Federal Communications Commission	DA 21-593


DA 21-593
Released: May 25, 2021

PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU ANNOUNCES 
THE ALERT REPORTING SYSTEM (ARS) IS AVAILABLE FOR FILING 
OF STATE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM PLANS

PS Docket No. 15-94


By this Public Notice, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) announces that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Alert Reporting System (ARS) is now open for the filing of State Emergency Alert System (EAS) Plans. See Amendment of Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert System, Report and Order, PS Docket No. 15-94, 33 FCC Rcd 3627, 3645-46, para. 54 (2018) (Report and Order).    
  The EAS is a national public warning system used by state, local, federal, Tribal and territorial alert originators to deliver emergency alerts to the public. See Report and Order at 33 FCC Rcd 3638, para. 2.
  The ARS is a comprehensive online filing system for EAS by combining the existing FCC EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) with a new, streamlined electronic system for the filing of State EAS Plans.  State EAS Plans must describe state and local EAS operations and contain guidelines that must be followed to activate the EAS. See 47 CFR § 11.21.
  Electronic submission of State EAS Plans in ARS will be required within one year of publication in the Federal Register of a public notice announcing the availability of the ARS to receive such information. See Report and Order at 33 FCC Rcd 3645-46, para. 54.  
  Following such publication, the Bureau will release a public notice announcing the one-year filing deadline for submission of State EAS Plans in ARS. In the Report and Order, the Commission stated that the electronic submission of State EAS Plans would be required via ARS “within one year of publication in the Federal Register of a Public Notice announcing: (i) OMB approval of ARS information collection requirements or (ii) the availability of the ARS to receive such information, whichever is later.”  See id., 33 FCC Rcd 3645-46, para. 54.  On July 23, 2019, notice of OMB’s approval of the information collection requirements was published in the Federal Register.  See Federal Communications Commission, Emergency Alert System; Wireless Emergency Alerts, 84 Fed. Reg. 35334 (July 23, 2019).  Accordingly, publication of this Public Notice in the Federal Register will trigger the one-year ARS filing obligation.
  Authorized State Emergency Communications Committee (SECC) members may access the ARS at https://www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fcc-user-login. This link will bring up a menu with links to several databases; clicking the ETRS icon will bring up the ETRS homepage (or the FCC User Sign-In page, if not already signed in, completion of which will bring up the ETRS homepage) wherein the link to the ARS homepage is located.  Authorized SECC members will be able to access ARS by clicking on the ARS link on the ETRS homepage.  This link will only be visible to authorized SECC members.  Authorized SECC members that do not see this link should contact Bureau staff.
  

When the Commission adopted the ARS, it also amended its rules regarding State EAS Plan content and defined current EAS designations to ensure that SECCs are able to use those designations to help them describe their respective state’s EAS alert distribution hierarchies in their State EAS Plans. See Report and Order at 33 FCC Rcd 3635, 3638-3643, paras. 19, 35-47 respectively; see also 47 CFR §§ 11.18 and 11.21, respectively.  
  Compliance with the new State EAS Plan content rules and EAS designations will become required at the same time as the filing deadline for electronic submission of State EAS Plans in the ARS. See Report and Order at 33 FCC Rcd 3645-3646, paras. 54-55. 
 

For further information about ARS and/or the filing process, please contact David Munson at (202) 418-2921 or David.Munson@fcc.gov. 


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