HOUSE PASSES MATSUI’S BILLS TO STRENGTHEN EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House of Representatives has voted to pass Congresswoman Doris Matsui's (D-CA-07)Emergency Reporting Act and Kari's Law Reporting Act. These bills would ensure that Americans can count on strong, effective, and modern 9-1-1 systems when disaster strikes.

"The House just passed two of my bipartisan bills to strengthen our emergency communications systems and improve public safety," said Congresswoman Matsui. "I am proud to lead this legislation because in an emergency, Americans must be able to trust that a call to 9-1-1 will go through. The Emergency Reporting Act will help us better understand and address communications failures during disasters, while the Kari's Law Reporting Act will help ensure existing 9-1-1 protections are being followed as intended. Together, these bills mark an important step toward a stronger, more reliable emergency response system that can better protect our communities and save lives."

Emergency Reporting Act

With wildfire seasons growing longer and more severe in California and across the country, resilient and reliable communication networks are essential to protecting communities, helping families stay connected, and giving first responders the tools they need to act swiftly. The Emergency Reporting Act would strengthen 9-1-1 networks by requiring the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue reports following major natural disasters on the extent to which people were unable to reach 9-1-1, and to develop recommendations to improve outage reporting, resiliency, and coordination with state and local officials. The bill also directs the FCC to review unreported outages and develop recommendations for mobile carriers to better notify 9-1-1 centers of disruptions, ensuring that first responders are not left in the dark during life-threatening events.

Kari's Law Reporting Act

The Kari's Law Reporting Act would build on the 2018 Kari's Law by requiring the FCC to report on the extent to which multi-line telephone system (MLTS) manufacturers and vendors have complied with the requirement that callers be able to reach 9-1-1 directly without dialing additional digits. Kari's Law was enacted after the tragic murder of Kari Hunt in 2013, when her daughter's repeated attempts to call 9-1-1 from a hotel phone failed because the system required dialing "9" before any call.

Full text of the Emergency Reporting Act is available HERE.

Full text of the Kari's Law Reporting Act is available HERE.