H.R. 5154

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5154 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5154

To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
to carry out a program to provide technical and financial assistance to 
State, local, and Tribal authorities to conduct testing of emergency 
alert and warning systems, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 4, 2025

Mr. Mullin (for himself, Ms. Pelosi, and Mr. Weber of Texas) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
to carry out a program to provide technical and financial assistance to 
State, local, and Tribal authorities to conduct testing of emergency 
alert and warning systems, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Resilient Emergency Alert 
Communications and Training Act'' or the ``REACT Act''.

SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR EMERGENCY ALERTING SYSTEMS.

(a) In General.--The Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency shall carry out a program to provide technical and 
financial assistance to State, local, and Tribal authorities to conduct 
periodic field training, end-to-end testing, and community-based 
exercises of emergency alert and warning systems, which shall be in 
addition to support provided under any existing program.
(b) Requirements.--The technical and financial assistance provided 
under subsection (a) shall include--
(1) funding and training for community-based exercises, 
including organized live testing at the local level;
(2) assistance with establishing a clear delineation of 
roles, responsibilities, and standard operating procedures 
within the emergency alert and warning chain of authorization, 
including across local, Tribal, State, and Federal authorities;
(3) developing and publishing templates for emergency alert 
and warning messages, in accordance with evidence-based 
scientific research, that--
(A) may include message completeness requirements; 
and
(B) build upon existing training materials;
(4) training on best practices for crafting, disseminating, 
and assessing the effectiveness of emergency alert and warning 
messages, provided across different platforms and 
jurisdictions;
(5) development of standardized metrics to assess the 
effectiveness of emergency alert and warning systems;
(6) testing of technology and infrastructure for emergency 
alert and warning systems, including multimodal capabilities, 
to ensure such systems are working effectively and in 
coordination with one another;
(7) technical assistance for the development of public 
education campaigns that explain how emergency alert and 
warning systems work, actions by individuals required to ensure 
they receive alerts and warnings, and how individuals and 
communities should respond; and
(8) review of, and recommendations for, local policy and 
standard operating procedures regarding the use of emergency 
alert and warning systems.
(c) Operational Plan.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with State, 
local, and Tribal authorities, shall develop and submit to Congress a 
plan for carrying out the program under this section. Such plan shall 
contain anticipated costs and metrics to assess the effectiveness of 
such training, testing, and exercises.
(d) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 
this Act, and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to 
Congress a report on the field training, end-to-end testing, community-
based exercises, and public education supported under this section and 
such report shall contain--
(1) for each Alerting Authority under the Integrated Public 
Alert and Warning System and for each State, local, or Tribal 
authority receiving assistance under this section that is not 
an established Alerting Authority--
(A) whether the authority has conducted field 
training, end-to-end testing, community-based 
exercises, and public education relating to the 
emergency alert and warning systems of such authority;
(B) the frequency and scope of the activities 
described in subparagraph (A);
(C) whether the authority has established 
sufficient standard operating procedures regarding the 
use of its emergency alert and warning systems;
(D) a description of the percentage of individuals 
or regions covered by its emergency alert and warning 
systems;
(E) a description of the methods used to obtain 
public participation and feedback, and their results, 
during and after such activities; and
(F) a description of opt-out rates for emergency 
alert and warning systems during and after such 
activities;
(2) an assessment of the effectiveness of such field 
training, end-to-end testing, and community-based exercises as 
measured by the metrics contained in the plan required under 
subsection (c); and
(3) any recommendations for updating such plan.
(e) Sunset.--The authority provided under this section shall 
terminate on the date that is 10 years after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this section $30,000,000 
for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2035.
(g) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed 
to require State, local and Tribal authorities to be mandated to use 
any particular emergency alert and warning system.
(h) Emergency Alert and Warning System Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``emergency alert and warning system'' means any system used 
by a State, local, or Tribal authority to warn the public about 
emergencies or natural hazards, including such systems that operate 
through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.
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