[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 725 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 725
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 25, 2025
Ms. Klobuchar (for herself, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Sullivan,
Mr. Lujan, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Markey, Mr. Budd, Mr. King, Mr. Thune, and
Mr. Kelly) 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Enhancing First Response Act''.
SEC. 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) 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)).
(9) 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.
(10) 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)).
(11) 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).
SEC. 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 enactment of this Act, categorize public safety
telecommunicators as a protective service occupation under the Standard
Occupational Classification system.
SEC. 4. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE KARI'S LAW ACT OF 2017.
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.
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