AG Brown calls on FCC to expand multilingual emergency alerts

Attorney General Nick Brown today joined a coalition of 13 other attorneys general and New York City in demanding the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) immediately publish a long-delayed rule that would substantially expand language access for critical government emergency alerts sent to cell phones.

The rule, finalized and unanimously adopted by the FCC in January 2025, would expand emergency alerts to 13 additional languages, including American Sign Language (ASL). However, for the last 10 months, the FCC has been refusing to move to implement this important and common-sense policy. In a letter to the FCC, Brown and the coalition warn that if the rule is not submitted for publication within 30 days, they are prepared to take legal action.

"In a disaster or other emergency, people need to be able to access critical information about how to keep themselves and their families safe, regardless of the language they speak and read at home. That's why the FCC adopted it unanimously," said Brown. "The law is clear: the FCC can't refuse to publish its own rules. Trump is again disregarding the safety of people who speak languages other than English."

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are short messages-similar to a text message--sent by government agencies through cell carriers to warn the public of imminent threats such as severe weather, natural disasters, missing persons, or public safety emergencies. These alerts are among the most effective and widely used public warning tools in the United States, but have historically been issued only in English, with Spanish alerts being supported only in recent years. In 2023, the FCC voted to expand to additional languages, and in January 2025, it formally adopted the Multilingual Alerts Order, which requires the implementation of pre-translated alert templates in the 13 most commonly spoken non-English languages and American Sign Language. The order says that wireless carriers will have 30 months to update their systems to support multilingual alerts once the rule is published in the Federal Register.

However, nearly 10 months after adopting the order, the FCC has yet to officially publish it and therefore the 30-month implementation period has yet to begin. The FCC's inaction has stalled nationwide efforts to modernize the emergency alert system and ensure that more non-English-speaking communities receive timely, life-saving information during disasters or other emergencies. Without expanded language accessibility for WEAs, non-English speakers nationwide lack access to critical information to protect themselves and their families from severe weather and other emergencies.

The coalition's letter notes that the Administrative Procedure Act and the FCC's own regulations require the agency to publish adopted rules in the Federal Register. The coalition argues that the FCC is violating federal law by refusing to publish the rule. The demand letter notes that the agency remains obligated to perform this non-discretionary duty even during the ongoing federal government shutdown.

Joining Brown in sending today's demand letter, which was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, are the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as New York City.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

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