IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 588 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24, 2017 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a study on network resiliency 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, 


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HR 588 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Networks in Disasters Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. STUDY ON NETWORK RESILIENCY. 

5 Not later than 36 months after the date of enactment 

6 of this Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress, and 

7 make publically available on the Commission’s website, a 

8 study on the public safety benefits and technical feasibility 

9 and cost of— 

10 (1) making telecommunications service pro11 vider-owned WiFi access points, and other commu12 nications technologies operating on unlicensed spec13 trum, available to the general public for access to 9– 

14 1–1 services, without requiring any login credentials, 

15 during times of emergency when mobile service is 

16 unavailable; 

17 (2) the provision by non-telecommunications 

18 service provider-owned WiFi access points of public 

19 access to 9–1–1 services during times of emergency 

20 when mobile service is unavailable; and 

21 (3) other alternative means of providing the 

22 public with access to 9–1–1 services during times of 

23 emergency when mobile service is unavailable. 


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HR 588 RFS

1 SEC. 3. ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS DUR2 ING FEDERALLY DECLARED EMERGENCIES. 

3 Section 427(a)(1)(A) of the Robert T. Stafford Dis4 aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 5189e(a)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘telecommuni6 cations service’’ and inserting ‘‘wireline or mobile tele7 phone service, Internet access service, radio or television 

8 broadcasting, cable service, or direct broadcast satellite 

9 service’’. 

10 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

11 As used in this Act— 

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

13 Communications Commission; 

14 (2) the term ‘‘mobile service’’ means commer15 cial mobile service (as defined in section 332 of the 

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

17 commercial mobile data service (as defined in section 

18 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Cre19 ation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401)); 

20 (3) the term ‘‘WiFi access point’’ means wire21 less Internet access using the standard designated as 

22 802.11 or any variant thereof; and 

23 (4) the term ‘‘times of emergency’’ means ei24 ther an emergency as defined in section 102 of the 

25 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

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


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HR 588 RFS

1 as declared by the governor of a State or territory 

2 of the United States. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 23, 

2017. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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