Enhancing First Response Act

Bill: 118-s-3556
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Introduced: 2023-12-18
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Latest action: action_date: 2023-12-18
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-12-18
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Enhancing First Response Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to report on certain activations of the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). DIRS is a reporting system, activated during severe weather and other events impacting communications service, through which communications providers report outages and other degradations to service.</p><p>If the system was activated for at least seven days, the FCC must issue a preliminary report that includes information about the number, duration, and nature of all associated outages. The FCC must also hold at least one public field hearing in the area affected by the event, and it must issue a final report that includes recommendations on how to improve the resiliency of affected networks.</p><p>Separately, the FCC must publish a general report on (1) the volume and nature of 9-1-1 outages that are not required to be reported under current outage notification rules, and (2) the value to public safety agencies of the inclusion of visual information in outage notifications from communications providers.</p><p>The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget, by 30 days after the bill's enactment, to categorize public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation under the Standard Occupational Classification System.</p><p>Finally, the Office of the&nbsp;Inspector General of the FCC is directed&nbsp;to publish a report on the implementation of Kari’s Law, which requires multiline telephone systems to be preconfigured to allow users to dial 9-1-1 directly from any phone without dialing any additional code or prefix.</p>

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 3556 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES December 18, 2023 Ms. Klobuchar (for herself, Mrs. Blackburn , Mr. Heinrich , and Mr. Thune ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 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, to categorize public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation under the Standard Occupational Classification system, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Enhancing First Response Act . 2. Reports after activation of disaster information reporting system; improvements to network outage reporting (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Automatic location information; automatic number identification The terms Automatic Location Information and Automatic Number Identification have the meanings 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 the 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 the term in section 332(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 332(d) ). (4) Commercial mobile data service The term commercial mobile data service has the meaning given the term in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 ( 47 U.S.C. 1401 ). (5) Commission The term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission. (6) Indian tribal government; local government The terms Indian tribal government and local government have the meanings given those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5122 ). (7) Interconnected VoIP service; State The terms interconnected VoIP service and State have the meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 153 ). (8) Outage The term outage has the meaning given the term in section 4.5 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation. (9) Public safety answering point The term public safety answering point has the meaning given the term in section 222(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 222(h) ). (10) System The term System means the Disaster Information Reporting System. (b) Reports after activation of disaster information reporting system (1) Preliminary report (A) In general Not later than 6 weeks after the deactivation of the System with respect to an event for which the System was activated for not less than 7 days, the Commission shall issue a preliminary report on, with respect to such event and to the extent known— (i) the number and duration of any outages of— (I) broadband internet access service; (II) interconnected VoIP service; (III) commercial mobile service; and (IV) commercial mobile data service; (ii) the approximate number of users or the amount of communications infrastructure potentially affected by an outage described in clause (i); (iii) the number and duration of any outages that prevent public safety answering points from receiving caller location or number information or receiving emergency calls and routing such calls to emergency service personnel; and (iv) any additional information determined appropriate by the Commission. (B) Development of report The Commission shall develop the report required by subparagraph (A) using information collected by the Commission, including information collected by the Commission through the System. (2) Public field hearings (A) Requirement Not later than 8 months after the deactivation of the System with respect to an event for which the System was activated for not less than 7 days, the Commission shall hold not less than 1 public field hearing in the area 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 communications services affected by such event; (iv) faculty of institutions of higher education; (v) representatives of other Federal agencies; (vi) electric utility providers; (vii) communications 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 12 months after the deactivation of the System with respect to an event for which the System was activated for not less than 7 days, the Commission shall issue a final report that includes, with respect to such event— (A) the information described in 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 by the Commission, including information collected by the Commission through the System, and any public hearing described in paragraph (2) with respect to the applicable event. (5) Publication The Commission shall publish each report, excluding information that is otherwise exempt from public disclosure under the rules of the Commission, issued under this subsection on the website of the Commission upon the issuance of such report. (c) Improvements to network outage reporting Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall investigate and publish a report on— (1) the value to public safety agencies of originating service providers including visual information to improve situational awareness about outages in the notifications provided to public safety answering points, as required by rules issued by the Commission; (2) the volume and nature of 911 outages that may go unreported under the outage notification thresholds of the Commission; and (3) recommended changes to rules issued by the Commission to address paragraphs (1) and (2). 3. Reporting of public safety telecommunicators as protective service occupations (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Public safety telecommunicators play a critical role in emergency response, providing medical instruction, gathering lifesaving information, and protecting civilians and first responders. (2) The Standard Occupational Classification system is designed and maintained solely for statistical purposes, and is used by Federal statistical agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data. (3) Occupations in the Standard Occupational Classification are classified based on work performed and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or training needed to perform the work. (4) Classifying public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation would correct an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occupational Classification, recognize these professionals for the lifesaving work they perform, and better align the Standard Occupational Classification with related classification systems. (b) Standard Occupational Classification system The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, categorize public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation under the Standard Occupational Classification system. 4. Report on implementation of the Kari’s Law Act of 2017 (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Commission The term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission. (2) Multi-line telephone system The term multi-line telephone system has the meaning given the term in section 721(f) of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 623(f) ). (b) Report required Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of the Commission shall publish a report regarding the enforcement by the Commission of section 721 of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 623 ), which shall include— (1) a summary of the extent to which multi-line telephone system manufacturers and vendors have complied with that section; (2) potential difficulties and obstacles in complying with that section; (3) recommendations to the Commission, if necessary, on ways to improve the policies of the Commission to better enforce that section; and (4) recommendations to Congress, if necessary, on further legislation that could mitigate problems like those that are addressed by that section.