Emergency Reporting Act

Summary

Emergency Reporting Act This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate and report on emergency communications outages (e.g., 9-1-1 outages). Specifically, the FCC must publish a general report on (1) the volume and nature of 9-1-1 outages that are not required to be reported under current outage notification rules, (2) the value and practicality of including visual information in outage notifications from communications providers, and (3) recommended changes to FCC rules to address these issues. Separately, the FCC must hold annual public hearings on events for which the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) was activated for at least a week. (DIRS is a reporting system that is activated during severe weather and other events impacting communications service. It enables communications providers to report outages and other degradations to service.) After each such hearing, the FCC must issue a report that includes information about the number, duration, and nature of all associated outages, along with recommendations for improving the resiliency of affected communications services or networks. Such reports must generally be made public on the FCC website.

Summary from the Congressional Research Service. How we handle summaries

Where it stands

Passed one of the two chambers; it still needs the other.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce · U.S. House of Representatives

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Recorded votes

• Vote: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass

  U.S. HouseApr 20, 2026Result: Passed

  Voted yes (386)Voted no (7)Voted present (0)Absent (38)

  See member positions

Full history

1. Apr 21, 2026

   Introduced

   Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 375.

   U.S. House

2. Apr 21, 2026

   Sent to the executive

   Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 375.

   U.S. Senate

3. Apr 20, 2026

   Considered as Unfinished business. (consideration: cr H2976-2978)

   Considered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H2976-2978)

4. Apr 20, 2026

   Considered as Unfinished business. (consideration: cr H2976-2978)

   Considered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H2976-2978)

5. Apr 20, 2026

   Debate - the House Proceeded With Forty Minutes of Debate on H.R. 5200.

   DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 5200.

   U.S. House of Representatives

Read the record

• Read on Congress.gov (opens in a new tab) The official record on Congress.gov.