Texas 2011 - 82nd Regular

Texas House Bill HCR90 Compare Versions

The same version is selected twice. Please select two different versions to compare.

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New	Differences
1	1	By: Miller of Erath (Senate Sponsor - Hinojosa) H.C.R. No. 90
2	2	(In the Senate - Received from the House April 28, 2011;
3	3	May 5, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
4	4	Administration; May 17, 2011, reported favorably by the following
5	5	vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 17, 2011, sent to printer.)
6	6
7	7
8	8	HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
9	9	WHEREAS, Effective emergency communications are an essential
10	10	component of homeland security, but the federal government has thus
11	11	far failed to implement the Integrated Public Alert and Warning
12	12	System program, launched in 2006 in response to Presidential
13	13	Executive Order 13407, and related measures that are necessary to
14	14	alert the American public in situations of war, terrorist attack,
15	15	natural disaster, or other hazards; and
16	16	WHEREAS, At present, the capacity of the United States to
17	17	issue warnings is supported by the Emergency Alert System and the
18	18	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Radio
19	19	All-Hazards Network; the EAS is built on a structure conceived in
20	20	the 1950s, when the best available technology for widely
21	21	disseminating emergency alerts was over-the-air broadcasting; NOAA
22	22	Weather Radio broadcasts National Weather Service forecasts and
23	23	all-hazard warnings for natural and man-made events; and
24	24	WHEREAS, Reliance on radio and television to deliver warnings
25	25	fails to take into account the prevalence and sophistication of
26	26	other communications technologies, especially wireless devices and
27	27	satellite solutions; the Integrated Public Alert and Warning
28	28	System, managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is
29	29	intended to modernize and enhance the antiquated Emergency Alert
30	30	System and provide a fully integrated, multimodal "system of
31	31	systems" for warning citizens; and
32	32	WHEREAS, IPAWS has addressed the lack of standards across
33	33	warning devices with the new Common Alerting Protocol, which will
34	34	facilitate the creation of a cohesive alert warning solution, and
35	35	with new alert systems such as the Commercial Mobile Alert System,
36	36	which allows for the mass transmission of text-based alerts to
37	37	mobile devices in targeted geographic areas; even with these
38	38	advancements and with a fully implemented IPAWS, IPAWS as designed
39	39	still falls short of a comprehensive alert warning system since it
40	40	has the same limitations of each existing and proposed system:
41	41	radio, television, and wireless service may not exist in some
42	42	remote geographic areas or may be compromised by natural or
43	43	man-made disasters; today's technology, however, can provide a
44	44	comprehensive alert warning system; and
45	45	WHEREAS, Such technology must be deployed as soon as possible
46	46	in a comprehensive, integrated national alert system, in
47	47	coordination with federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal
48	48	emergency management systems, to ensure that under all conditions,
49	49	at all times, and in all places universal communication is
50	50	available to warn Americans of impending dangers; now, therefore,
51	51	be it
52	52	RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
53	53	hereby urge the United States Congress to expedite a solution and
54	54	enact laws that will provide public alert and warning in situations
55	55	of war, terrorist attack, natural disaster, or other hazards to
56	56	public safety or the well-being of all people of the United States
57	57	of America; and, be it further
58	58	RESOLVED, That the 82nd Texas Legislature hereby
59	59	respectfully urge the United States Congress to investigate and
60	60	conduct hearings to inventory, evaluate, and assess capabilities
61	61	and integration with the public alert and warning systems of
62	62	federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal public alert and
63	63	warning resources and to establish or adopt common alerting and
64	64	warning protocols, standards, terminology, and operating
65	65	procedures that are effective without the necessity of maintaining
66	66	a database of contact information so as to protect the privacy of
67	67	all Americans and that enable interoperability and the secure
68	68	delivery of coordinated messages to the American people through as
69	69	many communication pathways as practicable, utilizing today's
70	70	technology to guarantee the delivery of warnings and alerts in a
71	71	timely manner to the entire population when surface infrastructure
72	72	does not exist, has been compromised, or has been otherwise
73	73	rendered ineffective; and, be it further
74	74	RESOLVED, That the legislature hereby respectfully urge the
75	75	United States Congress to ensure that the public alert and warning
76	76	system is capable of serving all Americans, including those with
77	77	disabilities and those who lack an understanding of the English
78	78	language, even in the most remote geographic areas of the United
79	79	States and its territories, and to ensure that it is capable of
80	80	adapting the distribution and content of communications on the
81	81	basis of clearly defined geographic locations, risks, or personal
82	82	user preferences, as appropriate; and, be it further
83	83	RESOLVED, That the legislature hereby respectfully urge the
84	84	United States Congress to require media communication
85	85	organizations and all governments, federal, state, local,
86	86	territorial, and tribal, to consult, coordinate, and cooperate with
87	87	the private sector, including emergency response providers and
88	88	users, as appropriate, for the full implementation of a
89	89	state-of-the-art early warning and alert system; and, be it further
90	90	RESOLVED, That the legislature hereby respectfully urge the
91	91	United States Congress to establish training, annual tests, and
92	92	exercises for the public alert and warning system, to provide for
93	93	direct access to the system by appropriate federal, state, local,
94	94	territorial, and tribal emergency personnel, and, through
95	95	cooperation with the owners and operators of communications
96	96	facilities, to maintain, protect, and, if necessary, restore
97	97	communications facilities and capabilities necessary for the
98	98	public alert and warning system; and, be it further
99	99	RESOLVED, That the legislature hereby respectfully urge the
100	100	United States Congress to ensure that public education efforts are
101	101	conducted so that federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal
102	102	governments, the private sector, and the American people understand
103	103	the functions of the public alert and warning system and how to
104	104	access, use, and respond to information issued through all public
105	105	alert and warning systems and devices; and, be it further
106	106	RESOLVED, That the legislature hereby respectfully urge the
107	107	United States Congress, in performing the functions set forth
108	108	above, to coordinate with all appropriate departments and agencies
109	109	of all governments referenced in this resolution; and, be it
110	110	further
111	111	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
112	112	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
113	113	the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
114	114	Representatives of the United States Congress, to the majority and
115	115	minority leaders of both houses, to the secretary of homeland
116	116	security, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to Congress
117	117	with the request that this resolution be entered in the
118	118	Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United
119	119	States of America.
120	120	* * * * *