I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7043 

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, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 18, 2024 

Ms. MATSUI (for herself and Mr. BILIRAKIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

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, 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 ‘‘Emergency Reporting 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPORTS AFTER ACTIVATION OF DISASTER INFOR2 MATION REPORTING SYSTEM; IMPROVE3 MENTS TO NETWORK OUTAGE REPORTING. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) AUTOMATIC LOCATION INFORMATION; 

6 AUTOMATIC NUMBER IDENTIFICATION.—The terms 

7 ‘‘Automatic Location Information’’ and ‘‘Automatic 

8 Number Identification’’ have the meanings given 

9 those terms in section 9.3 of title 47, Code of Fed10 eral Regulations, or any successor regulation. 

11 (2) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 

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

13 the meaning given the term in section 8.1(b) of title 

14 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 

15 regulation. 

16 (3) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE.—The term 

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

18 the term in section 332(d) of the Communications 

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

20 (4) COMMERCIAL MOBILE DATA SERVICE.—The 

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

22 meaning given the term in section 6001 of the Mid23 dle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 

24 (47 U.S.C. 1401). 

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

26 means the Federal Communications Commission. 


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1 (6) INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT; LOCAL GOV2 ERNMENT.—The terms ‘‘Indian tribal government’’ 

3 and ‘‘local government’’ have the meanings given 

4 those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford 

5 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 

6 U.S.C. 5122). 

7 (7) INTERCONNECTED VOIP SERVICE; STATE.— 

8 The terms ‘‘interconnected VoIP service’’ and 

9 ‘‘State’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec10 tion 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

11 U.S.C. 153). 

12 (8) OUTAGE.—The term ‘‘outage’’ has the 

13 meaning given the term in section 4.5 of title 47, 

14 Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regu15 lation. 

16 (9) PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT.—The 

17 term ‘‘public safety answering point’’ has the mean18 ing given the term in section 222(h) of the Commu19 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222(h)). 

20 (10) SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘System’’ means the 

21 Disaster Information Reporting System. 

22 (b) REPORTS AFTER ACTIVATION OF DISASTER IN23 FORMATION REPORTING SYSTEM.— 

24 (1) PRELIMINARY REPORT.— 


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

2 after the deactivation of the System with re3 spect to an event for which the System was ac4 tivated for not less than 7 days, the Commis5 sion shall issue a preliminary report on, with 

6 respect to such event and to the extent 

7 known— 

8 (i) the number and duration of any 

9 outages of— 

10 (I) broadband internet access 

11 service; 

12 (II) interconnected VoIP service; 

13 (III) commercial mobile service; 

14 and 

15 (IV) commercial mobile data 

16 service; 

17 (ii) the approximate number of users 

18 or the amount of communications infra19 structure potentially affected by an outage 

20 described in clause (i); 

21 (iii) the number and duration of any 

22 outages that prevent public safety answer23 ing points from receiving caller location or 

24 number information or receiving emerVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Feb 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7043.IH H7043

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1 gency calls and routing such calls to emer2 gency service personnel; and 

3 (iv) any additional information deter4 mined appropriate by the Commission. 

5 (B) DEVELOPMENT OF REPORT.—The 

6 Commission shall develop the report required by 

7 subparagraph (A) using information collected 

8 by the Commission, including information col9 lected by the Commission through the System. 

10 (2) PUBLIC FIELD HEARINGS.— 

11 (A) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 8 

12 months after the deactivation of the System 

13 with respect to an event for which the System 

14 was activated for not less than 7 days, the 

15 Commission shall hold not less than 1 public 

16 field hearing in the area affected by such event. 

17 (B) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS

18 IN HEARINGS.—For each public field hearing 

19 held under subparagraph (A), the Commission 

20 shall consider including— 

21 (i) representatives of State govern22 ment, local government, or Indian tribal 

23 governments in areas affected by such 

24 event; 


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1 (ii) residents of the areas affected by 

2 such event, or consumer advocates; 

3 (iii) providers of communications serv4 ices affected by such event; 

5 (iv) faculty of institutions of higher 

6 education; 

7 (v) representatives of other Federal 

8 agencies; 

9 (vi) electric utility providers; 

10 (vii) communications infrastructure 

11 companies; and 

12 (viii) first responders, emergency 

13 managers, or 9–1–1 directors in areas af14 fected by such event. 

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

16 after the deactivation of the System with respect to 

17 an event for which the System was activated for not 

18 less than 7 days, the Commission shall issue a final 

19 report that includes, with respect to such event— 

20 (A) the information described in paragraph 

21 (1)(A); and 

22 (B) any recommendations of the Commis23 sion on how to improve the resiliency of af24 fected communications or networks recovery ef25 forts. 


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1 (4) DEVELOPMENT OF REPORTS.—In devel2 oping a report required under this subsection, the 

3 Commission shall consider information collected by 

4 the Commission, including information collected by 

5 the Commission through the System, and any public 

6 hearing described in paragraph (2) with respect to 

7 the applicable event. 

8 (5) PUBLICATION.—The Commission shall pub9 lish each report, excluding information that is other10 wise exempt from public disclosure under the rules 

11 of the Commission, issued under this subsection on 

12 the website of the Commission upon the issuance of 

13 such report. 

14 (c) IMPROVEMENTS TO NETWORK OUTAGE REPORT15 ING.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

16 of this Act, the Commission shall investigate and publish 

17 a report on— 

18 (1) the value to public safety agencies of origi19 nating service providers including visual information 

20 to improve situational awareness about outages in 

21 the notifications provided to public safety answering 

22 points, as required by rules issued by the Commis23 sion; 


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1 (2) the volume and nature of 911 outages that 

2 may go unreported under the outage notification 

3 thresholds of the Commission; and 

4 (3) recommended changes to rules issued by the 

5 Commission to address paragraphs (1) and (2). 

Æ 


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