I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5556 
To establish a unified national hazard alert system, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 8, 2006 
Mr. SHIMKUS (for himself, Mr. WYNN, Mrs. BONO, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsyl-
vania, and Mr. MELANCON) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 
the Committee on Science, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish a unified national hazard alert system, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Warning, Alert, and 
Response Network Act’’. 
SEC. 2. NATIONAL ALERT SYSTEM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a vol-
untary National Alert System to provide a public commu-
nications system capable of alerting the public on a na-
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tional, regional, or local basis to emergency situations re-
quiring a public response. 
(b) FUNCTIONS.—The National Alert System— 
(1) will enable any Federal, State, tribal, or 
local government official with credentials issued by 
the National Alert Office under section 103 to alert 
the public to any imminent threat that presents a 
significant risk of injury or death to the public; 
(2) will be coordinated with and supplement ex-
isting Federal, State, tribal, and local emergency 
warning and alert systems; 
(3) will be flexible enough in its application to 
permit narrowly targeted alerts in circumstances in 
which only a small geographic area is exposed or po-
tentially exposed to the threat; and 
(4) will transmit alerts across the greatest pos-
sible variety of communications technologies, includ-
ing digital and analog broadcasts, cable and satellite 
television, satellite and terrestrial radio, wireless 
communications, wireline communications, and the 
Internet to reach the largest portion of the affected 
population. 
(c) CAPABILITIES.—The National Alert System— 
(1) shall incorporate multiple communications 
technologies and be designed to adapt to, and incor-
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porate, future technologies for communicating di-
rectly with the public; 
(2) may not interfere with existing alert, warn-
ing, priority access, or emergency communications 
systems employed by Federal, State, tribal, or local 
emergency response personnel and shall incorporate 
existing emergency alert technologies, including the 
NOAA All-Hazards Radio System, digital and ana-
log broadcast, cable, and satellite television and sat-
ellite and terrestrial radio; and 
(3) shall not be based upon any single tech-
nology or platform, but shall be designed to provide 
alerts to the largest portion of the affected popu-
lation feasible and improve the ability of remote 
areas to receive alerts. 
(d) RECEPTION
OF ALERTS.—The National Alert 
System shall— 
(1) utilize multiple technologies for providing 
alerts to the public, including technologies that do 
not require members of the public to activate a par-
ticular device or use a particular technology to re-
ceive an alert provided via the National Alert Sys-
tem; and 
(2) provide redundant alert mechanisms where 
practicable so as to reach the greatest number of 
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people regardless of whether they have access to, or 
utilize, any specific medium of communication or 
any particular device. 
SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION AND USE. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO ACCESS SYSTEM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The National Alert Office 
shall establish a process for issuing credentials to 
Federal, State, tribal, or local government officials 
with responsibility for issuing safety warnings to the 
public that will enable them to access the National 
Alert System. 
(2) REQUESTS
FOR
CREDENTIALS.—Requests 
for credentials from Federal, State, tribal, and local 
government agencies shall be submitted to the Office 
by the head of the Federal department or agency, or 
the governor of the State or the elected leader of a 
Federally recognized Indian tribe, concerned, for re-
view and approval. 
(3) SCOPE
AND
LIMITATIONS
OF
CREDEN-
TIALS.—The Office shall— 
(A) establish eligibility criteria for issuing, 
renewing, and revoking access credentials; 
(B) limit credentials to appropriate geo-
graphic areas or political jurisdictions; and 
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(C) ensure that the credentials permit use 
of the National Alert System only for alerts 
that are consistent with the jurisdiction, author-
ity, and basis for eligibility of the individual to 
whom the credentials are issued to use the Na-
tional Alert System. 
(4) PERIODIC TRAINING.—The Office shall— 
(A) establish a periodic training program 
for Federal, State, tribal, or local government 
officials with credentials to use the National 
Alert System; and 
(B) require such officials to undergo peri-
odic training under the program as a pre-
requisite for retaining their credentials to use 
the system. 
(b) ALLOWABLE ALERTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Any alert transmitted via 
the National Alert System, other than an alert de-
scribed in paragraph (3), shall meet 1 or more of 
the following requirements: 
(A) An alert shall notify the public of a 
hazardous situation that poses an imminent 
threat to the public health or safety. 
(B) An alert shall provide appropriate in-
structions for actions to be taken by individuals 
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