§1201 Federal Communications Commission Duties

Summary

Require the FCC to make technical rules within 180 days after the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee sends its recommendations. The FCC must work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to write those standards, protocols, and procedures so phone carriers can choose to send emergency alerts. Within 120 days after those rules are set, the FCC must finish a rulemaking to let mobile carriers send alerts, and to require clear point-of-sale notices and subscriber notices if a carrier chooses not to send alerts. Within 30 days after that FCC order, each carrier must tell the FCC whether it will send alerts. If a carrier chooses to send them, it must tell the FCC, follow the technical rules, and may not charge extra for the service. The FCC must set up ways for carriers to later start or stop sending alerts without penalty, let subscribers end service without early fees if a carrier stops sending alerts, and allow carriers to let subscribers block some alerts except those from the President or the Administrator of FEMA. Within 90 days after the technical rules are adopted, public and noncommercial educational TV stations must add equipment so carriers can deliver geographically targeted alerts. The FCC can enforce these rules, must require technical testing, and carriers who follow the rules are protected from liability for harms from sending or not sending alerts or for sharing subscriber info with government agencies.