The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-09), conducted a markup session in Washington, D.C., to review several bills related to public safety communications.
“Our public safety and law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to help us in our times of need, and we must make sure they have the best tools to do their jobs and best serve all Americans,” said Chairman Hudson. “I want to thank my colleagues for their continued commitment to this issue and for their work developing these proposals.”
During the session, six bills were forwarded without amendment to the Full Committee by voice vote. These included the Next Generation 9-1-1 Act (H.R. 6505), LuLu’s Law (H.R. 2076), Emergency Reporting Act (H.R. 5200), Kari’s Law Reporting Act (H.R. 5201), Mystic Alerts Act (H.R. 7022), and Public Safety Communications Act (H.R. 1519).
Congressman Buddy Carter (GA-01) commented on the Mystic Alerts Act: “The Mystic Alerts Act strengthens our emergency alerting framework by directing the FCC to establish standards and requirements that allow alerts to be delivered via satellite connectivity, ensuring redundancy when traditional networks are down, by incorporating satellite-based capabilities. This bill helps ensure emergency alerts can reach rural communities, disaster zones and other hard to reach areas, improving resilience and saving lives during floods, wildlife, wildfires, hurricanes and other emergencies. This legislation honors the victims of the Camp Mystic flood by taking meaningful action to prevent similar tragedies and by making our emergency communications system more reliable, modern, and resilient.”
Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11) added: “Today, too many Americans lose access to alerts when cellular infrastructure is damaged, overwhelmed, or nonexistent—particularly in rural areas—and this bill helps to close that gap by ensuring emergency alerts can still be delivered via satellite when traditional networks fail. […] There is still work to be done to incorporate technical assistance into this legislation, but moving the Mystic Alerts Act forward is a meaningful step toward modernizing public safety communications, closing dangerous gaps in emergency alert coverage, and ensuring Americans can receive critical information when it matters the most.”
On the Public Safety Communications Act, Congresswoman Kat Cammack (FL-03) stated: “This bill strengthens federal coordination for Next Gen 911, ensuring that states have a clear, accountable partner as they modernize their emergency systems. Public safety communications should never be political, fragmented, or unclear. Right now, they are. This bill fixes that. It keeps public safety in charge, reduces confusion and strengthens accountability where it belongs. I appreciate the engagement from our public safety stakeholders and remain committed to the collaboration as we move this bill forward.”
The subcommittee's actions move these legislative proposals one step closer toward consideration by the full committee.
