency alerts. In a real emergency, these alerts can save lives so we have to do everything we can to get it right."

The READI Act would:

• Ensure more people receive emergency alerts by eliminating the option to opt out of receiving certain federal alerts, including missile alerts, on mobile phones;
• Require active alerts issued by the President or FEMA to be repeated. Currently, alerts on TV or radio may only be played once;
• Explore establishing a system to offer emergency alerts to audio and video online streaming services, such as Netflix and Spotify;
• Encourage State Emergency Communications Committees to periodically review and update their State Emergency Alert System Plans, which are often out of date;
• Compel FEMA to create best practices for state, tribal, and local governments to use for issuing alerts, avoiding false alerts, and retracting false alerts if they occur, as well as for alert origination training and plans for officials to contact each other and federal officials during emergencies; and
• Establish a reporting system for false alerts so the FCC can track when they occur and examine their causes.

In addition to the READI Act, Senator Schatz introduced the ALERT Act earlier this year. The legislation, which passed the Senate in June, would give the federal government the primary responsibility of alerting the public of a missile threat.

The bill now moved to the House for action.