II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4667 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to issue reports after 

activation of the Disaster Information Reporting System and to make 

improvements to network outage reporting. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. BURR) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to issue 

reports after activation of the Disaster Information Reporting System and to make improvements to network 

outage reporting. 

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 ‘‘Emergency Reporting 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) AUTOMATIC LOCATION INFORMATION; 

2 AUTOMATIC NUMBER IDENTIFICATION.—The terms 

3 ‘‘Automatic Location Information’’ and ‘‘Automatic 

4 Number Identification’’ have the meaning given 

5 those terms in section 9.3 of title 47, Code of Fed6 eral Regulations, or any successor regulation. 

7 (2) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 

8 The term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ has 

9 the meaning given such term in section 8.1(b) of 

10 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc11 cessor regulation. 

12 (3) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE.—The term 

13 ‘‘commercial mobile service’’ has the meaning given 

14 such term in section 332(d) of the Communications 

15 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)). 

16 (4) COMMERCIAL MOBILE DATA SERVICE.—The 

17 term ‘‘commercial mobile data service’’ has the 

18 meaning given such term in section 6001 of the Mid19 dle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 

20 (47 U.S.C. 1401). 

21 (5) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

22 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

23 (6) INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT; LOCAL GOV24 ERNMENT.—The terms ‘‘Indian Tribal government’’ 

25 and ‘‘Indian Tribal Government’’ have the meaning 


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1 given those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. 

2 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

3 Act (42 U.S.C. 5121). 

4 (7) INTERCONNECTED VOIP SERVICE.—The 

5 term ‘‘interconnected VoIP service’’ has the meaning 

6 given such term in section 3 of the Communications 

7 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 

8 (8) PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT.—The 

9 term ‘‘public safety answering point’’ has the mean10 ing given such term in section 222 of the Commu11 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222). 

12 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean13 ing given such term in section 3 of the Communica14 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 

15 SEC. 3. REPORTS AFTER ACTIVATION OF DISASTER INFOR16 MATION REPORTING SYSTEM; IMPROVE17 MENTS TO NETWORK OUTAGE REPORTING. 

18 (a) REPORTS AFTER ACTIVATION OF DISASTER IN19 FORMATION REPORTING SYSTEM.— 

20 (1) PRELIMINARY REPORT.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 weeks 

22 after the deactivation of the Disaster Informa23 tion Reporting System with respect to an event 

24 for which the System was activated for not less 

25 than 7 days, the Commission shall issue a preVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Oct 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4667.IS S4667

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1 liminary report on, with respect to such event 

2 and to the extent known— 

3 (i) the number and duration of any 

4 outages of— 

5 (I) broadband internet access 

6 service; 

7 (II) interconnected VoIP service; 

8 (III) commercial mobile service; 

9 and 

10 (IV) commercial mobile data 

11 service; 

12 (ii) the approximate number of users 

13 or the amount of communications infra14 structure potentially affected by an outage 

15 described in clause (i); 

16 (iii) the number and duration of any 

17 outages at public safety answering points 

18 that prevent public safety answering points 

19 from receiving emergency calls and routing 

20 such calls to emergency service personnel; 

21 and 

22 (iv) any additional information deter23 mined appropriate by the Commission. 

24 (B) DEVELOPMENT OF REPORT.—The 

25 Commission shall develop the report required by 


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1 subparagraph (A) using information collected 

2 by the Commission, including information col3 lected by the Commission through the System. 

4 (2) PUBLIC FIELD HEARINGS.— 

5 (A) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 8 

6 months after the deactivation of the Disaster 

7 Information Reporting System with respect to 

8 an event for which the System was activated for 

9 not less than 7 days, the Commission shall hold 

10 not less than 1 public field hearing in the area 

11 affected by such event. 

12 (B) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS

13 IN HEARINGS.—For each public field hearing 

14 held under subparagraph (A), the Commission 

15 shall consider including— 

16 (i) representatives of State govern17 ment, local government, or Indian Tribal 

18 governments in areas affected by such 

19 event; 

20 (ii) residents of the areas affected by 

21 such event, or consumer advocates; 

22 (iii) providers of communications serv23 ices affected by such event; 

24 (iv) faculty of institutions of higher 

25 education; 


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1 (v) representatives of other Federal 

2 agencies; 

3 (vi) electric utility providers; 

4 (vii) communications infrastructure 

5 companies; and 

6 (viii) first responders, emergency 

7 managers, or 9–1–1 directors in areas af8 fected by such event. 

9 (3) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 12 months 

10 after the deactivation of the Disaster Information 

11 Reporting System with respect to an event for which 

12 the System was activated for not less than 7 days, 

13 the Commission shall issue a final report that in14 cludes, with respect to such event— 

15 (A) the information described in paragraph 

16 (1)(A); and 

17 (B) any recommendations of the Commis18 sion on how to improve the resiliency of af19 fected communications or networks recovery ef20 forts. 

21 (4) DEVELOPMENT OF REPORTS.—In devel22 oping a report required under this subsection, the 

23 Commission shall consider information collected by 

24 the Commission, including information collected by 

25 the Commission through the System, and any public 


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1 hearing described in paragraph (2) with respect to 

2 the applicable event. 

3 (5) PUBLICATION.—The Commission shall pub4 lish each report, excluding information that is other5 wise exempt from public disclosure under the rules 

6 of the Commission, issued under this subsection on 

7 the website of the Commission upon the issuance of 

8 such report. 

9 (b) IMPROVEMENTS TO NETWORK OUTAGE REPORT10 ING.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact11 ment of this Act, the Commission shall conduct a pro12 ceeding and, after public notice and an opportunity for 

13 comment, adopt rules to— 

14 (1) determine the circumstances under which to 

15 require service providers subject to the 9–1–1 regu16 lations established under part 9 of title 47, Code of 

17 Federal Regulations, to submit a timely notification, 

18 (in an easily accessible format that facilities situa19 tional awareness) to public safety answering points 

20 regarding communications service disruptions within 

21 the assigned territories of such public safety answer22 ing points that prevent— 

23 (A) the origination of 9–1–1 calls; 

24 (B) the delivery of Automatic Location In25 formation; or 


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1 (C) Automatic Number Identification; 

2 (2) require such notifications to be made; and 

3 (3) specify the appropriate timing of such noti4 fication. 

Æ 


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