I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3998 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to commence proceedings 

related to the resiliency of critical telecommunications networks during 

times of emergency, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2015 

Mr. PALLONE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to commence proceedings related to the resiliency of critical 

telecommunications networks during times of emergency, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Access to 

5 Networks in Disasters Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROCEEDINGS RELATED TO CELLULAR NETWORK 

2 RESILIENCY. 

3 (a) ROAMING AGREEMENTS.—Not later than 90 days 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 

5 shall commence a proceeding on the provision of roaming 

6 agreements between mobile service providers which shall 

7 allow for mobile service at reasonable rates during times 

8 of emergency during which there is a mobile service outage 

9 lasting longer than 24 hours. 

10 (b) EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS.—Not later than 

11 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Com12 mission shall commence a proceeding on the provision of 

13 roaming agreements between mobile service providers at 

14 no charge for all communications during times of emer15 gency to or from 911 services. 

16 (c) DIRECTORY.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 

19 shall create a master point of contact directory to 

20 provide for effective communication between public 

21 safety answering points and telecommunications 

22 service providers. 

23 (2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The directory estab24 lished under this subsection shall be available to 

25 telecommunications service providers and public 

26 safety answering points on a confidential basis. 


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1 (3) EXEMPTION FROM PAPERWORK REDUCTION

2 ACT REQUIREMENTS.—In establishing this directory, 

3 the Commission shall be exempted from chapter 35 

4 of title 44, United States Code (commonly known as 

5 the Paperwork Reduction Act). 

6 (d) STUDY ON NETWORK RESILIENCY.—Not later 

7 than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

8 the Commission shall submit to Congress, and make pub9 lically available on the Commission’s website, a study on— 

10 (1) mobile service providers supplying outage 

11 data to public safety answering points in times of 

12 emergency on a confidential basis; and 

13 (2)(A) making telecommunications service pro14 vider-owned WiFi access points, and other commu15 nications technologies operating on unlicensed spec16 trum, available to the general public for access to 

17 911 services, without requiring any login credentials, 

18 during times of emergency when mobile service is 

19 unavailable; and 

20 (B) whether non-telecommunications service 

21 provider-owned WiFi access points can provide pub22 lic access to 911 services during times of emergency. 

23 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY AND REPORT. 

24 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

25 States shall conduct a study on— 


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1 (1) the resiliency of telecommunications net2 works power utility during times of emergency; 

3 (2) how Federal agencies can better ensure crit4 ical telecommunications networks remain operational 

5 during times of emergency; 

6 (3) the feasibility of mobile service infrastruc7 ture receiving backup electrical power from the in8 frastructure or buildings to which such mobile serv9 ice infrastructure are affixed during times of emer10 gency; 

11 (4) the feasibility and advisability of adding 

12 points of contact for local utilities to the directory 

13 described in section 2(c); and 

14 (5) any legislative matters Congress should con15 sider to help promote network resiliency. 

16 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

17 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

18 shall transmit a report to Congress containing the findings 

19 and recommendations of the study required by subsection 

20 (a). 


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1 SEC. 4. PRIORITY ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL SERVICE PRO2 VIDERS DURING FEDERALLY DECLARED 

3 EMERGENCIES. 

4 Section 427 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

5 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5189e) is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘tele8 communications service’’ and inserting ‘‘communica9 tions service, including wireline and mobile telephone 

10 service, Internet access service, radio and television 

11 broadcasting, cable service, and direct broadcast sat12 ellite service’’; 

13 (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub14 section (e); and 

15 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY ACCESS AND ESCORTS.—Unless ex18 ceptional circumstances apply, in an emergency or major 

19 disaster, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 

20 Management Agency, to the greatest extent practicable, 

21 shall take actions to ensure that an essential service pro22 vider has— 

23 ‘‘(1) priority access to relevant locations and re24 sources; and 

25 ‘‘(2) escorts to relevant locations. 


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1 ‘‘(d) CREDENTIALS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

2 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

3 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall establish a 

4 program to provide credentials to essential service pro5 viders to facilitate access to relevant locations and re6 sources for such providers.’’. 

7 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

8 As used in this Act and for purposes of the rules re9 quired by this Act— 

10 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 

11 Communications Commission; 

12 (2) the term ‘‘mobile service’’ means commer13 cial mobile service (as defined in section 332 of the 

14 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332)) or 

15 commercial mobile data service (as defined in section 

16 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Cre17 ation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401)); 

18 (3) the term ‘‘mobile service infrastructure’’ 

19 means a site or similar facility used to transmit or 

20 receive mobile service signals; 

21 (4) the term ‘‘WiFi access point’’ means wire22 less Internet access using the standard designated as 

23 802.11 or any variant thereof; and 

24 (5) the term ‘‘times of emergency’’ means ei25 ther an emergency as defined in section 102 of the 


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1 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

2 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122), or an emergency 

3 as declared by the governor of a State or territory 

4 of the United States. 

Æ 


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