[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 192 (Wednesday, October 3, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49924-49926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21476]



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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[OMB 3060-0207]


Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal 
Communications Commission

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, 
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the 
Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) invites the 
general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to 
comment on the following information collections. Comments are 
requested concerning: Whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
Commission, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; 
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology; and ways to further reduce the 
information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer 
than 25 employees.
    The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information 
unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for 
failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA 
that does not display a valid OMB control number.

DATES: Written PRA comments should be submitted on or before December 
3, 2018. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments, but 
find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this 
notice, you should advise the contact listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to Nicole Ongele, FCC, via email 
[email protected] and to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information about the 
information collection, contact Nicole Ongele, (202) 418-2991.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    OMB Control Number: 3060-0207.
    Title: Part 11--Emergency Alert System (EAS), Orders, FCC 18-94.
    Form No.: N/A.
    Type of Review: Revision of currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; State, Local, or Tribal Government.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 63,084 respondents; 3,588,830 
responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 0.017 hours--100 hours.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirement, annual 
reporting requirement, one-time reporting requirement, recordkeeping 
requirement and third-party disclosure requirements.
    Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this 
information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 154(i) and 606 of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
    Total Annual Burden: 140,751 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: No Cost.
    Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No Impact(s).
    Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: For false alert information 
filed with the Commission via email to the FCC Ops Center at 
[email protected], the Commission will share individual and aggregated 
data on a confidential basis with other federal agencies and state 
governmental emergency management agencies that have confidentiality 
protection at least equal to that provided by the Freedom of 
Information Act. State EAS Plan data and any aggregation of such data 
will have the same level of confidentiality as data filed in the ETRS, 
i.e., the Commission will share individual and aggregated data on a 
confidential basis with other federal agencies and state governmental 
emergency management agencies that have confidentiality protection at 
least equal to that provided by the Freedom of Information Act.
    Needs and Uses: Part 11 contains rules and regulations addressing 
the nation's Emergency Alert System (EAS). The EAS provides the 
President with the capability to provide immediate communications and 
information to the general public during periods of national emergency 
over broadcast television and radio, cable, direct broadcast radio and 
other EAS Participants, as defined in Section 11.11(a) of the 
Commission's rules. The EAS also provides state and local governments 
and the National Weather Service with the capability to provide 
immediate communications and information to the public concerning 
emergency situations posing a threat to life and property. The manner 
in which the EAS delivers alerts to the public is set forth in State 
EAS Plans, which are drafted by State Emergency Communications 
Committees (SECCs), the entities required to submit State EAS Plans to 
the Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) 
under Section 11.21 of the Commission's rules.
    In the Order, PS Dockets 15-94, 15-91, FCC 18-94, the Commission 
amended Section 11.45 of its rules to require that no later than 
twenty-four (24) hours of an EAS Participant's discovery that it has 
transmitted or otherwise sent a false alert to the public, the EAS 
Participant send an email to the FCC Ops Center (at [email protected]), 
informing the Commission of the event and of any details that the EAS 
Participant may have concerning the event. In addition, the Commission 
amended Section 11.61 of the rules to include ``Live Code Tests'' as a 
separate category of alerting exercise that EAS Participants may 
undertake voluntarily, provided such live code tests are conducted in 
accordance with specific parameters, including: (1) Notifying the 
public before the test that live event codes will be used, but that no 
emergency is, in fact, occurring; (2) to the extent technically 
feasible, stating in the test message that the event is only a test; 
and (3) consistent with the Commission's rules, providing in widely 
accessible formats the required notification to the public that the 
test is not, in fact, a warning about an actual emergency.
    The Commission seeks Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval 
of these rule amendments as a modification of a previously approved 
information collection. The false alert reporting obligation is 
essential to provide the Commission, FEMA and other affected 
stakeholders with the information necessary to identify and mitigate 
problems with the EAS, and benefits ongoing EAS reliability. The false 
alert reporting rules also will provide a significant public safety 
benefit by allowing the Commission to detect whether there are trends 
and patterns in false alerts that may indicate weaknesses that require 
further Commission study and action to strengthen the alerting system. 
The ``Live Code Testing'' provisions remove regulatory obstacles and 
reduce time and cost burdens on EAS Participants by eliminating the 
need to obtain a waiver to conduct such tests. These testing rules will 
promote greater proficiency in the use of EAS, both by EAS alert 
initiators and EAS Participants, which will help address potential gaps 
in alert originator training.
    In the Order, PS Docket No. 15-94, FCC 18-39, the Commission 
adopted a

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rule obligating SECCs to file State EAS Plans electronically through 
the new Alert Reporting System (ARS), rather than in paper-based 
filings, the method currently approved by OMB for this collection. For 
the required electronic filing, the Commission has developed a proposed 
reporting template, attached as Appendix D to the Order, and seeks OMB 
approval of the proposed template as a modification of a previously 
approved information collection. The proposed template will decrease 
the paperwork burden associated with this collection over time, and 
there is no change to any other reporting obligation in this 
collection. The information sought in this collection is necessary and 
vital to the effective electronic filing of State EAS Plans in the ARS, 
which will replace paper-based filing requirements, minimize the 
burdens on SECCs, and allow the Commission, the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency (FEMA), and other authorized entities to better 
access and use up-to-date information about the EAS, thus increasing 
its value as a tool to protect life and property for all Americans.
    The following information collections contained in Part 11 may be 
impacted by the rule amendments described herein. With respect to the 
establishment of a false alert reporting obligation, the Commission 
found such obligation to be minimally burdensome, affecting 
approximately 290 EAS Participants annually, with each successive year 
likely involving a different group of EAS Participants, and requiring 
no more than 15 minutes to email the required information to the FCC 
Ops Center. With respect to the establishment of ``Live Code Test'' 
rules, which codified requirements that were previously imposed on 
waivers granted by the Commission, the Commission found that such 
action reduced time and cost burdens on EAS Participants by eliminating 
the need to obtain a waiver.
    With respect to the establishment of a mandatory electronic test 
reporting system that EAS participants must utilize to file identifying 
and test result data, the Commission noted that this electronic 
submission system would impose a lesser burden on EAS test participants 
because they could input electronically (via a web-based interface) the 
same information into a confidential database that the Commission would 
use to monitor and assess the test. This information would include 
identifying information such as station call letters, license 
identification number, geographic coordinates, EAS designation (Local 
Primary, National Primary, etc.), EAS monitoring assignment, as well as 
a 24/7 emergency contact for the EAS Participant. The only difference, 
other than the electronic nature of the filing, would be the timing of 
the collections. Test participants would submit the identifying data. 
These rules may impact currently existing paperwork collection 
requirements as discussed below.
    Section 11.15 requires a copy of the EAS operating handbook to be 
located at normal duty positions or EAS equipment locations when an 
operator is required to be on duty. The handbook must be immediately 
available to staff responsible for authenticating messages and 
initiating actions. Copies of the handbook are posted on the 
Commission's website and can be obtained at https://www.fcc.gov/general/emergency-alert-system-eas.
    Section 11.21 requires that state and local EAS plans be reviewed 
and approved by the Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security, prior 
to implementation to ensure that they are consistent with national 
plans, FCC regulations, and EAS operation.
    Section 11.34 requires manufacturers to include instructions and 
information on how to install, operate and program an EAS Encoder, EAS 
Decoder, or combined unit and a list of all U.S., State, Territory and 
Offshore (Marine Area) ANSI number codes with each unit sold or 
marketed in the U.S. This requirement would be done in the normal 
course of doing business.
    Section 11.35 requires that all EAS Participants are responsible 
for ensuring that EAS Encoders/Decoders and Attention Signal generating 
and receiving equipment used as part of the EAS are installed so that 
the monitoring and transmitting functions are available during the 
times the stations/systems are in operation. EAS Participants must 
determine the cause of any failure to receive the required tests or 
activations. When the EAS is not operating properly, section 11.35 
requires appropriate entries be made in the station/system logs 
indicating why any tests were not received for all broadcast streams 
and cable systems. All other EAS Participants must also keep record 
indicating reasons why any tests were not received and these records 
must be retained for two years, maintained at the EAS Participant's 
headquarters, and made available for public inspection upon reasonable 
request.
    Section 11.35 also requires that entries be made in the station/
system logs, and records of other EAS Participants, when the EAS 
Encoder/Decoder becomes defective showing the date and time the 
equipment was removed and restored to service. If replacement of 
defective equipment is not completed within 60 days, an informal 
request shall be submitted to the District Director of the FCC field 
office. For DBS and SDARS providers, this informal request shall be 
submitted to the District Director of the FCC field office serving the 
area where their headquarters is located. This request must explain 
what steps have been taken to repair or replace the defective 
equipment, the alternative procedures being used while the defective 
equipment is out of service and when the defective equipment will be 
repaired or replaced.
    Section 11.41 allows all EAS Participants to submit a written 
request to the FCC asking to be a Non-Participating National source. In 
addition, a Non-Participating National source that wants to become a 
Participating National source must submit a written request to the FCC.
    Section 11.42 allows a communications common carrier to participate 
in the national level EAS, without charge. A communications common 
carrier rendering free service is required to file with the FCC, on or 
before July 31st and January 31st of each year, reports covering the 
six months ending on June 30th and December 31st respectively. These 
reports shall state what free service was rendered under this rule and 
the charges in dollars which would have accrued to the carrier for this 
service if charges had been collected at the published tariff rates if 
such carriers are required to file tariffs.
    Section 11.43 allows entities to voluntarily participate in the 
national level EAS after submission of a written request to the Chief, 
Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.
    Section 11.51 requires that EAS equipment be operational, ready to 
monitor, transmit and receive EAS electronic signals. Cable and 
wireless cable systems, both analog and digital, can elect not to 
interrupt EAS messages from broadcast stations based upon a written 
agreement between all concerned. Furthermore, cable and wireless cable 
systems, both analog and digital, can elect not to interrupt the 
programming of a broadcast station carrying news or weather-related 
emergency information with state and local EAS messages based upon a 
written agreement between all concerned. These written agreements are 
contained in state and local franchise agreements.
    Section 11.51 also requires all actions to be logged when manual 
interruption of programming and transmission of EAS messages is used. 
Estimates for

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testing are included in the estimate for section 11.61.
    Section 11.52 requires all EAS Participants to monitor two EAS 
sources. If the required EAS sources cannot be received, alternate 
arrangements or a waiver may be obtained by written request to the 
FCC's EAS office. In an emergency, a waiver may be issued over the 
telephone with a follow-up letter to confirm temporary or permanent 
reassignment. In addition, EAS Participants are required to interrupt 
normal programming either automatically or manually when they receive 
an EAS message in which the header code contains the event codes for 
emergency action notification, emergency action termination and 
required monthly test for their state or state/county location.
    Section 11.54 requires EAS Participants to enter into their logs/
records the time of receipt of an emergency alert notice and an 
emergency action termination messages during a national level 
emergency.
    Section 11.55 requires EAS participants to monitor their emergency 
alert system upon receipt of a state or local area EAS message. 
Stations/systems must also enter into their logs/records the time of 
receipt of an emergency alert message. If an SDARS licensee or DBS 
provider is unable to receive and transmit state and local EAS 
messages, it must inform its subscribers, on its website, and in 
writing on an annual basis of which channels are and are not capable of 
supplying state and local EAS messages.
    Section 11.61 requires EAS Participants to conduct periodic EAS 
tests. Tests of the EAS header codes, attention signal, test script and 
EOM code are required to be performed monthly. Tests of the EAS header 
codes and end of message codes are made at least once a week. National 
primary sources shall participate in tests as appropriate. DBS 
providers, Class D non-commercial educational FM stations and low power 
TV stations are not required to transmit this test but must log receipt 
of the test. The FCC may request a report of the tests of the national 
primary sources. In addition, entries must be made in stations/systems 
logs/records as previously stated.
    This information is used by FCC staff as part of routine 
inspections of EAS Participants. Accurate recordkeeping of this data is 
vital in determining the location and nature of possible equipment 
failure on the part of the transmitting or receiving entity. 
Furthermore, since the national level EAS is solely for the President's 
use, its proper operation must be assured.

Federal Communications Commission.
Katura Jackson,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-21476 Filed 10-2-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P