A bill to support improved awareness and coordination of Federal communications resources during disasters and emergencies, and for other purposes.

1. Introduced
2. CommitteePlaced on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 692.
3. Floor
4. Passed
5. Law

Latest action

9 Nov 2026Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 692.

Disaster Communications Coordination and Preparedness ActThis 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.

• Business meeting to markup S.1759, to allow for the operation of civil supersonic flight in the national airspace system under certain conditions, S.3258, to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to publish the list of medications that the Administrator has compiled for purposes of the medical certification of airmen and air traffic control specialists, S.3885, to provide for updates to the Federal Aviation Administration type certification process to support development of new and novel technologies, S.4429, to prohibit the importation, manufacture, sale, resale, or introduction into interstate commerce in the United States of connected vehicles and related software and hardware associated with foreign adversaries, S.4448, to require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to create tools for tracking the progress of grant recipients under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, to require the Assistant Secretary to help executive agencies improve compliance with the statutory deadline for processing communications use applications, S.4691, to support improved awareness and coordination of Federal communications resources during disasters and emergencies, S.4802, to provide for the acquisition by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of aircraft for air, atmosphere, and weather reconnaissance and research missions, and the nominations of Thomas B. Chapman, of Maryland, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Edward Eppler, of Connecticut, to be Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transportation, Karen Jean Hedlund, of New York, to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board, and Brien Lorenze, of Virginia, and Karen Sessions, of Texas, each to be a Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.congress.gov
• Business meeting to markup S.1759, to allow for the operation of civil supersonic flight in the national airspace system under certain conditions, S.3258, to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to publish the list of medications that the Administrator has compiled for purposes of the medical certification of airmen and air traffic control specialists, S.3885, to provide for updates to the Federal Aviation Administration type certification process to support development of new and novel technologies, S.4429, to prohibit the importation, manufacture, sale, resale, or introduction into interstate commerce in the United States of connected vehicles and related software and hardware associated with foreign adversaries, S.4448, to require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to create tools for tracking the progress of grant recipients under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, to require the Assistant Secretary to help executive agencies improve compliance with the statutory deadline for processing communications use applications, S.4691, to support improved awareness and coordination of Federal communications resources during disasters and emergencies, S.4802, to provide for the acquisition by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of aircraft for air, atmosphere, and weather reconnaissance and research missions, and the nominations of Thomas B. Chapman, of Maryland, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Edward Eppler, of Connecticut, to be Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transportation, Karen Jean Hedlund, of New York, to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board, and Brien Lorenze, of Virginia, and Karen Sessions, of Texas, each to be a Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.senate.gov
• Introduced in Senatecongress.gov