House Energy and Commerce hearing advances bipartisan plans to modernize 911, expand alerting to satellites

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on public safety communications examined a package of bipartisan bills aimed at modernizing 9‑1‑1 systems, improving wireless emergency alerts and outage reporting, and exploring satellite delivery of emergency alerts.

The committee’s chair, Chairman Hudson, said he and Rep. Carter introduced the Next Generation 9‑1‑1 Act to establish an NTIA grant program, a national NG9‑1‑1 cybersecurity center, and an NG9‑1‑1 advisory board to help deploy interoperable, Internet protocol–based call centers nationwide. "Upgrading our nation's call centers to NG9‑1‑1 technology is crucial for public safety," Hudson said in his opening remarks.

Why it matters: witnesses and members said legacy 9‑1‑1 systems limit the data that dispatchers can receive and share — such as video, text and higher‑precision location — and that federal funding and standards are needed to prevent a patchwork of interoperable and noninteroperable systems. Captain Varnado, testifying as president of APCO International and a 9‑1‑1 director, called NG9‑1‑1 "a comprehensive end‑to‑end transformation of emergency communications" and urged a federal grant program and shared cybersecurity resources to protect systems and sensitive data.

Witnesses described concrete technology and funding shortfalls. Captain Varnado said earlier cost estimates discussed by some stakeholders “have been around $15,000,000,000” for nationwide NG9‑1‑1 deployment but acknowledged updated, system‑by‑system estimates are needed. Matthew Gertz, representing the wireless industry, noted major private investment in resiliency and said carriers have deployed roughly 450,000 cell sites and invested nearly $30 billion in network capacity and coverage.

Satellite alerts and the “Mystic Alert” proposal: Representative Pfluger and others urged integration of space‑based direct‑to‑device services into the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) ecosystem. Jennifer Mannor of AST SpaceMobile described her company’s direct‑to‑device satellite broadband network and stated plans to deploy "45 to 60 satellites by year‑end 2026," saying the service can provide coverage where terrestrial networks fail and can be integrated with FirstNet and commercial carriers for first responders.

"Because of our space‑wide area coverage, our network will have a vast impact on Americans' day‑to‑day lives and in times of emergencies," Mannor testified. Industry witnesses and members stressed that technical integration, FCC approvals and testing remain necessary steps before WEA messages can be reliably delivered via satellite.

Alert content, training and reporting: Dr. Jeanette Sutton, a University at Albany researcher on warning messages, summarized evidence that effective alerts should include five elements — the source, hazard, affected location, time and protective actions — and said only about 8.5% of local WEA messages from 2012–2022 included all five elements. She recommended national standards for message content and mandatory training for every authorized alert originator so that messages are consistently complete and actionable.

On Kari’s Law and outage reporting, members backed the Emergency Reporting Act and a reporting requirement for Kari’s Law compliance. Ranking Member Matsui noted past failures — including the 2018 Camp Fire — and said Congress needs transparent mechanisms to know why 9‑1‑1 failures occur. Captain Varnado said current outage notices are often too broad and non‑local and asked for visual, map‑based outage representations that PSAPs (public safety answering points) can use in real time.

Where the bills stand and next steps: Members from both parties described the session as a bipartisan opportunity to marshal federal funds and standards for NG9‑1‑1, WEA improvements and outage reporting. No formal votes were taken at the hearing. The chair closed by reminding members they may submit questions for the record and adjourned the subcommittee.

What’s next: witnesses offered to provide refined cost estimates and technical plans; members asked for follow‑up information and directed staff to continue consultations with NTIA, FCC, FEMA, FirstNet stakeholders, the wireless industry and public‑safety groups.

Ending note: the subcommittee’s examination highlighted broad consensus on objectives — more resilient networks, clear and actionable alerts, and stronger federal support — while also underscoring the work required on funding, interoperability, training and technical integration before the proposed changes are operational.