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S 725 119th Congress Senate Science, Technology, Communications Congressional oversight Emergency communications systems Emergency planning and evacuation First responders and emergency personnel Government information and archives Government studies and investigations Telephone and wireless communication

Enhancing First Response Act

Introduced: February 25, 2025 Introduced by: Klobuchar, Amy Democratic · Minnesota See on congress.gov
 Everywhere this bill has been 10 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Sep 11, 2025
Held at the desk.
Sep 11, 2025
Received in the House.
Sep 11, 2025
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Sep 10, 2025
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Sep 10, 2025
Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S6555; text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR S6555)
Sep 2, 2025
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 119-59.
Sep 2, 2025
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 146.
Apr 30, 2025
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Feb 25, 2025
Introduced in Senate
Feb 25, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
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 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Enhancing First Response Act

This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to report on certain activations of the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). DIRS is a reporting system that is activated during severe weather and other events impacting communications service and enables communications providers to report outages and other degradations to service.

If the system was activated for at least seven days, the FCC must issue a preliminary report that includes information about the number, duration, and nature of all associated outages. The FCC must also hold at least one public field hearing in the area affected by the event, and it must issue a final report that includes recommendations for improving the resiliency of affected networks or recovery efforts.

Separately, the FCC must publish a general report on (1) the volume and nature of 9-1-1 outages that are not required to be reported under current outage notification rules, and (2) the value to public safety agencies of the inclusion of visual information in outage notifications from communications providers.

The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget, by 30 days after the bill's enactment, to categorize public safety telecommunicators as a protective service occupation under the Standard Occupational Classification System.

Finally, the Office of the Inspector General of the FCC is directed to publish a report on the implementation of Kari’s Law, which requires multiline telephone systems to be preconfigured to allow users to dial 9-1-1 directly from any phone without dialing any additional code or prefix.

What's happening now September 11, 2025

Held at the desk.

 Hearings & markups 1
 Bill text 3 versions

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 20

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

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APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 725: Enhancing First Response Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-725/
MLA
"S. 725: Enhancing First Response Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-725/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 725, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-725/.
Markdown link
[S. 725: Enhancing First Response Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-725/)
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