The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved limited waiver for the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) to test its wireless emergency alert system. The test is to start June 22 at 11 a.m. EDT, with a backup of the same time the following day. “In light of the heightened attendance and security expected for the National July 4th Celebration this year, we are persuaded by the HSEMA Letter that the proposed WEA test will help prepare the District of Columbia Government and HSEMA, as well as tourists and residents alike, in the event of an incident or emergency during the festivities,” said a Wednesday order: “We are also persuaded that there is value in allowing the end-to-end WEA test to use a ‘live’ WEA event code, as opposed to the State/Local WEA Test code, because of the importance of ensuring the reliability of WEA as a means of providing critical information in the event of an emergency.”
Questions are being raised at the FCC on parts of the robocalling declaratory ruling, set for a commissioner vote June 6 (see 1905150041). The biggest questions are about the decision to press forward without seeking comment on what some see as a vague “reasonable analytics” standard for blocking even lawful calls, said lawyers involved in the proceeding. Consumer groups hope the FCC will approve the ruling.
Questions are being raised at the FCC on parts of the robocalling declaratory ruling, set for a commissioner vote June 6 (see 1905150041). The biggest questions are about the decision to press forward without seeking comment on what some see as a vague “reasonable analytics” standard for blocking even lawful calls, said lawyers involved in the proceeding. Consumer groups hope the FCC will approve the ruling.
Focusing on a National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) system could hurt implementation of potentially more-innovative location technologies like device-based hybrid 911 solutions, Comcast and Charter Communications told FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, according to a docket 07-114 ex parte posting Tuesday. They also repeated cable industry concerns about the NEAD possibly raising subscriber privacy issues.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced three bipartisan measures calling for sanctions against countries it said are involved in corruption, human rights abuses and trade that harms U.S. national security. The measures, advanced on May 22, called for sanctions on countries in the Northern Triangle, Georgia and Turkey.
The 2019 national test of the emergency alert system is scheduled for Aug. 7, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a letter to the FCC posted Thursday in docket 15-94. Aug. 21 is the backup. Though the letter gives the initial test date as taking place in 2016, FEMA officials told us that’s a typo. “This year FEMA proposes to originate the test via the National Public Warning System composed of the FEMA designated Primary Entry Point (PEP) facilities,” the letter said. “The intent of conducting the test in this fashion is to determine the capability of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to deliver messages to the public in event that dissemination via internet is not available.” Due to the use of this method, the test won’t include the richer message text and multilingual options available when messages are delivered using the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. “As in past years the national EAS test message will look and sound very much like the regular Required Monthly Test (RMT) messages broadcast every month by all EAS Participants,” the letter said.
CTIA representatives met aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks on dispatchable solutions for calls to 911. “Member companies are committed to enhancing the location accuracy of wireless 9-1-1 calls, particularly indoors, for Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) through innovative solutions,” CTIA said, in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 07-114 . Since 2015, “wireless providers have met every location accuracy benchmark and requirement set forth” that was approved by the FCC that year (see 1501290066), the group said. The nationwide carriers have “tested and implemented solutions, such as device-based hybrid to meet the Commission’s increasing benchmarks for horizontal location accuracy, stood up the NEAD [National Emergency Address Database] and attained Commission approval for its privacy and security plan, and proposed a vertical metric for z-axis information,” CTIA said.
The Department of Commerce published its spring 2019 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security. The agenda continues to mention an upcoming a long-awaited proposed rulemaking involving parties’ responsibilities under the Export Administration Regulations in a routed export transaction, saying the proposal will be published in May 2019. Sharron Cook, a senior policy export analyst for BIS, said in April the rule change will help solve some of the bigger frustrations with the current regulations faced by export forwarders (see 1904170064). BIS is aiming to issue the proposal in May, it said.
The GPS Innovation Alliance lauded Wednesday the Senate's Tuesday night passage under unanimous consent of S Res-216, which recognizes the economic importance of GPS and the contributions made by the Air Force and Transportation Department in maintaining U.S. GPS infrastructure. The companion measure is H Res-219. “I’m glad the Senate has now formally recognized the positive benefits of this technology, as well as the potential it has to further improve our nation’s military readiness, infrastructure and agricultural production, and so much more,” said Congressional GPS Caucus co-Chair Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who led sponsorship of the resolution with fellow co-Chair Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. “Promoting and protecting the availability, accuracy, efficiency, robustness, reliability and resiliency of the GPS constellation enables technological innovation, adding more than $68 billion annually to the U.S. economy,” said GPSIA Executive Director David Grossman. “With the growth of precision agriculture, autonomous vehicles, 5G and other emerging technologies, our dependence on GPS will only continue to grow.”
The House Commerce Committee moved forward with a Wednesday hearing on the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act (HR-2741) despite the simultaneous torpedoing of talks between President Donald Trump and top Capitol Hill Democrats on a plan to pay for additional spending on broadband and other infrastructure projects. HR-2741 would allocate $40 billion for broadband projects, offer $12 billion in grants for implementing next generation-911 technologies and $5 billion for federal funding of a loan and credit program for broadband projects. Democrats first filed the bill in 2017 (see 1706020056).