II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2385 

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

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2018 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. SULLIVAN, and 

Ms. HIRONO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Emergencies and Real Threats Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad9 ministrator of the Agency; 


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

2 Emergency Management Agency; 

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

4 means the integrated public alert and warning sys5 tem of the United States described in section 526 of 

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

7 321o); and 

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

9 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com10 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 

11 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 

12 Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession of the 

13 United States. 

14 SEC. 3. INTEGRATED PUBLIC ALERT AND WARNING SYS15 TEM SUBCOMMITTEE. 

16 Section 2 of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning 

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

18 130 Stat. 327) is amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (b)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (6)(B)— 

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

22 the end; 

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

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

25 and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(iii) recommendations for best prac4 tices of State, tribal, and local govern5 ments to follow to maintain the integrity of 

6 the public alert and warning system, in7 cluding— 

8 ‘‘(I) the procedures for State, 

9 tribal, and local government officials 

10 to authenticate civil emergencies and 

11 initiate, modify, and cancel alerts 

12 transmitted through the public alert 

13 and warning system, including proto14 cols and technology capabilities for— 

15 ‘‘(aa) the initiation, or pro16 hibition on the initiation, of 

17 alerts by a single authorized or 

18 unauthorized individual; and 

19 ‘‘(bb) testing a State, tribal, 

20 or local government incident 

21 management and warning tool 

22 without accidentally initiating an 

23 alert through the public alert and 

24 warning system; 


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1 ‘‘(II) the standardization, 

2 functionality, and interoperability of 

3 incident management and warning 

4 tools used by State, tribal, and local 

5 governments to notify the public of an 

6 emergency through the public alert 

7 and warning system; 

8 ‘‘(III) the training and recertifi9 cation of emergency management per10 sonnel on best practices for origi11 nating and transmitting an alert 

12 through the public alert and warning 

13 system; and 

14 ‘‘(IV) the procedures, protocols, 

15 and guidance concerning the protec16 tive action plans that State, tribal, 

17 and local governments should issue to 

18 the public following an alert issued 

19 under the public alert and warning 

20 system.’’; 

21 (B) in paragraph (7)— 

22 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

23 (I) by striking ‘‘Not later than’’ 

24 and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later 

2 than’’; 

3 (II) in clause (i), as so des4 ignated, by striking ‘‘paragraph (6)’’ 

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

6 paragraph (6)(B)’’; and 

7 (III) by adding at the end the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(ii) SECOND REPORT.—Not later 

10 than 18 months after the date of enact11 ment of the Authenticating Local Emer12 gencies and Real Threats Act of 2018, the 

13 Subcommittee shall submit to the National 

14 Advisory Council a report containing any 

15 recommendations required to be developed 

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

17 by the National Advisory Council.’’; and 

18 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

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

20 inserting ‘‘reports’’; and 

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

22 inserting ‘‘5’’; and 

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

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


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1 SEC. 4. INTEGRATED PUBLIC ALERT AND WARNING SYS2 TEM PARTICIPATORY REQUIREMENTS. 

3 The Administrator shall— 

4 (1) consider the recommendations submitted by 

5 the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System 

6 Subcommittee to the National Advisory Council 

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

8 and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015 

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

10 by section 3 of this Act; and 

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

12 which the recommendations described in paragraph 

13 (1) are submitted, establish minimum requirements 

14 for State, tribal, and local governments to partici15 pate in the public alert and warning system con16 sistent with all public notice rules and regulations in 

17 law. 

18 SEC. 5. INCIDENT MANAGEMENT AND WARNING TOOL VALI19 DATION. 

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

21 a process to ensure that an incident management and 

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

23 to originate and transmit an alert through the public alert 

24 and warning system meets the minimum requirements es25 tablished by the Administrator under section 4(2). 


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1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The process required to be es2 tablished under subsection (a) shall include— 

3 (1) the ability to test an incident management 

4 and warning tool in the public alert and warning 

5 system lab; 

6 (2) the ability to certify that an incident man7 agement and warning tool complies with the applica8 ble cyber frameworks of the Department of Home9 land Security and the National Institute of Stand10 ards and Technology; 

11 (3) a process to certify developers of emergency 

12 management software; and 

13 (4) requiring developers to provide the Adminis14 trator with a copy of and rights of use for ongoing 

15 testing of each version of incident management and 

16 warning tool software before the software is first 

17 used by a State, tribal, or local government. 

18 SEC. 6. REVIEW AND UPDATE OF MEMORANDA OF UNDER19 STANDING. 

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

21 the memoranda of understanding between the Agency and 

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

23 public alert and warning system to ensure that all agree24 ments ensure compliance with any minimum requirements 

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


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1 (b) FUTURE MEMORANDA.—The Administrator shall 

2 ensure that any new memorandum of understanding en3 tered into between the Agency and a State, tribal, or local 

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

5 with respect to the public alert and warning system en6 sures that the agreement requires compliance with any 

7 minimum requirements established by the Administrator 

8 under section 4(2). 

9 SEC. 7. MISSILE ALERT AND WARNING AUTHORITIES. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

11 (1) AUTHORITY.—The authority to originate an 

12 alert warning the public of a missile launch directed 

13 against a State using the public alert and warning 

14 system shall reside solely with the Federal Govern15 ment. 

16 (2) 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. 

Æ 


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