The FCC has announced a tentative agenda for the Open Commission Meeting scheduled for 10:30 am on Tuesday, December 14, 2021. At the meeting, the Commission will consider a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to improve the clarity and accessibility of Emergency Alert System (EAS) visual messages, especially for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing or are otherwise unable to access the EAS audio message. In a related draft Notice of Inquiry (NOI), the Commission will seek comment on how the legacy EAS architecture can be modified, augmented, or redesigned to enable alert originators to relay visual text that matches their audio message, and enable more functionality within the system as a whole.
The FCC meeting is online only, and streamed live with open captioning and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at www.fcc.gov/live.
December 14 Open Meeting News Release:
URL: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-announces-tentative-agenda-december-open-meeting-7
Word: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-378140A1.docx
PDF: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-378140A1.pdf
Text: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-378140A1.txt
Public Draft of the EAS NPRM and NOI:
URL: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-announces-tentative-agenda-december-open-meeting-7
PDF: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-378141A1.pdf
Text: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-378141A1.txt
For general information regarding the accessibility of the Emergency Alert System, visit: https://www.fcc.gov/eas-faq-accessibility. For further information, please contact Bill Wallace, Disability Rights Office, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, at (202) 418-2716 or William.Wallace@fcc.gov. Individuals who use videophones and are ASL-fluent may call the FCC’s ASL Consumer Support Line at (844) 432-2275 (videophone).