115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2385 

AN ACT 

To establish best practices for State, tribal, and local governments participating in the Integrated Public Alert and 

Warning System, 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Authenticating Local 

3 Emergencies and Real Threats Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act— 

6 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad7 ministrator of the Agency; 

8 (2) the term ‘‘Agency’’ means the Federal 

9 Emergency Management Agency; 

10 (3) the term ‘‘public alert and warning system’’ 

11 means the integrated public alert and warning sys12 tem of the United States described in section 526 of 

13 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 

14 321o); and 

15 (4) the term ‘‘State’’ means any State of the 

16 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com17 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 

18 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 

19 Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession of the 

20 United States. 

21 SEC. 3. INTEGRATED PUBLIC ALERT AND WARNING SYS22 TEM SUBCOMMITTEE. 

23 Section 2 of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning 

24 System Modernization Act of 2015 (Public Law 114–143; 

25 130 Stat. 327) is amended— 

26 (1) in subsection (b)— 
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1 (A) in paragraph (6)(B)— 

2 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

3 the end; 

4 (ii) in clause (ii)(VII), by striking the 

5 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

6 and 

7 (iii) by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(iii) recommendations for best prac10 tices of State, tribal, and local govern11 ments to follow to maintain the integrity of 

12 the public alert and warning system, in13 cluding— 

14 ‘‘(I) the procedures for State, 

15 tribal, and local government officials 

16 to authenticate civil emergencies and 

17 initiate, modify, and cancel alerts 

18 transmitted through the public alert 

19 and warning system, including proto20 cols and technology capabilities for— 

21 ‘‘(aa) the initiation, or pro22 hibition on the initiation, of 

23 alerts by a single authorized or 

24 unauthorized individual; and 
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1 ‘‘(bb) testing a State, tribal, 

2 or local government incident 

3 management and warning tool 

4 without accidentally initiating an 

5 alert through the public alert and 

6 warning system; 

7 ‘‘(II) the standardization, 

8 functionality, and interoperability of 

9 incident management and warning 

10 tools used by State, tribal, and local 

11 governments to notify the public of an 

12 emergency through the public alert 

13 and warning system; 

14 ‘‘(III) the training and recertifi15 cation of emergency management per16 sonnel on best practices for origi17 nating and transmitting an alert 

18 through the public alert and warning 

19 system; and 

20 ‘‘(IV) the procedures, protocols, 

21 and guidance concerning the protec22 tive action plans that State, tribal, 

23 and local governments should issue to 

24 the public following an alert issued 
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1 under the public alert and warning 

2 system.’’; 

3 (B) in paragraph (7)— 

4 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

5 (I) by striking ‘‘Not later than’’ 

6 and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(i) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later 

8 than’’; 

9 (II) in clause (i), as so des10 ignated, by striking ‘‘paragraph (6)’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘clauses (i) and (ii) of 

12 paragraph (6)(B)’’; and 

13 (III) by adding at the end the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(ii) SECOND REPORT.—Not later 

16 than 18 months after the date of enact17 ment of the Authenticating Local Emer18 gencies and Real Threats Act of 2018, the 

19 Subcommittee shall submit to the National 

20 Advisory Council a report containing any 

21 recommendations required to be developed 

22 under paragraph (6)(B)(iii) for approval 

23 by the National Advisory Council.’’; and 
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1 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

2 ‘‘report’’ each place that term appears and 

3 inserting ‘‘reports’’; and 

4 (C) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘3’’ and 

5 inserting ‘‘5’’; and 

6 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘and 2018’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021’’. 

8 SEC. 4. INTEGRATED PUBLIC ALERT AND WARNING SYS9 TEM PARTICIPATORY REQUIREMENTS. 

10 The Administrator shall— 

11 (1) consider the recommendations submitted by 

12 the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System 

13 Subcommittee to the National Advisory Council 

14 under section 2(b)(7) of the Integrated Public Alert 

15 and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015 

16 (Public Law 114–143; 130 Stat. 331), as amended 

17 by section 3 of this Act; and 

18 (2) not later than 120 days after the date on 

19 which the recommendations described in paragraph 

20 (1) are submitted, establish minimum requirements 

21 for State, tribal, and local governments to partici22 pate in the public alert and warning system con23 sistent with all public notice rules and regulations in 

24 law. 
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1 SEC. 5. INCIDENT MANAGEMENT AND WARNING TOOL VALI2 DATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall establish 

4 a process to ensure that an incident management and 

5 warning tool used by a State, tribal, or local government 

6 to originate and transmit an alert through the public alert 

7 and warning system meets the minimum requirements es8 tablished by the Administrator under section 4(2). 

9 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The process required to be es10 tablished under subsection (a) shall include— 

11 (1) the ability to test an incident management 

12 and warning tool in the public alert and warning 

13 system lab; 

14 (2) the ability to certify that an incident man15 agement and warning tool complies with the applica16 ble cyber frameworks of the Department of Home17 land Security and the National Institute of Stand18 ards and Technology; 

19 (3) a process to certify developers of emergency 

20 management software; and 

21 (4) requiring developers to provide the Adminis22 trator with a copy of and rights of use for ongoing 

23 testing of each version of incident management and 

24 warning tool software before the software is first 

25 used by a State, tribal, or local government. 
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1 SEC. 6. REVIEW AND UPDATE OF MEMORANDA OF UNDER2 STANDING. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall review 

4 the memoranda of understanding between the Agency and 

5 State, tribal, and local governments with respect to the 

6 public alert and warning system to ensure that all agree7 ments ensure compliance with any minimum requirements 

8 established by the Administrator under section 4(2). 

9 (b) FUTURE MEMORANDA.—The Administrator shall 

10 ensure that any new memorandum of understanding en11 tered into between the Agency and a State, tribal, or local 

12 government on or after the date of enactment of this Act 

13 with respect to the public alert and warning system en14 sures that the agreement requires compliance with any 

15 minimum requirements established by the Administrator 

16 under section 4(2). 

17 SEC. 7. MISSILE ALERT AND WARNING AUTHORITIES. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

19 (1) AUTHORITY.—Beginning on the date that is 

20 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

21 authority to originate an alert warning the public of 

22 a missile launch directed against a State using the 

23 public alert and warning system shall reside pri24 marily with the Federal Government. 

25 (2) DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY.—The Sec26 retary of Homeland Security may delegate to a 
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1 State, tribal, or local entity the authority described 

2 in paragraph (1), if, not later than 60 days after the 

3 end of the 120-day period described in paragraph 

4 (1), the Secretary of Homeland Security submits a 

5 report to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

6 Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Com7 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep8 resentatives that— 

9 (A) it is not feasible for the Federal Gov10 ernment to alert the public of a missile threat 

11 against a State; or 

12 (B) it is not in the national security inter13 est of the United States for the Federal Gov14 ernment to alert the public of missile threat 

15 against a State. 

16 (3) ACTIVATION OF SYSTEM.—Upon verification 

17 of a missile threat, the President, utilizing estab18 lished authorities, protocols and procedures, may ac19 tivate the public alert and warning system. 

20 (b) REQUIRED PROCESSES.—The Secretary of 

21 Homeland Security, acting through the Administrator, 

22 shall establish a process to promptly notify a State warn23 ing point, and any State entities that the Administrator 

24 determines appropriate, of follow-up actions to a missile 

25 launch alert so the State may take appropriate action to 
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1 protect the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of 

2 the State following the issuance of an alert described in 

3 subsection (a)(1) for that State. 

4 (c) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu5 rity, acting through the Administrator, shall work with the 

6 Governor of a State warning point to develop and imple7 ment appropriate protective action plans to respond to an 

8 alert described in subsection (a)(1) for that State. 

9 (d) STUDY AND REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

11 Homeland Security shall— 

12 (1) examine the feasibility of establishing an 

13 alert designation under the public alert and warning 

14 system that would be used to alert and warn the 

15 public of a missile threat while concurrently alerting 

16 a State warning point so that a State may activate 

17 related protective action plans; and 

18 (2) submit a report of the findings under para19 graph (1), including of the costs and timeline for 

20 taking action to implement an alert designation de21 scribed in paragraph (1), to— 

22 (A) the Subcommittee on Homeland Secu23 rity of the Committee on Appropriations of the 

24 Senate; 
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1 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 

2 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

3 (C) the Subcommittee on Homeland Secu4 rity of the Committee on Appropriations of the 

5 House of Representatives; and 

6 (D) the Committee on Homeland Security 

7 of the House of Representatives. 

8 SEC. 8. AWARENESS OF ALERTS AND WARNINGS. 

9 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

10 of this Act, the Administrator shall— 

11 (1) conduct a review of— 

12 (A) the Emergency Operations Center of 

13 the Agency; and 

14 (B) the National Watch Center and each 

15 Regional Watch Center of the Agency; and 

16 (2) submit to the Committee on Homeland Se17 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 

18 the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 

19 of Representatives a report on the review conducted 

20 under paragraph (1), which shall include— 

21 (A) an assessment of the technical capa22 bility of the Emergency Operations Center and 

23 the National and Regional Watch Centers de24 scribed in paragraph (1) to be notified of alerts 
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1 and warnings issued by a State through the 

2 public alert and warning system; 

3 (B) a determination of which State alerts 

4 and warnings the Emergency Operations Center 

5 and the National and Regional Watch Centers 

6 described in paragraph (1) should be aware of; 

7 and 

8 (C) recommendations for improving the 

9 ability of the National and Regional Watch 

10 Centers described in paragraph (1) to receive 

11 any State alerts and warnings that the Admin12 istrator determines are appropriate. 

13 SEC. 9. TIMELINE FOR COMPLIANCE. 

14 Each State shall be given a reasonable amount of 

15 time to comply with any new rules, regulations, or require16 ments imposed under this Act or the amendments made 

17 by this Act. 

Passed the Senate June 26, 2018. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2385 

AN ACT 

To establish best practices for State, tribal, and 

purposes. Public Alert and Warning System, and for other local governments participating in the Integrated