Title: 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.
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take certain actions following an activation of the Disaster Information Reporting System, which is used by communications providers to report the operational status of their service and infrastructure to the FCC.
Specifically, the FCC must issue a preliminary report following an activation of the Disaster Information Reporting System, which includes information on (1) the number and duration of any outages of internet and mobile services, and (2) the approximate number of users affected by such outages. The FCC must then conduct at least one public field hearing in affected communities and issue a final report that includes recommendations on how to improve the resiliency of affected communications or networks recovery efforts.
Further, the FCC must initiate a rulemaking to determine under what circumstances it should require mobile service providers to alert public safety answering points (i.e., the points where emergency calls are routed) regarding disruptions to their mobile service.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5918 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5918

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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 14, 2020

Ms. Matsui (for herself, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Thompson of California, and Mr. 
   Huffman) 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REPORTS AFTER ACTIVATION OF DISASTER INFORMATION REPORTING 
              SYSTEM; IMPROVEMENTS TO NETWORK OUTAGE REPORTING.

    (a) Reports After Activation of Disaster Information Reporting 
System.--
            (1) Preliminary report.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 6 weeks after the 
                deactivation of the Disaster Information Reporting 
                System with respect to an event for which the System 
                was activated, the Commission shall issue a preliminary 
                report on, with respect to such event--
                            (i) the number and duration of any outages 
                        of--
                                    (I) broadband internet access 
                                service;
                                    (II) interconnected VoIP service; 
                                and
                                    (III) commercial mobile service;
                            (ii) the approximate number of users 
                        affected by an outage described in clause (i);
                            (iii) the number and duration of any 
                        outages at public safety answering points that 
                        prevent public safety answering points from 
                        receiving emergency calls and routing such 
                        calls to emergency service personnel;
                            (iv) initial recovery efforts related to 
                        communications networks; and
                            (v) any additional information determined 
                        appropriate by the Commission.
            (2) Public field hearings.--
                    (A) Requirement.--Not later than 4 months after the 
                deactivation of the Disaster Information Reporting 
                System with respect to an event for which the System 
                was activated, the Commission shall hold at least one 
                public field hearing in communities affected by such 
                event.
                    (B) Inclusion of certain individuals in hearings.--
                For each public field hearing held under subparagraph 
                (A), the Commission shall consider including--
                            (i) representatives of State government, 
                        local government, or Indian Tribal governments 
                        in areas affected by such event;
                            (ii) residents of the areas affected by 
                        such event, or consumer advocates;
                            (iii) providers of broadband internet 
                        access service;
                            (iv) faculty of institutions of higher 
                        education;
                            (v) representatives of other Federal 
                        agencies;
                            (vi) electric utility providers;
                            (vii) telecommunications infrastructure 
                        companies; and
                            (viii) first responders, emergency 
                        managers, or 9-1-1 directors in areas affected 
                        by such event.
            (3) Final report.--Not later than 8 months after the 
        deactivation of the Disaster Information Reporting System with 
        respect to an event for which the System was activated, the 
        Commission shall issue a final report that includes, with 
        respect to such event--
                    (A) the information described under paragraph 
                (1)(A); and
                    (B) any recommendations of the Commission on how to 
                improve the resiliency of affected communications or 
                networks recovery efforts.
            (4) Development of reports.--In developing a report 
        required under this subsection, the Commission shall consider 
        information collected through the Disaster Information 
        Reporting System and a public hearing described in paragraph 
        (2) with respect to the applicable event.
            (5) Publication.--The Commission shall publish each report 
        issued under this subsection on the website of the Commission 
        upon the issuance of such report.
    (b) Improvements to Network Outage Reporting.--Not later than 6 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission 
shall initiate a rulemaking to--
            (1) determine the circumstances under which to require 
        providers of commercial mobile service to provide alerts to 
        public safety answering points regarding communications service 
        disruptions of the commercial mobile service within the 
        assigned territories of such public safety answering points 
        that prevent--
                    (A) the origination of 9-1-1 calls;
                    (B) the delivery of Automatic Location Information; 
                or
                    (C) Automatic Number Identification; and
            (2) require such alerts to be made.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Automatic location information; automatic number 
        identification.--The terms ``Automatic Location Information'' 
        and ``Automatic Number Identification'' have the meaning given 
        those terms in section 9.3 of title 47, Code of Federal 
        Regulations, or any successor regulation.
            (2) Broadband internet access service.--The term 
        ``broadband internet access service'' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal 
        Regulations, or any successor regulation.
            (3) Commercial mobile service.--The term ``commercial 
        mobile service'' has the meaning given such term in section 
        332(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)).
            (4) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission.
            (5) Indian tribal government; local government.--The terms 
        ``Indian Tribal government'' and ``Indian Tribal Government'' 
        have the meaning given those terms in section 102 of the Robert 
        T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
        U.S.C. 5121).
            (6) Interconnected voip service.--The term ``interconnected 
        VoIP service'' has the meaning given such term in section 3 of 
        the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153).
            (7) Public safety answering point.--The term ``public 
        safety answering point'' has the meaning given such term in 
        section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222).
            (8) State.--The term ``State'' has the meaning given such 
        term in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
        153).
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