On Three-Year Anniversary of Sandy, Pallone Announces Legislation to Improve Communications Networks During Emergencies

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, on the three-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-6), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, announced that he will introduce legislation to help ensure the resiliency of the nation’s communications networks during emergencies. During and after Sandy there was a major breakdown of telecommunications networks, including cellular and home telephones, television, and internet services. This created a dangerous barrier to emergency response and recovery for residents and towns.

“As we continue to restore our homes, businesses and infrastructure three years after Sandy, we must also look ahead,” said Congressman Pallone. “By enhancing the resiliency of the services that keep us connected when we need them most, my bill will use the lessons we learned from Sandy to make sure we are better prepared when the next storm hits.”

The legislation, tentatively named the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act – or the SANDy Act – would take measures to help ensure consumers can send and receive critical messages during natural or manmade disasters.

In September, Pallone held a Superstorm Sandy Field Forum with local officials, industry leaders and senior FirstNet representatives to take a critical look at lessons learned and progress made with public safety telecommunications since the hurricane. Recommendations and testimony at the field hearing helped guide and contribute to the legislation.

Among other things, this legislation would:

• Make sure that during an emergency consumer cell phones work on other carriers’ networks if their own network goes down, giving priority to calls to 9-1-1 services and emergency alerts;
• Increase coordination between wireless carriers, utilities, and public safety officials;
• Begin a process to provide 911 services over Wi-Fi hotspots during emergencies;
• Make sure all communication providers—radio, TV, and phone—can fix outages faster, even across state lines; and
• Launch an expansive study of the future of network resiliency.