IIB 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6538 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 14, 2022 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To create an Active Shooter Alert Communications Network, 

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 ‘‘Active Shooter Alert 

3 Act of 2022’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) ACTIVE SHOOTER.—The term ‘‘active shoot7 er’’ means an individual who is engaged in killing or 

8 attempting to kill persons with a firearm in a popu9 lated area and who is determined to pose an active, 

10 imminent threat to people in that populated area. 

11 (2) ADMINISTRATOR OF FEMA.—The term ‘‘Ad12 ministrator of FEMA’’ means the Administrator of 

13 the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

14 (3) CHAIRMAN OF THE FCC.—The term ‘‘Chair15 man of the FCC’’ means the Chairman of the Fed16 eral Communications Commission. 

17 (4) COORDINATOR.—The term ‘‘Coordinator’’ 

18 means the Active Shooter Alert Coordinator of the 

19 Department of Justice designated under section 

20 3(a). 

21 (5) NETWORK.—The term ‘‘Network’’ means 

22 the Active Shooter Alert Communications Network, 

23 an interconnected system of Federal, State, Tribal, 

24 and local governments that is organized to provide 

25 information to the public, within geographically rel26 evant areas, on active shooter situations. 


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1 (6) POPULATED AREA.—The term ‘‘populated 

2 area’’ means a location where one or more persons 

3 other than the active shooter are present. 

4 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 

5 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, American 

6 Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana 

7 Islands, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and 

8 any other territory of the United States. 

9 SEC. 3. NATIONAL COORDINATION OF ACTIVE SHOOTER 

10 ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 

11 (a) COORDINATION WITHIN DEPARTMENT OF JUS12 TICE.—The Attorney General shall assign an officer of the 

13 Department of Justice to act as the national coordinator 

14 of the Active Shooter Alert Communications Network re15 garding an emergency involving an active shooter. The of16 ficer so designated shall be known as the Active Shooter 

17 Alert Coordinator of the Department of Justice. 

18 (b) DUTIES.—The Coordinator shall— 

19 (1) encourage Federal, State, Tribal, and local 

20 government agencies to establish procedures to re21 spond to an active shooter, including active shooter 

22 procedures relating to interstate or interjurisdic23 tional travel (including airports and border crossing 

24 areas and checkpoints), and focus on governments 

25 that have not yet established such procedures; and 


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1 (2) work with State, Tribal, and local govern2 ments to encourage appropriate regional and inter3 jurisdictional coordination of various elements of the 

4 Network. 

5 (c) GOALS.—The Coordinator shall encourage the 

6 adoption of best practices established under section 4(a) 

7 in State, Tribal, and local governments for— 

8 (1) the development of policies and procedures 

9 to guide the use of mass alert systems, changeable 

10 message signs, or other information systems to no11 tify local residents, motorists, travelers, and individ12 uals in the vicinity of an active shooter; 

13 (2) the development of guidance or policies on 

14 the content and format of alert messages to be con15 veyed on mass alert systems, changeable message 

16 signs, or other information systems relating to an 

17 active shooter; 

18 (3) the coordination of State, Tribal, and local 

19 Active Shooter Alert communications plans within a 

20 region for the use of mass alert systems relating to 

21 an active shooter; 

22 (4) the planning and designing of mass alert 

23 systems for multilingual communication with local 

24 residents, motorists, travelers, and individuals in the 

25 vicinity of an active shooter, which system may inVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Jul 14, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6538.RFS H6538

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1 clude the capability for issuing wide area alerts to 

2 local residents, motorists, travelers, and individuals 

3 in the vicinity of an active shooter; 

4 (5) the planning of systems and protocols to fa5 cilitate the efficient issuance of active shooter alerts 

6 and other key information to local residents, motor7 ists, travelers, and individuals in the vicinity of an 

8 active shooter during times of day outside of normal 

9 business hours; 

10 (6) the provision of training and guidance to 

11 transportation authorities to facilitate the appro12 priate use of mass alert systems and other informa13 tion systems for the notification of local residents, 

14 motorists, travelers, and individuals in the vicinity of 

15 an active shooter; and 

16 (7) the development of appropriate mass alert 

17 systems to ensure that alerts sent to individuals in 

18 the immediate vicinity of an active shooter do not 

19 alert the active shooter to the location of individuals 

20 sheltering in place near the active shooter. 

21 (d) INTEGRATED PUBLIC ALERT AND WARNING SYS22 TEM.—In carrying out duties under subsection (b), the 

23 Coordinator shall notify and coordinate with the Adminis24 trator of FEMA, the Secretary of Transportation, and the 


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1 Chairman of the FCC on using the Integrated Public Alert 

2 and Warning System to issue alerts for the Network. 

3 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter 

5 until such time as each of the State, Tribal, and local gov6 ernments have adopted an active shooter alert protocol, 

7 the Coordinator, in consultation with the Administrator 

8 of FEMA, Secretary of Transportation, and the Chairman 

9 of the FCC, shall submit to Congress a report on the ac10 tivities of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status 

11 of the Active Shooter Alert communications plan of each 

12 State, Tribal, and local government within each region 

13 that has implemented such a plan. 

14 SEC. 4. STANDARDS FOR ISSUANCE AND DISSEMINATION 

15 OF ALERTS THROUGH ACTIVE SHOOTER 

16 ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 

17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF BEST PRACTICES.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), 

19 the Coordinator, using the recommendations of the 

20 Advisory Panel established under subsection (b) and 

21 in coordination with the Administrator of FEMA, 

22 the Secretary of Transportation, the Chairman of 

23 the FCC, local broadcasters, and Federal, State, 

24 Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies, shall es25 tablish best practices for— 


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1 (A) the issuance of alerts through the Net2 work; 

3 (B) the extent of the dissemination of 

4 alerts issued through the Network; and 

5 (C) the achievement of the goals described 

6 in section 3(c). 

7 (2) UPDATING BEST PRACTICES.—The Coordi8 nator shall review the best practices established 

9 under paragraph (1) no less frequently than every 5 

10 years to ensure the best practices are consistent with 

11 updated data and recommendations on active shoot12 er situations and technological advancements in the 

13 Integrated Public Alert and Warning System or 

14 other technologies. The Coordinator shall convene 

15 the Advisory Panel as necessary to provide updated 

16 recommendations if the best practices are to be up17 dated. 

18 (b) ADVISORY PANEL.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Coordinator 

21 shall establish an Advisory Panel to make rec22 ommendations with respect to the establishment of 

23 best practices under subsection (a). 

24 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—The Advisory Panel shall 

25 be comprised of at least 9 members, including— 


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1 (A) at least 5 law enforcement officers, in2 cluding at least one nonsupervisory law enforce3 ment officer, who have responded to active 

4 shooter incidents and who represent rural, sub5 urban, and urban communities; 

6 (B) at least 1 public safety expert who is 

7 not a law enforcement officer and who has re8 sponded to an active shooter incident; 

9 (C) at least 1 emergency response official 

10 who is not a law enforcement officer; 

11 (D) at least 1 city planning expert; and 

12 (E) at least 1 mental and behavioral health 

13 expert. 

14 (3) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not later than 15 

15 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

16 Advisory Panel shall submit to Coordinator rec17 ommendations with respect to the establishment of 

18 best practices under subsection (a). 

19 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The best practices estab21 lished under subsection (a) shall— 

22 (A) be adoptable on a voluntary basis only; 

23 and 

24 (B) to the maximum extent practicable (as 

25 determined by the Coordinator, in consultation 


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1 with State, Tribal, and local law enforcement 

2 agencies), provide that— 

3 (i) appropriate information relating to 

4 an active shooter response is disseminated 

5 to the appropriate law enforcement, public 

6 health, communications, and other public 

7 officials; and 

8 (ii) the dissemination of an alert 

9 through the Network be limited to the geo10 graphic areas most likely to be affected by, 

11 or able to respond to, an active shooter sit12 uation. 

13 (2) NO INTERFERENCE.—In establishing best 

14 practices under subsection (a), the Coordinator may 

15 not interfere with systems of voluntary coordination 

16 between local broadcasters and State, Tribal, and 

17 local law enforcement agencies for improving and 

18 implementing the Network. 

19 SEC. 5. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY ON STATE RE20 SPONSES TO ACTIVE SHOOTER SITUATIONS 

21 REQUIRING THE ISSUANCE OF PUBLIC 

22 ALERTS AND WARNINGS. 

23 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

24 States shall conduct a study on State and local responses 

25 to active shooters and situations requiring the issuance of 


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1 a public alert or warning. Such study shall address each 

2 of the following: 

3 (1) Differences between the definitions of the 

4 term ‘‘active shooter’’ used by different States. 

5 (2) The amount of time it takes and the proc6 ess in each State to receive approval from the State 

7 alerting officials after a local law enforcement agen8 cy requests the issuance of a public alert or warning, 

9 such as an AMBER Alert, a Blue Alert, or an 

10 Ashanti alert. 

11 (3) A comparison of the timing and effective12 ness of the issuance of public alerts and warnings by 

13 State, Tribal, and local alerting officials. 

14 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

16 General of the United States shall submit to Congress a 

17 report containing the findings of the study conducted 

18 under subsection (a). 

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro21 priated to the Attorney General to carry out this Act 

22 $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2023. 

23 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro24 priated under subsection (a) shall remain available until 

25 expended. 


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1 SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act may be con3 strued to provide that a participating agency, or an officer, 

4 employee, or agent thereof, shall be liable for any act or 

5 omission pertaining to the Network. 

6 (b) STATE OR OTHER FEDERAL LAW.— Nothing in 

7 this section may be construed to limit the application of 

8 any State or other Federal law providing for liability for 

9 any act or omission pertaining to the Network. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 13, 2022. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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