HR-5200 — Emergency Reporting Act

This bill has advanced since we wrote our summary.

Current stage on Congress.gov: Placed on Calendar Senate.

YourVoice.Now Summary

The FCC would be required to hold public hearings and publish detailed reports after major disasters that knock out communications networks for a week or more. Those reports would cover how many people lost phone, internet, and 911 service, how long outages lasted, and what could be done to prevent future failures. The bill also directs the FCC to investigate gaps in how network outages get reported, particularly 911 outages that currently fall below reporting thresholds.

Congressional Summary

This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate and report on emergency communications outages (e.g., 9-1-1 outages).Specifically, 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, (2) the value and practicality of including visual information in outage notifications from communications providers, and (3) recommended changes to FCC rules to address these issues.Separately, the FCC must hold annual public hearings on events for which the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) was activated for at least a week. (DIRS is a reporting system that is activated during severe weather and other events impacting communications service. It enables communications providers to report outages and other degradations to service.) After each such hearing, the FCC must issue a report that includes information about the number, duration, and nature of all associated outages, along with recommendations for improving the resiliency of affected communications services or networks. Such reports must generally be made public on the FCC website.

Legislative Subjects

Congressional oversightElectric power generation and transmissionEmergency communications systemsEmergency medical services and trauma careEmergency planning and evacuationGovernment information and archivesGovernment studies and investigationsNatural disastersTelephone and wireless communication

Details

Congress: 119th
Chamber: House
Status: summarized
Action: Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 375.
Action Date: 2026-04-21
Date Added: 2026-04-16
Source: Congress.gov →

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