By InsideRadio – 05/29/25
Multilingual Emergency Alert System messages may still be on the wish list of public advocates, but the Federal Communications Commission voted in October 2023 to enable alert originators to send common alerts in more than a dozen languages without the need for a translator. In January, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released the templates to be used for the most common and time-sensitive alerts, such as hurricane, tornado, and earthquake warnings.
But the templates have yet to be published in the Federal Register, which mean the 30-month compliance clock on mobile service providers has yet to begin ticking. The change of administrations may have been responsible for some of the delay, but a group of House Democrats is pushing the FCC to move forward.
“This delay is not only indefensible but dangerous — it directly jeopardizes the ability of our communities to receive life-saving emergency information in the language they understand best,” the group writes to FCC Chair Brendan Carr. The lawmakers — who include members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the Congressional Black Caucus — say their communities are often the first to suffer the consequences when public safety systems fail to reach everyone effectively. And they are pushing Carr to get the order into the Federal Register as soon as possible.
“Failing to implement this rule means denying millions of Americans access to potentially life-saving emergency alerts — whether for wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, active shooters, or other disasters — in a language that they understand,” the group says.
The issue has sparked the most interest among leaders in California, who say last year’s devastating wildfire season points to the need to have emergency alerts in as many languages as possible. Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA), whose Los Angeles-area district includes many Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese speakers, worries that when communities don’t get accurate information, it can lead to panic and confusion, and put lives in danger. “In emergencies, every second counts — and every word must be understood,” she said.
During a press conference Tuesday, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said the Commission has already gone through a “substantial process” to get this far and agreed there is “no reason” for the delays, agreeing the agency should get moving to make multilingual alerts onto mobile devices through the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system.
“As we see an increase in natural disasters such as wildfires, floods, and hurricanes, expanding access to life-saving information is becoming more and more important,” Gomez said. “We cannot play politics with public safety. It’s time for the FCC to allow this process to move forward so that more people can receive the critical information they need in their chosen language.”
The effort comes after a false evacuation alert that was sent out to residents in Los Angeles County during the January wildfires, which caused widespread chaos when a technical glitch sent a county-wide warning intended for a single neighborhood. Supporters of the multilingual alerts was especially confusing for the 2.5 million residents who are classified as having limited English proficiency.
An FCC rep told KABC-TV that there is currently nothing stopping alert originators from sending multilingual wireless emergency alerts today, should they choose to use the templates that were released in January. “Any suggestion to the contrary is both false and risks misleading alert originators that may want to send them out,” a spokesperson said. It remains unclear whether the FCC has submitted the order for publication in the Federal Register, however.
Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order that aims to increase the efficiency of the Federal Register process. He directed the office to modernize and streamline processes to reduce delays, noting that every notice that the Federal Register receives has already been approved by the originating agency. The White House said there is no reason it should take days, or even weeks, to publish the notices.
What About Multilingual EAS?
As the FCC considers (PS Docket No. 15-94) how to move forward with making the Emergency Alert System similarly multilingual, the National Association of Broadcasters has urged the Commission to reject a proposal to use pre-scripted alerts stored on EAS equipment. NAB thinks during an emergency, they could be more of a hindrance than a help, in addition to putting a new cost burden on broadcasters that would need to make upgrades. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service have also expressed doubts about the idea’s feasibility.
The Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council, which has been advocating for multilingual alerts for the past two decades, is pushing the Commission to instead require the use of live operators. The group says the so-called “designated hitter” approach would mitigate the risk that non-English speakers would be left without critical emergency information.