[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3998 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3998

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to commence proceedings 
   related to the resiliency of critical telecommunications networks 
           during times of emergency, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 16, 2015

 Mr. Pallone introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 
  Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to commence proceedings 
   related to the resiliency of critical telecommunications networks 
           during times of emergency, 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 ``Securing Access to Networks in 
Disasters Act''.

SEC. 2. PROCEEDINGS RELATED TO CELLULAR NETWORK RESILIENCY.

    (a) Roaming Agreements.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall commence a proceeding on 
the provision of roaming agreements between mobile service providers 
which shall allow for mobile service at reasonable rates during times 
of emergency during which there is a mobile service outage lasting 
longer than 24 hours.
    (b) Emergency Communications.--Not later than 90 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall commence a 
proceeding on the provision of roaming agreements between mobile 
service providers at no charge for all communications during times of 
emergency to or from 911 services.
    (c) Directory.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Commission shall create a master 
        point of contact directory to provide for effective 
        communication between public safety answering points and 
        telecommunications service providers.
            (2) Confidentiality.--The directory established under this 
        subsection shall be available to telecommunications service 
        providers and public safety answering points on a confidential 
        basis.
            (3) Exemption from paperwork reduction act requirements.--
        In establishing this directory, the Commission shall be 
        exempted from chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 
        (commonly known as the Paperwork Reduction Act).
    (d) Study on Network Resiliency.--Not later than 18 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to 
Congress, and make publically available on the Commission's website, a 
study on--
            (1) mobile service providers supplying outage data to 
        public safety answering points in times of emergency on a 
        confidential basis; and
            (2)(A) making telecommunications service provider-owned 
        WiFi access points, and other communications technologies 
        operating on unlicensed spectrum, available to the general 
        public for access to 911 services, without requiring any login 
        credentials, during times of emergency when mobile service is 
        unavailable; and
            (B) whether non-telecommunications service provider-owned 
        WiFi access points can provide public access to 911 services 
        during times of emergency.

SEC. 3. GAO STUDY AND REPORT.

    (a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct a study on--
            (1) the resiliency of telecommunications networks power 
        utility during times of emergency;
            (2) how Federal agencies can better ensure critical 
        telecommunications networks remain operational during times of 
        emergency;
            (3) the feasibility of mobile service infrastructure 
        receiving backup electrical power from the infrastructure or 
        buildings to which such mobile service infrastructure are 
        affixed during times of emergency;
            (4) the feasibility and advisability of adding points of 
        contact for local utilities to the directory described in 
        section 2(c); and
            (5) any legislative matters Congress should consider to 
        help promote network resiliency.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General shall transmit a report to 
Congress containing the findings and recommendations of the study 
required by subsection (a).

SEC. 4. PRIORITY ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS DURING FEDERALLY 
              DECLARED EMERGENCIES.

    Section 427 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5189e) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by striking 
        ``telecommunications service'' and inserting ``communications 
        service, including wireline and mobile telephone service, 
        Internet access service, radio and television broadcasting, 
        cable service, and direct broadcast satellite service'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (e); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
    ``(c) Priority Access and Escorts.--Unless exceptional 
circumstances apply, in an emergency or major disaster, the 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to the 
greatest extent practicable, shall take actions to ensure that an 
essential service provider has--
            ``(1) priority access to relevant locations and resources; 
        and
            ``(2) escorts to relevant locations.
    ``(d) Credentials.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency shall establish a program to provide credentials to 
essential service providers to facilitate access to relevant locations 
and resources for such providers.''.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act and for purposes of the rules required by this 
Act--
            (1) the term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission;
            (2) the term ``mobile service'' means commercial mobile 
        service (as defined in section 332 of the Communications Act of 
        1934 (47 U.S.C. 332)) or commercial mobile data service (as 
        defined in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 
        Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401));
            (3) the term ``mobile service infrastructure'' means a site 
        or similar facility used to transmit or receive mobile service 
        signals;
            (4) the term ``WiFi access point'' means wireless Internet 
        access using the standard designated as 802.11 or any variant 
        thereof; and
            (5) the term ``times of emergency'' means either an 
        emergency as defined in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford 
        Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122), 
        or an emergency as declared by the governor of a State or 
        territory of the United States.
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