No EAS Discussion Set For This FCC

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In a late-afternoon notice on Wednesday, the FCC opted to delete nearly all of its agenda items for today’s December Open Meeting.


Among the items no longer on the agenda: An amendment of Part 11 of the Commission’s rules regarding the Emergency Alert System.

The Commission had planned to consider a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to enhance the EAS as a tool for community emergency preparedness.

The Report and Order would have improved alerting organization at the state and local levels, built stronger community-based alerting exercise programs, and protected the EAS against accidental misuse and malicious intrusion, the FCC said.

The Further Notice sought comment on proposals to leverage technological advances to improve alerting and additional measures to preserve EAS security.

Now, it is likely up to an all-new FCC to decide to restore the agenda item to a future agenda.

The next Open Meeting is set for January 26, and today’s session will be the last for Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who announced at 9 a.m. that he will step down from the Commission altogether.