[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3556 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3556

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

                           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.

    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) 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).

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 the 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.

    (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.
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