A bipartisan bill to expand federal weather radio alerts will get a vote this week in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
Chair Brian Babin (R-Texas) introduced H.R. 7813, the “NOAA Weather Radio Modernization Act,” earlier this month alongside cosponsors from both parties. It would direct NOAA to expand its Weather Radio network to provide emergency alerts to more of the country. It would also modernize radio transmitters.
NOAA’s Weather Radio is a 24-hour federal warning system meant to provide weather alerts nationwide, particularly in areas without mobile phone service.
But in a news release earlier this month, the bill sponsors said “much of the system’s infrastructure is aging or underpowered, and public awareness of the service remains limited.”
