Federal Communications Commission	"FCC  XX-XXX"


STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER ANNA M. GOMEZ
Re:	Wireless Emergency Alerts, PS Docket No. 15-91; Amendments to Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert System, PS Docket No. 15-94; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (March 14, 2024)
This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking includes a remarkable statistic from the Department of Justice that is worthwhile repeating – of the 181 AMBER alerts issued in 2022, 180 resulted in the recovery of a child.  That is an amazing and encouraging statistic about the effectiveness of emergency alerts.    
Today, we begin the process to establish a new emergency alert code dedicated to help find adults that have gone missing.  The public policy goal of this proposed rulemaking is to help communities and families that unfortunately experience the anguish of not knowing where their loved ones are. 
This notice also represents our small but powerful contribution to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, which has afflicted Native communities for far too long.  Native Americans constitute 2.5% of all missing person cases despite comprising only 1.2% of the U.S. population.  With this proposal to establish a new emergency alert code for missing persons we hope to offer help.   
As I said, via video remarks, at the annual 2024 Reservation Economic Summit held in Las Vegas, Nevada – we want to hear from the public, public safety authorities and emergency response officials.  How does this proposal help?   
A heartfelt thank you to the staff of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau for your work on this critical life-saving item.  I approve this item. 

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