BILL NUMBER: AJR 9	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  41
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JUNE 27, 2011
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  JUNE 23, 2011
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 19, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Cook and Ma

                        MARCH 14, 2011

   Relative to a public alert and warning system.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 9, Cook. Public alert and warning system.
   This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to
expedite a solution to provide a public alert and warning system to
alert and warn the American people in situations of war, terrorist
attack, natural disaster, or other hazards to the public safety,
health, and well-being of the American people.



   WHEREAS, It is in the public interest for the Congress of the
United States to enact legislation to establish and implement an
effective, reliable, integrated, flexible, and comprehensive system
that will alert and warn the American people in situations of war,
terrorist attack, natural disaster, or other hazards to public
health, safety, and well-being, taking into account the functions,
capabilities, and needs of all people, the private sector, and
governments, to ensure that universal communication is at all times
and in all places available to warn the American people of impending
danger; and
   WHEREAS, It is in the public interest for Congress to investigate
and conduct hearings to inventory, evaluate, and assess capabilities
of federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local public alert and
warning resources in order to develop an integrated public alert and
warning system; and
   WHEREAS, Alerting and warning protocols, standards, terminology,
and operating procedures of the public alert and warning system
should be designed without the need for maintaining a database of
personal information so that the privacy of all Americans is
protected; and
   WHEREAS, An integrated public alert and warning system should be
designed to deliver secure and coordinated messages to the American
people through as many communication pathways as practical, and
should be developed using the latest technology so warnings and
timely alerts may be delivered to the entire population when surface
infrastructure does not exist or has been compromised; and
   WHEREAS, The public alert and warning system should be designed so
that the distribution and content of communications may be adapted
based on location, risk, or user preference; and
   WHEREAS, The public alert and warning system should have the
capacity to alert and warn all Americans, including people who have
disabilities, who do not speak English, or who are in remote areas of
the country; and
   WHEREAS, Cooperation with owners and operators of communication
facilities is necessary to maintain, protect, and restore
communications facilities and capabilities of the public alert and
warning system; and
   WHEREAS, Direct access to training, annual tests, and exercises
for the public alert and warning system should be established and
provided to appropriate federal, state, local, tribal, and
territorial entities; and
   WHEREAS, It is in the public interest to establish public
education efforts so that federal, state, territorial, tribal, and
local governments, the private sector, and the American people know
how to access, use, and respond to information delivered through the
public alert and warning system; and
   WHEREAS, Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial
governments, and media communication organizations should be required
to consult and coordinate with the private sector, including
emergency response providers and users, for the implementation of a
state-of-the-art public alert and warning system; now, therefore, be
it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the Congress of the
United States to expedite a solution to provide a public alert and
warning system to alert and warn the American people in situations of
war, terrorist attack, natural disaster, or other hazards to the
health, safety, and well-being of the American people; and be it
further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority
Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority
Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, and to each
Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the
United States.