Official Summaries

Enhancing First Response Act

This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to report on certain activations of the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). DIRS is a reporting system that is activated during severe weather and other events impacting communications service and enables communications providers to report outages and other degradations to service.

If the system was activated for at least seven days, the FCC must issue a preliminary report that includes information about the number, duration, and nature of all associated outages. The FCC must also hold at least one public field hearing in the area affected by the event, and it must issue a final report that includes recommendations for improving the resiliency of affected networks or recovery efforts.

Separately, the FCC must publish a general report on (1) the volume and nature of 9-1-1 outages that are not required to be reported under current outage notification rules, and (2) the value to public safety agencies of the inclusion of visual information in outage notifications from communications providers.

The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget, by 30 days after the bill's enactment, to categorize public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation under the Standard Occupational Classification System.

Finally, the Office of the Inspector General of the FCC is directed to publish a report on the implementation of Kari’s Law, which requires multiline telephone systems to be preconfigured to allow users to dial 9-1-1 directly from any phone without dialing any additional code or prefix.

Current Full Text

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

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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.