The Federal Communications Commission encourages State Emergency Communications Committees (SECCs) to periodically review and amend state Emergency Alert Systemplans to ensure up-to-date EAS monitoring assignments.
These plans contain the guidelines that must be followed by EAS Participants’ personnel, emergency officials, and National Weather Service personnel to activate the EAS. These guidelines include identification of monitoring assignments to ensure that EAS Participants within each state are able to receive transmitted alerts. The Chief of the Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB or the Bureau) must approve these plans prior to implementation to ensure that they are consistent with national plans, FCC regulations, and EAS operation.
Following the first nationwide EAS test conducted on November 9, 2011, the Commission made suggestions and recommendations in their report, "Strengthening the Emergency Alert System (EAS): Lessons Learned from the Nationwide EAS Test."
These recommendations remind the State Emergency Communications Committees (SECC), and any other entities involved in the drafting of State EAS Plans, that state plans must be kept up to date, filed with the FCC, and should include a data table, in computer readable form, clearly showing monitoring assignments and the specific primary and backup path for emergency action notification (EAN) messages that are formatted in the EAS Protocol, from the Primary Entry Point (PEP) to each station in the plan.The Commission encourages SECCs and other entities involved in the drafting of State EAS Plans to review their plans, ensure that the plans are consistent with the requirements and otherwise compliant with Commission rules, and update the plans and file them with the Bureau as necessary.