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<dc:title>119 S725 ES: Enhancing First Response Act</dc:title>
<dc:publisher>U.S. Senate</dc:publisher>
<dc:date></dc:date>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
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<congress display="yes">119th CONGRESS</congress><session display="yes">1st Session</session><legis-num display="yes">S. 725</legis-num><current-chamber display="no">IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES</current-chamber><legis-type display="yes">AN ACT</legis-type><official-title display="yes">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.</official-title></form><legis-body display-enacting-clause="yes-display-enacting-clause" style="OLC"><section section-type="section-one" id="id1f1b2579-c99b-4f5d-9d3a-0b3651bb6c55" changed="not-changed" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline"><enum>1.</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Short title</header><text display-inline="no-display-inline">This Act may be cited as the <quote><short-title>Enhancing First Response Act</short-title></quote>.</text></section><section section-type="subsequent-section" id="id883a9232-63b1-43bf-bf29-d3b7a2b856c3" changed="not-changed" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline"><enum>2.</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Reports after activation of disaster information reporting system; improvements to network outage reporting</header><subsection commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="id04a4ba36-c5f1-4a3d-ad43-7c5f7da6f8fe" changed="not-changed"><enum>(a)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Definitions</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">In this section:</text><paragraph id="id3de8722d-bcb0-4143-9cae-3b86660fb3c1" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(1)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Automatic location information; automatic number identification</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The terms <term>Automatic Location Information</term> and <term>Automatic Number Identification</term> have the meanings given those terms in section 9.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.</text></paragraph><paragraph id="ide98e2901-2e30-46e3-97d5-d99413c1077a" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(2)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Broadband internet access service</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>broadband internet access service</term> has the meaning given the term in section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.</text></paragraph><paragraph id="id9daa6ec0-fb63-4d26-9d31-d49c80dc2bb4" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(3)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Commercial mobile service</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>commercial mobile service</term> has the meaning given the term in section 332(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/47/332">47 U.S.C. 332(d)</external-xref>). </text></paragraph><paragraph commented="no" id="iddc14526c-26c2-41ff-89bf-c972a516ad91" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(4)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Commercial mobile data service</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>commercial mobile data service</term> has the meaning given the term in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/47/1401">47 U.S.C. 1401</external-xref>). </text></paragraph><paragraph id="id6254f2fe-023b-46f8-9d40-b27aa77a3e5b" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(5)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Commission</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>Commission</term> means the Federal Communications Commission.</text></paragraph><paragraph id="id2ca5088b-38ce-486f-84b4-7d3132f1cd0c" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(6)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Indian tribal government; local government</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The terms <term>Indian tribal government</term> and <term>local government</term> have the meanings given those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/42/5122">42 U.S.C. 5122</external-xref>).</text></paragraph><paragraph id="id71e0da29-cba8-4c3a-8198-b612526c2f08" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(7)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Interconnected VoIP service</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>interconnected VoIP service</term> has the meaning given that term in section 9.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.</text></paragraph><paragraph commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="idf3938f71-9662-499b-aade-0dff2c9b6944" changed="not-changed"><enum>(8)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Multi-line telephone system</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>multi-line telephone system</term> has the meaning given the term in section 721(f) of the Communications Act of 1934 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/47/623">47 U.S.C. 623(f)</external-xref>). </text></paragraph><paragraph id="id5845ef41-25b8-40f1-85e2-5f97d66abfa7" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(9)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Outage</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>outage</term> has the meaning given the term in section 4.5 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.</text></paragraph><paragraph id="idf93b6c96-ea12-4481-9650-96bff4d8a970" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(10)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Public safety answering point</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>public safety answering point</term> has the meaning given the term in section 222(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/47/222">47 U.S.C. 222(h)</external-xref>).</text></paragraph><paragraph id="idf97af442f1ac4e22bc22e37e93bad2cf" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(11)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">State</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>State</term> has the meaning given that term in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/47/153">47 U.S.C. 153</external-xref>).</text></paragraph><paragraph commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="idd14ffbaf-82d0-45de-8a98-6711464adf79" changed="not-changed"><enum>(12)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">System</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <term>System</term> means the Disaster Information Reporting System.</text></paragraph></subsection><subsection id="id273aadb1-67d4-4040-9424-b67625188797" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(b)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Reports after activation of the disaster information reporting system</header><paragraph id="id9cd1576b-55bd-4806-8f74-adc0350b336f" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(1)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Public hearings</header><subparagraph id="id4ea5f522-c8f3-42da-af92-4651554ef78f" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(A)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Requirement</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Each year, the Commission shall hold not less than 1 public hearing relating to all events during the preceding 1-year period for which the System was activated for not less than 7 days.</text></subparagraph><subparagraph id="idc952e0d7-cdd0-491c-9c14-f7d7928ba910" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(B)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Inclusion of certain individuals in public hearings</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">For each public hearing held under subparagraph (A), the Commission shall consider including—</text><clause id="idc1246820-44f9-459c-82bd-36af3a081558" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(i)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">representatives of State government, local government, or Indian tribal governments in areas affected by such event;</text></clause><clause id="id5fa32047-4209-4d7c-abf8-62d689684096" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(ii)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">residents of the areas affected by such event, or consumer advocates;</text></clause><clause id="id3ad8b28d-f0a7-437c-aeb1-95f284c8fadb" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(iii)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">providers of communications services affected by such event;</text></clause><clause id="id3aa0c524-7bd8-43c1-be1e-8a0e15bf894d" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(iv)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">faculty of institutions of higher education;</text></clause><clause id="id2078de82-caee-475a-ae44-11992357b00d" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(v)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">representatives of other Federal agencies;</text></clause><clause id="id99eb49ff-cecf-4615-90c2-1cddcbcf3cf3" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(vi)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">electric utility providers;</text></clause><clause id="idb37c7738-7139-46e6-a240-9803954fa61b" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(vii)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">communications infrastructure companies; and</text></clause><clause id="idbc1e960f-0620-4a20-87ac-0e55c3af5a1c" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(viii)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">first responders, emergency managers, and 911 directors in areas affected by such event.</text></clause></subparagraph></paragraph><paragraph id="id77783191-ea1e-437b-b891-2814553aa5f7" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(2)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Report</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Not later than 120 days after the public hearing under paragraph (1) occurs, the Commission shall issue a report that includes, with respect to such event and to the extent known without requiring the collection of additional information—</text><subparagraph id="id6211b2d5-c2a2-4b97-ba73-da08b9e14d81" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(A)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the number and duration of any outages of—</text><clause id="id10da11a0-a9d5-450f-a1fc-7a413f54d80a" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(i)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">broadband internet access service;</text></clause><clause id="id2406a65f-dec8-4e12-8ca6-7a8fd6a58ee5" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(ii)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">interconnected VoIP service; </text></clause><clause id="ida714ddfc-7cef-4b86-a648-6504d79fbf07" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(iii)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">commercial mobile service; and</text></clause><clause id="idedf31c83-760f-4694-810c-4f0741637629" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(iv)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">commercial mobile data service; </text></clause></subparagraph><subparagraph id="ida2769998-0492-4099-9c2b-dae3930663cf" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(B)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the approximate number of users and the amount of communications infrastructure potentially affected by an outage described in subparagraph (A);</text></subparagraph><subparagraph id="idba2e8260-3920-4105-8727-9986ce23f967" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(C)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">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</text></subparagraph><subparagraph id="id00444a5f-a9bf-4684-b158-1e7f1d371bfe" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(D)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">any recommendations of the Commission on how to improve the resiliency of affected communications or networks recovery efforts.</text></subparagraph></paragraph><paragraph id="id761fb086-d395-4d8f-a95e-82804f9cca62" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(3)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Development of reports</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">In developing a report required under paragraph (2), 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 (1) with respect to the applicable event.</text></paragraph><paragraph id="idef982215-954b-4ec0-8aa7-527134678e6b" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(4)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Publication</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The Commission shall publish each report, excluding information that is otherwise exempt from public disclosure under the rules of the Commission or was submitted to the Commission with a proper request for confidential treatment as described in section 0.459 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, issued under this subsection on the website of the Commission upon the issuance of such report. The Commission shall not publicly disclose company-specific information.</text></paragraph></subsection><subsection id="id2487c47a-6b08-4703-99e4-95bd456a980c" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(c)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Improvements to network outage reporting</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall investigate and publish a report on—</text><paragraph commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="ide5a280bf-ee46-4225-8eaa-9ea66ea7ea08" changed="not-changed"><enum>(1)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">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;</text></paragraph><paragraph commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="id6d453c93-3fe7-4cab-84bb-bd75811753d7" changed="not-changed"><enum>(2)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the volume and nature of 911 outages that may go unreported under the outage notification thresholds of the Commission; </text></paragraph><paragraph commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="id007636670383419ead27918add4ff856" changed="not-changed"><enum>(3)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the balance between the value described in paragraph (1) to public safety agencies and the burden and practicality for originating service providers of including visual information in outage notifications as described in that paragraph; and</text></paragraph><paragraph commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="id486d1390-5b4b-4846-97a1-24e7ef10ee4a" changed="not-changed"><enum>(4)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">recommended changes to rules issued by the Commission to address paragraphs (1) and (2).</text></paragraph></subsection><subsection commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="id7db977b490284a42a3f3dcf5ce872c03" changed="not-changed"><enum>(d)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Rule of construction</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Nothing in this Act shall be construed to provide the Commission or any other person authority over any provider of broadband internet access service beyond what is specifically authorized under this Act.</text></subsection></section><section commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" section-type="subsequent-section" id="ide126eb37-2775-4b06-9d34-48d5f730e11f" changed="not-changed"><enum>3.</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Reporting of public safety telecommunicators as protective service occupations</header><subsection commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="idc1a9352c-977d-4839-9abf-7b70b60b485b" changed="not-changed"><enum>(a)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Findings</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Congress finds the following: </text><paragraph id="idd3d774da-69a3-4278-99fc-24f75b5e9b21" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(1)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Public safety telecommunicators play a critical role in emergency response, providing medical instruction, gathering lifesaving information, and protecting civilians and first responders.</text></paragraph><paragraph id="idb55ea09e-0ff4-4699-8567-391e06dfe396" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(2)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">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.</text></paragraph><paragraph id="id0ebce22f-6fc1-4468-9dfb-b5d2b022477f" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(3)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">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.</text></paragraph><paragraph id="id9f0e745e-9991-49c5-bce1-7fcb8df1b988" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(4)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">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.</text></paragraph></subsection><subsection commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" id="id7599f12e-9cab-415b-b4b8-2c3a016dba6c" changed="not-changed"><enum>(b)</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Standard Occupational Classification system</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">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.</text></subsection></section><section id="id4239ee00-6f8e-4f20-bbd3-a2763dd42a99" changed="not-changed" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" section-type="subsequent-section"><enum>4.</enum><header display-inline="yes-display-inline">Report on implementation of the Kari’s Law Act of 2017</header><text display-inline="no-display-inline">Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall publish a report regarding the enforcement by the Commission of section 721 of the Communications Act of 1934 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/47/623">47 U.S.C. 623</external-xref>), which shall include—</text><paragraph id="id4f245c6e-3290-4a99-976e-82b9da3928d1" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(1)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">a summary of the extent to which multi-line telephone system manufacturers and vendors have complied with that section;</text></paragraph><paragraph id="id650815e5-e8a4-43fe-9938-ec6aab5702d3" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(2)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">potential difficulties and obstacles in complying with that section;</text></paragraph><paragraph id="id19dc3058-08c2-4820-a7a9-5cdb2d1933e5" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(3)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">recommendations to the Commission, if necessary, on ways to improve the policies of the Commission to better enforce that section; and</text></paragraph><paragraph id="id238a19ea-2a8b-407e-88e8-5a446f1148a2" commented="no" display-inline="no-display-inline" changed="not-changed"><enum>(4)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">recommendations to Congress, if necessary, on further legislation that could mitigate problems like those that are addressed by that section. </text></paragraph></section></legis-body><attestation><attestation-group><attestation-date date="20250910" chamber="Senate">Passed the Senate September 10, 2025.</attestation-date><attestor display="no"></attestor><role>Secretary</role></attestation-group></attestation><endorsement display="yes"></endorsement></bill> 

