Disaster Communications Coordination and Preparedness Act

Disaster Communications Coordination and Preparedness Act

This bill directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to assess its procedures for disasters and emergencies affecting communications service and consider measures to improve coordination with officials and service providers during such events.

Specifically, the FCC must review and update, as appropriate, its procedures for notifying communications service providers about activations and deactivations of the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). (DIRS is activated during severe weather and other events to enable providers to report outages and other service issues.)

Further, the FCC must provide plain-language resources for state, local, tribal, and territorial officials on federal communications and emergency coordination mechanisms available during disasters and emergencies. To the extent practicable, these materials must include information on DIRS, the Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative (MDRI), and services that may be available to support public safety communications during such events, among other topics. (MDRI requires cell service providers to coordinate and share resources during emergencies.)

Finally, the FCC must consider enhancing its functions related to (1) informing state, local, tribal, and territorial officials of the status of communications services during disasters and emergencies; and (2) facilitating coordination between these officials and communications providers before, during, and after such events.