FEMA Reauthorization Act of 2013
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 563.
FEMA Reauthorization Act of 2013 - Title I: Reauthorization of FEMA and Modernization of Integrated Public Alert and Warning System - (Sec. 101) Amends the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007 to authorize appropriations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for FY2014-FY2016 for management and administration.
(Sec. 102) - Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2013 - Directs the Administrator of FEMA to modernize and implement the integrated public alert and warning system of the United States to ensure that the President is able, under all conditions, to alert governmental authorities and the civilian population in areas endangered by disasters, including by:
establishing common alerting and warning protocols, standards, terminology, and operating procedures for such system;
including in such system the capability to adapt the distribution and content of communications on the basis of geographic location, risks, or personal user preferences and to alert individuals with disabilities and individuals with access and functional needs;
ensuring that training, tests, and exercises are conducted for such system;
establishing and integrating into the National Incident Management System a comprehensive and periodic training program to instruct and educate federal, state, tribal, and local government officials in the use of the Common Alerting Protocol enabled Emergency Alert System;
conducting nationwide tests of the system at least every three years; and
ensuring that the system is resilient, secure, and can withstand acts of terrorism and other external attacks.
Requires the system to:
incorporate multiple communications technologies,
be designed to incorporate future technologies for communicating directly with the public to provide alerts to the largest portion of the affected population feasible and to improve the ability of remote areas to receive alerts,
promote local and regional partnerships to enhance community preparedness and response,
provide redundant alert mechanisms, and
protect individual privacy.
Directs the Administrator to submit to specified congressional committees a detailed plan to implement the system, including a time line, a spending plan, and recommendations for any additional authority necessary.
The summary continues for 19 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House amended, Part I" stage on January 2, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on January 2, 2015: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 563.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Bill Shuster (R-PA) introduced it on October 22, 2013, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on October 22, 2013, 4706 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4269 days ago, on January 2, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers