Mystic Alerts Act - Satellite Emergency Alert Transmission Requirements

H.L.C.

Union Calendar No. H. R. 7022

119 CONGRESS TH 2 ESSION

[Report No. 119-]

To provide for the transmission of emergency alerts by satellite, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

J 12, 2026 ANUARY Mr. P(for himself, Mrs. F , Mr. C of Georgia, and Mr. VFLUGER DLETCHER SARTER ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-EASEY mittee on Energy and Commerce A --, 2026 PRIL Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 12, 2026]

H.L.C.

A BILL

To provide for the transmission of emergency alerts by satellite, and for other purposes.

H.L.C.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3

This Act may be cited as the ''Mystic Alerts Act''. 4

SEC. 2. TRANSMISSION OF EMERGENCY ALERTS BY SAT-5 ELLITE. 6

.-- 7(a) SERVICEROVIDERLECTION .--Not later than 60 days 8(1) REQUIRED FILING after the effective date of the final rule required to be 9 issued under subsection (b), each covered service pro-10 vider shall file an election with the Federal Commu-11 nications Commission with respect to whether the 12 provider intends to transmit emergency alerts by sat-13 ellite to the subscribers of the commercial mobile serv-14 ice of the provider who receive such service on devices 15 capable of receiving such alerts, in addition to the 16 transmission of emergency alerts under the Warning 17 Alert, and Response Network Act. 18 .--If a provider 19(2) N; POTIFICATIONEAGREEMENT elects to transmit emergency alerts to subscribers by 20 satellite under paragraph (1), the provider shall-- 21 (A) notify the Commission of that election; 22 and 23 (B) agree to transmit such alerts in a man-24 ner consistent with the technical standards, pro-25

H.L.C.

tocols, procedures, and other technical require-1 ments implemented by the Commission. 2 .--If a provider 3(3) E ALECTION NOT TO TRANSMIT elects not to transmit emergency alerts by satellite 4 under paragraph (1), the provider shall provide no-5 tice to new and existing subscribers described in such 6 paragraph of that election in the same manner that 7 is required under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of sec-8 tion 602(b)(1) of the Warning, Alert, and Response 9 Network Act. 10 .--If a pro-11(4) C ONSUMER CHOICE TO OPT OUT vider elects to transmit emergency alerts to sub-12 scribers of such service by satellite under paragraph 13 (1), the provider shall prevent the device of any such 14 subscriber that opts out of receiving emergency alerts 15 pursuant to section 602(b)(2)(E) of the Warning, 16 Alert, and Response Network Act, or classes of such 17 alerts, from receiving such alerts by satellite. 18 .--If a provider elects 19(5) N O FEE FOR SERVICE to transmit emergency alerts to subscribers by satellite 20 under paragraph (1), the provider may not impose a 21 separate or additional charge for such transmission 22 or capability. 23 .-- 24(b) S RATELLITE LERT EGULATIONS

H.L.C.

.--Not 1(1) NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING later than 6 months after the date of the enactment 2 of this Act, the Commission shall publish a Notice of 3 Proposed Rulemaking to establish any requirements 4 necessary to facilitate the satellite alerting capability 5 of covered service providers. 6 .--The requirements required 7(2) REQUIREMENTS by paragraph (1) shall-- 8 (A) take into account the capability of-- 9 (i) satellites to transmit emergency 10 alerts; and 11 (ii) mobile devices to receive and dis-12 play such alerts; and 13 (B) minimize the impact of emergency 14 alerting on other voice and data communica-15 tions, including 9-1-1 communications. 16 .--Not later than 18 months 17(3) FINAL RULE after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Com-18 mission shall, in consultation with the Secretary of 19 Homeland Security and the Administrator of the Fed-20 eral Emergency Management Agency, issue a final 21 rule establishing the requirements described under 22 paragraph (1). 23 .-- 24(4) EFFECTIVE DATE OF RULE

H.L.C.

.--The effective date of the final 1(A) DLATE rule described under paragraph (3) shall be the 2 later of-- 3 (i) 36 months after publication of the 4 final rule in the Federal Register; or 5 (ii) 12 months after the Secretary of 6 Homeland Security and the Administrator 7 of the Federal Emergency Management 8 Agency implement any standards, protocols, 9 or procedures necessary to support the 10 transmission of emergency alerts from alert 11 originators to covered service providers, the 12 Secretary and the Administrator shall no-13 tify the Commission of such implementa-14 tion. 15 .--The Secretary of 16(B) NOTIFICATION Homeland Security and the Administrator of the 17 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall 18 notify the Commission of the implementation of 19 any standards, protocols, or procedures described 20 under subparagraph (A)(ii) for the purpose of 21 determining the effective date of the final rule de-22 scribed under paragraph (3). 23 .-- 24(c) LIMITATION OFIABILITY

H.L.C.

.--Any covered service provider 1(1) ISN GENERAL (including its officers, directors, employees, vendors, 2 and agents) that transmits emergency alerts by sat-3 ellite and meets its obligations under this Act shall 4 not be liable to any subscriber to, or user of, such per-5 son's service or equipment for-- 6 (A) any act or omission related to or any 7 harm resulting from the transmission of, or fail-8 ure to transmit, an emergency alert by satellite; 9 or 10 (B) the release to a government agency or 11 entity, public safety, fire service, law enforce-12 ment official, emergency medical service, or 13 emergency facility of subscriber information used 14 in connection with delivering such an alert. 15 -16(2) ELECTION NOT TO TRANSMIT ALERTS BY SAT .--The election by a covered service provider 17ELLITE under subsection (a)(3) not to transmit emergency 18 alerts by satellite shall not, by itself, provide a basis 19 for liability against the provider (including its offi-20 cers, directors, employees, vendors, and agents). 21 .--In this Act, ''cov-22(d) CPOVEREDERVICEROVIDER ered service provider'' means a provider of commercial mo-23 bile service that-- 24

H.L.C.

(1) voluntarily elects to transmit emergency 1 alerts under section 602(b) of the Warning, Alert, and 2 Response Network Act (Public Law 109-347; 42 3 U.S.C. 1201); and 4 (2) makes satellite voice and data communica-5 tions service available to subscribers of the commer-6 cial mobile service of the provider. 7