YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyCivil LibertiesCorporate BenefitsTransparency & AccountabilityStorm and Amber alerts could reach your phone by satellite — no extra charge, if your carrier joins.
Your Money
Carriers could choose to send emergency alerts through satellites, not just cell towers. That could get a warning to your phone when towers are down or you are out of range.
A carrier that sends satellite alerts cannot bill you a separate fee for them. It also cannot charge you for the ability to receive them.
The FCC has to write the rules so satellite alerts do not tie up other calls and data. The bill names 911 calls in particular.
Civil Liberties
Today you can turn off some alert types on your phone. If you have turned them off, your carrier must keep satellite alerts off your device too.
A carrier that follows these rules could not be sued by you for giving your account details to police or emergency crews. This covers only details used to send you an alert.
Corporate Benefits
Customers could not sue a participating carrier over a satellite alert that came late, came wrong, or never came. The shield also covers the company's staff, vendors, and agents.
A carrier that decides not to send satellite alerts cannot be sued for that choice by itself. It must still tell its customers about the choice.
Transparency & Accountability
Carriers that already send emergency alerts and also offer satellite service must tell the FCC whether they will send them by satellite. That is due within 60 days of the new rules taking effect.
More about this bill
Emergency alerts like storm warnings and Amber Alerts could reach your phone by satellite, not just through cell towers. That would matter most when a storm or outage knocks towers out. Carriers would choose whether to offer this. If your carrier opts out, it must tell you. If it opts in, it cannot charge you extra. Your existing choice to turn off alert types would still work. Carriers that take part would gain legal protection from customer lawsuits. You could not sue over a missed or faulty satellite alert. You also could not sue over your account details going to police or emergency crews during an alert. The FCC would write the rules within 18 months of the bill becoming law. Those rules must keep alerts from crowding out 911 calls. The system would not start for at least three more years after that.
Congressional Summary
This bill provides for wireless emergency alerts to be transmitted to mobile devices via satellite. (Currently, wireless emergency alerts are sent via terrestrial mobile networks to individual devices in geographically targeted areas. Commercial mobile service providers are not required to participate; only devices connected to a participating service provider’s network receive alerts.)Under the bill, commercial mobile service providers that participate in the wireless emergency alerts system must give notice to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indicating whether they will transmit such alerts via satellite (in addition to sending alerts via terrestrial networks).The FCC must establish technical standards and other regulations to enable satellite emergency alerts. Providers that opt to transmit emergency alerts via satellite must comply with such regulations.If a provider elects not to transmit satellite alerts, the provider must give notice of that election to new and existing subscribers. Separately, mobile service subscribers may opt out of receiving satellite alerts.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Action Date
- 2026-04-21
- Date Added
- 2026-04-16
- Source
- Congress.gov →
Like reading a bill in plain English?
We're building an app that does this for every bill in Congress and lets you tell your reps how you want them to vote. We're a small team getting ready to launch, and we're trying to show investors that real people want this. Be one of them. Help us get it built. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment the app is ready.