Congressmen Brett Guthrie and Richard Hudson have announced a legislative hearing to address improvements in public safety communications across the United States. The hearing, titled “Legislative Improvements to Public Safety Communications in the United States,” is scheduled for December 16, 2025, at 10:15 AM ET at the Rayburn House Office Building.
Guthrie, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Hudson, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, emphasized the importance of modernizing emergency communications systems. “Emergency communications are the backbone of police, fire, and emergency medical services,” they said. They aim to explore ways to better equip first responders for their duties.
The hearing will cover several bills related to public safety communications, including H.R. 6505 (Next Generation 9-1-1 Act), H.R. 5200 (Emergency Reporting Act), H.R. 5201 (Kari’s Law Reporting Act), H.R. 2076 (LuLu’s Law), H.R. 1094 (Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act), an unnamed bill referred to as Mystic Alert Act, and H.R. 1519 (Public Safety Communications Act).
Dr. Jeannette Sutton from the University at Albany has prepared written testimony highlighting that effective alerts require specific message content like source and guidance information. She notes that less than 8.5% of Wireless Emergency Alerts between 2012-2022 were complete according to evidence-based practices.
The hearing will be open to both the public and press and can be streamed online at energycommerce.house.gov.
Information from this article can be found here.
