WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission has set deadlines for comments on its efforts to modernize the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS).
In August, the FCC adopted a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Third Further Notice) that seeks comment on proposals that would ensure the system is collecting information useful to disaster response without imposing unreasonable burdens.
The Third Further Notice set deadlines for filing comments and reply comments at 30 and 60 days, respectively, after publication in the Federal Register. That means comments must be filed on or before October 2, 2025, and reply comments must be filed on or before November 3, 2025, the agency said.
As previously reported, the DIRS, which was launched in 2007, has collected information from communications providers, cable operators, phone companies, wireless firms and broadcasters on the impact of severe weather and other natural disasters on their operations. The information, which includes data on phone and broadband outages, collected through DIRS allows emergency management officials to more efficiently prioritize disaster response efforts.
Currently television and radio broadcast providers, broadband Internet access service (BIAS) providers, satellite providers, and other communications service providers may report voluntarily in DIRS when it is active, but are not required to do so. The previous administration had tried to make reporting mandatory for broadcasters..
That effort was opposed by the NAB. In 2024, the FCC did, however, make reporting mandatory for wireless, wireline, cable and VoIP providers. .
In launching the new effort to reexamine the system, the FCC said the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is designed to begin a thorough review of DIRS to modernize the system for reporting and to develop changes to current rules that might reduce the reporting burdens providers during disasters, while increasing the utility of the reports, the FCC said.
This includes simplifying reporting requirements, limiting DIRS reporting obligations to facilities-based providers, and promoting federal and state agencies’ ability to obtain direct access to NORS and DIRS filings by eliminating unnecessary access requirements, among other improvements for efficiency, the FCC said.
More details are available in the full NPRM here.
