119-s725

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 725 Engrossed in Senate

    (ES) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 725

_______________________________________________________________________

 AN ACT

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.--The term ``interconnected 
 VoIP service'' has the meaning given that term in 

section 9.3 
 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 
 regulation.

    (8) 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) ).

    (9) 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.

    (10) 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) ).

    (11) State.--The term ``State'' has the meaning given that 
 term in 

section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
 153).

    (12) System.--The term ``System'' means the Disaster 
 Information Reporting System.

    (b) Reports After Activation of the Disaster Information Reporting 
System.--

    (1) Public hearings.--
        (A) Requirement.--Each year, the Commission shall 
 hold not less than 1 public hearing relating to all 
 events during the preceding 1-year period for which the 
 System was activated for not less than 7 days.
        (B) Inclusion of certain individuals in public 
 hearings.--For each public 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, and 911 directors in areas affected 
 by such event.

    (2) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the public 
 hearing under paragraph

    (1) occurs, the Commission shall issue 
 a report that includes, with respect to such event and to the 
 extent known without requiring the collection of additional 
 information--
        (A) 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;
        (B) the approximate number of users and the amount 
 of communications infrastructure potentially affected 
 by an outage described in subparagraph
        (A) ;
            (C) 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
            (D) any recommendations of the Commission on how to 
 improve the resiliency of affected communications or 
 networks recovery efforts.

    (3) Development of reports.--In developing a report 
 required under paragraph

    (2) , 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

    (1) with respect to the 
 applicable event.

    (4) Publication.--The Commission shall publish each report, 
 excluding information that is otherwise exempt from public 
 disclosure under the rules of the Commission or was submitted 
 to the Commission with a proper request for confidential 
 treatment as described in 

section 0.459 of title 47, Code of 
 Federal Regulations, issued under this subsection on the 
 website of the Commission upon the issuance of such report. The 
 Commission shall not publicly disclose company-specific 
 information.
            (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;

    (3) the balance between the value described in paragraph

    (1) to public safety agencies and the burden and practicality 
 for originating service providers of including visual 
 information in outage notifications as described in that 
 paragraph; and

    (4) recommended changes to rules issued by the Commission 
 to address paragraphs

    (1) and

    (2) .
            (d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
to provide the Commission or any other person authority over any 
provider of broadband internet access service beyond what is 
specifically authorized under this Act.

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 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.

 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
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.

 Passed the Senate September 10, 2025.

 Attest:

 Secretary.
119th CONGRESS

 1st Session

 S. 725

_______________________________________________________________________

 AN ACT

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.