[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 117 (Monday, June 17, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 51265-51266]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13194]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 10

[PS Docket Nos. 15-94 and 15-91; FCC 23-88; FR ID 225472]


Emergency Alert System; Wireless Emergency Alerts

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; announcement of effective date.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission 
(Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
has approved until May 31, 2027, an information collection associated 
with the Commission's Third Report and Order, FCC 23-88 (Order), in 
which the Commission, among other things, adopted a new rule that 
provided Participating Commercial Mobile Service (CMS) Providers may 
support up to two Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) tests that the public 
receives by default per county or county equivalent per calendar year. 
This document is consistent with the Order, which stated the Commission 
would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the 
effective date of the new rules.

DATES: The amendment of 47 CFR 10.350(d) published at 88 FR 86824 on 
December 15, 2023, is effective on July 17, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Kirschner, Attorney-Advisor, 
Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, Cybersecurity and 
Communications Reliability Division at (202) 418-0695 or via email: 
[email protected] or Nicole Ongele at (202) 418-2991 or via 
email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that, on May 29, 
2024, OMB approved the information collection requirements relating to 
Sec.  10.350(d) contained in the Commission's Order FCC 23-88, 
published at 88 FR 86824, December 15, 2023. The OMB Control Number is 
3060-1126. The Commission publishes this document as an effective date 
of the rule. If you have any comments on the burden estimates listed 
below, or how the Commission can improve the collections and reduce any 
burdens caused thereby, please contact Nicole Ongele, Federal 
Communications Commission, 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554. Please 
include OMB Control Number 3060-1126, in your correspondence. The 
Commission will also accept your comments via email at [email protected].

Synopsis

    As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.3507), 
the FCC is notifying the public that it received OMB approval on May 
29, 2024, for the information collection requirements contained in 47 
CFR 10.350(d) of the Commission's rules.
    Under 5 CFR part 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a 
collection of information unless it displays a current, valid OMB 
Control Number.
    No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply 
with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 
that does not display a current, valid OMB Control Number. The OMB 
Control Number is 3060-1126.
    The foregoing notification is required by the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.
    The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the respondents 
are as follows:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1126.
    OMB Approval Date: May 29, 2024.
    OMB Expiration Date: May 31, 2027.
    Title: Testing and Logging Requirements for Wireless Emergency 
Alerts.

[[Page 51266]]

    Form Number: N/A.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; State, Local, or Tribal Government.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 76 respondents; 429,020 
responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 3.375 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Monthly and on occasion reporting 
requirements and record keeping requirement.
    Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. 
Statutory authority for this collection is contained in sections 47 
U.S.C. 151, 152, 154, 301, 303, 307, 309, 316, 403, 554, 606, 1201, 
1202, 1203, 1204, and 1206 of the Communications Act of 1934.
    Total Annual Burden: 119,121 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: No cost.
    Needs and Uses: The Commission adopted requirements for 
Participating CMS Providers to log the basic attributes of alerts they 
receive at their Alert Gateway, to maintain those logs for at least 12 
months, to make those logs available upon request to the Commission and 
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and to emergency management 
agencies that offer confidentiality protection at least equal to that 
provided by Federal FOIA. The Commission also requires Participating 
CMS Providers to disclose information regarding their capabilities for 
geo-targeting Alert Messages initiated by that emergency management 
agency, and information regarding the results of WEA Performance and 
Public Awareness Testing authorized in 47 CFR 10.350(d). Prior to 
conducting a WEA Performance and Public Awareness Test, an alerting 
authority must: (1) conduct outreach by notifying the public in advance 
of the test that no emergency is occurring; (2) include in the actual 
test message that the alert is, in fact, ``only a test;'' (3) 
coordinate the test among Participating CMS Providers that serve the 
geographic area targeted by the test, State, local, and Tribal 
emergency authorities, relevant State Emergency Communications 
Committees and first responder organizations, and (4) provide notice to 
the public in widely accessible formats that the test is only a test, 
not a warning about an actual emergency.
    These recordkeeping and reporting requirements have potential to 
increase emergency managers' confidence that WEA will work as intended 
when needed. This increased confidence in system availability 
encourages emergency management agencies that do not currently use WEA 
to become authorized. These reporting and recordkeeping requirements 
also help to ensure a fundamental component of system integrity against 
which future iterations of WEA can be evaluated. Without records that 
can be used to describe the quality of system integrity, and the most 
common causes of message transmission failure it would be difficult to 
evaluate how any changes to WEA may effect system integrity.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-13194 Filed 6-14-24; 8:45 am]
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