The author is general counsel of the Society of Broadcast Engineers. This commentary was published in the March 2018 edition of The Signal. © SBE

I attended a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee recently, at which both ARRL and NAB had witnesses testify on the respective importance of amateur radio and broadcasting in emergency alerting and disaster response. FCC had a very compelling witness also: Ms. Lisa Fowlkes, the chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, testified on the FCC’s investigation of erroneous emergency alerts.

It was really riveting testimony from all witnesses, and the hearing was fascinating. It dealt specifically with the “false alarm” of an imminent missile attack in Hawaii recently; how such a thing could happen; why it took more than half an hour to rescind the alert and calm the panic in Hawaii; and how to make sure such a nightmare never happens again.

On a broader basis, the hearing testimony provided insight into the function of broadcasters, mobile wireless service providers and amateur radio operators in emergency alerting.

RESPOND VS. INFORM

The testimony of NAB was, I thought, simply excellent. It stressed the important role of broadcasters in front-line emergency alerting, and the reliance of the general public on broadcasters to disseminate emergency information in real time. NAB has asserted that in a disaster situation, 57 percent of the public turns to radio and television broadcast stations for updates and information in emergencies. This is an impressive number in a time of ubiquitous text messaging and other alerting platforms.

[Read: Broadcasters Now Guaranteed Access To Disaster Areas]

So broadcasters are indisputably “kings of the hill” in emergency alerting. But is it fair to call them “first responders”?

One might question that label, inasmuch as it is traditionally associated with, and limited to, police, fire and rescue and EMS personnel. Years ago, I prepared some testimony for an ARRL witness at a congressional hearing about federal support for first responders in spectrum allocations. I likened amateur radio ARES and RACES participants to first responders.  

For that, I had my head handed to me by the then-CEO at ARRL. He told me in no uncertain terms that this would not sit well with first responders, who were the principal served agencies of ARES and RACES. I never drew the analogy again.

Last September, the Senate passed S. 102, the Securing Access to Networks in Disaster Act (SANDy as it came to be known; referencing the 2012 superstorm that ravaged the East Coast). S. 102 was a slightly different bill than H.R. 588, passed in January of 2017 by the House; but they have the same basic intent.

Since the House and Senate Bills are different, the differences had to be resolved by Congress before being sent to the president for signature. Both bills have the same effect with respect to the role of broadcasters in emergencies. They provide for access by “essential service providers” to emergency locations and disaster sites “necessary for establishing temporary or restoring wireline or mobile telephone service, Internet access service, radio or television broadcasting, cable service, or direct broadcast satellite service.”

Both bills specify that the term “essential communications services’’ means “wireline and mobile telephone service, Internet access service, radio and television broadcasting, cable service, and direct broadcast satellite service.” This is a great thing. It allows broadcast engineers to access disaster locations to restore broadcast service during or following a major disaster, and it acknowledges the important role of broadcasters in emergency alerting.

Some states have adopted “first informer” state statutes that have the same effect. But access by broadcasters in this context must be uniform throughout the 50 states and territories in order to solve the problem of access to disaster areas for re-institution of broadcast service.

Inside Radio last September reported the passage of the SANDy Act by the Senate and claimed that the bill “designat(ed) radio and TV as ‘first responders’ during natural disasters.” Actually, the legislation doesn’t do that exactly. “Essential service providers” and “first responders” are not at all synonymous, and the latter term is not found anywhere in either bill.

NAB has carefully avoided misuse of the term “first responders” as well, and good for them for doing so.

NAB was quoted as saying that when hurricanes hit, as they did last fall, “hometown radio and TV stations play a lifesaving role as ‘first informers’ during times of emergencies, and this legislation will provide local broadcasters with access to vital resources to stay on the air when disaster strikes.”

First informers: absolutely. Access to disaster sites to restore broadcast facilities by broadcast engineers: critical. “Essential Service Providers”: absolutely valid description of broadcasters and broadcast engineers. Congress needs to get this legislation to the president pronto, and he needs to sign it without any further delay.

But let’s not confuse roles here.

“First responder” is a term that should be limited to those who really fit the classic description. The term is defined in U.S. Homeland Security Presidential Directive, HSPD-8 which provides the following definition: “those individuals who in the early stages of an incident are responsible for the protection and preservation of life, property, evidence, and the environment, including emergency response providers as defined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. § 101), as well as emergency management, public health, clinical care, public works, and other skilled support personnel (such as equipment operators) that provide immediate support services during prevention, response and recovery operations.”

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LEAWOOD, KAN.—When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005, WWL – at the time a Belo station — managed to stay on the air due in large part to the efforts of Rick Barber, its director of technology and broadcast media when the storm struck.

But despite building a transmitter building on 14-foot concrete columns to get above sea level, installing a 1MW generator with a 1,500 gallon feed tank and installing an additional 10,000 gallon tank as a reserve, to stay on air Barber and a well-armed cadre of private security personnel hired by Belo had to transport fuel – a scarce and valuable commodity in the wake of the hurricane — to top off the generator’s tanks.

[Read: All 50 States, D.C., Opt In To FirstNet]

While Katrina is ancient history, Belo is no more and Barber has left the station, the problem of picking up the pieces after a major calamity, like a hurricane, earthquake or terrorist attack, to maintain vital, potentially lifesaving communications with the public remains.

However, with the signing of the 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill on March 23, things may be getting better for broadcasters who must grapple to stay on air in the aftermath of an emergency.

Tucked into the 2,232-page spending bill was the SANDy Act, which aims to protect the nation’s communications networks by giving radio and TV broadcasters, cable and satellite providers and wireline and mobile telephone service companies priority access to otherwise restricted areas in an emergency to make repairs and maintain service.

“Television and radio broadcasters have been trying to get priority access written into federal law since at least Hurricane Katrina, when stations were lifelines but diesel fuel deliveries to keep their generators running were blocked,” said John Lawson, executive director of the AWARN Alliance.

“The bill covers a range of communications infrastructure, but priority access for broadcast facilities may have the greatest positive impact for recovery,” said Lawson, who also serves on FEMA’s National Advisory Council Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Subcommittee.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, authored the SANDy Act and led bipartisan negotiations aimed at its passage. New Jersey was among the states that suffered communications disruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.

In the Senate, the bill was backed by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

NAB issued a statement lauding the bill’s passage. “NAB is grateful that this bipartisan bill acknowledging the lifeline role of local broadcasting in times of emergency is now the law of the land,” said NAB EVP Communications Dennis Wharton in the statement.

WASHINGTON—The Senate passed the Securing Access to Networks in Disaster Act (SANDy Act) earlier this week and the National Association of Broadcasters has come out in support of the legislation.

Dennis Wharton, NAB executive vice president of communications, said in a statement: “NAB applauds the Senate’s passage of the SANDy Act and urges its quick signature into law by the President. As Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have demonstrated, hometown radio and TV stations play a lifesaving role as ‘first informers’ during times of emergencies, and this legislation will provide local broadcasters with access to vital resources to stay on the air when disaster strikes.”

The SANDy Act was first introduced in the House by Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) in 2015, but was held up in the Senate. When the Senate reopened after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the bill was quickly passed.