Federal Communications Commission	FCC 24-23



STATEMENT OF
CHAIRWOMAN JESSICA ROSENWORCEL

Re:	Amendments to Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert System, PS Docket No. 15-94, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (February 15, 2024) 

When disaster strikes, emergency alerts can save lives.  They provide information we need to stay calm, stay safe, and get the resources we require.  But these alerts only work if we understand them.  In the United States, over 26 million people have limited or no ability to speak English.  That means we have to get creative and identify new ways to reach everyone in disaster.

	This is what led us to extend the reach of the Wireless Emergency Alert system last year, when we updated it to ensure it can support 13 languages, including American Sign Language.  We did this by requiring participating wireless providers to support templates based on a system 
that New York State Attorney General Letitia James brought to our attention following floods caused by Hurricane Ida—when nearly all those who lost their lives did not speak English.  Today the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will release draft templates and translations to keep this effort moving ahead.

	Now we turn to another form of emergency alerts—those on radio and television.  Here, too, we want to explore what we can do to make essential information available in multiple languages.  So we propose to enhance our Emergency Alert System using the same type of template-based approach that we adopted for alerts over wireless phones.  Developing multilingual templates would provide alert originators with the ability to send time-sensitive emergency information in more languages, making them more likely to reach more people.  That is why we seek comment on how to do this in a way that corresponds with the language of the programming content. 

I look forward to the record that develops.  I know if we get creative we can update radio and television alerts just like we are doing with Wireless Emergency Alerts.  I am convinced that if we do this right we can save more lives.  

I would like to thank the staff responsible for this public safety initiative, including Debra Jordan, Nicole McGinnis, Austin Randazzo, Erika Olsen, Rochelle Cohen, David Munson, Zoe Li, Joshua Gehret, and Steven Carpenter from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau; Emily Talaga, Aleks Yankelevich, and Cher Li from the Office of Economics and Analytics; Suzy Rosen Singleton, Diane Burstein, and William David Wallace from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau; Evan Baranoff from the Media Bureau; Ryan McDonald and Victoria Randazzo from the Enforcement Bureau; Chana Wilkerson and Joy Ragsdale from the Office of Communications Business Opportunities; and Douglas Klein, William Huber, Michele Ellison, and Anjali Singh from the Office of General Counsel.