Mystic Alerts Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act.

Emergency alerting capabilities have come a long way in recent decades as a direct byproduct of innovation and breakthroughs in wireless technology.

Not long ago, 911 calls predominantly were made from landline phones, and emergency alerts were received primarily over broadcast television and radio channels.

Both capabilities still exist and have an important role in emergency communications, but I expect for most Americans, they make their 911 calls and receive their emergency alerts on their cell phone, a smartphone.

The creation of the Wireless Emergency Alert, or WEA, in 2012 marked a significant leap forward in our ability to disseminate warning and alert messages to the public.

Prior to 2012, Americans needed to already be tuned into broadcast programming to receive an alert being distributed for any number of important situations. In the case of a hurricane or a winter storm that was forecasted in advance, for instance, the Emergency Alert System was critical for broadly distributing public safety updates and instructions to viewers. But we know that not all emergencies announce themselves days in advance.

All across the country, natural disasters like tornadoes, wildfires, and flash floods show up with little or no advance warning. One tragedy after another has demonstrated that when a wildfire spreads or floodwaters rise rapidly without warning, being able to push emergency warning information out directly to cell phones in a danger zone is one of the most powerful tools we have to save lives.

The WEA system allows alerting authorities at nearly every level of government the ability to reach Americans where they are. Cell phones are ubiquitous today, and if we avoid falling into the traps of unclear and overalerting, it will only continue to be more effective as wireless providers and alerting authorities take steps forward to improve geotargeting and location accuracy.

H.R. 7022 directs the FCC to take steps that will open up the WEA system so that satellite communication providers can leverage direct- to-cell capabilities to deliver wireless emergency alerts to cell phones in terrestrial dead zones where mobile carriers don't have coverage.

This is incredibly important for Americans who enjoy spending time in our beautiful national parks and forests, skiing in the mountains, and exploring other natural areas where connectivity is limited but where being without emergency information can be deadly, as we saw with Mystic this summer.

I thank Representatives Fletcher and Pfluger for their leadership on this effort to not only expand the reach of lifesaving emergency alerts but to turn tragedy into a victory to ensure more families don't suffer the same tragedy.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7022, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. McCLELLAN. Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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