Ahead of El Niño & Extreme Storms, Rep. Mullin Introduces Bill to Strengthen Emergency Alerts

October 30 2026 Ahead of El Niño & Extreme Storms, Rep. Mullin Introduces Bill to Strengthen Emergency Alerts Home / Media / Uncategorized Redwood City, CA – As the U.S. prepares for a historic “Super” El Niño with flood risks in California prompting state and local officials to declare a state of emergency ahead of the winter storms, Rep. Kevin Mullin (CA-15) introduced federal legislation to improve the nation’s emergency alert system that communities rely on during a crisis. At a press conference in San Mateo County where scientists, emergency responders and local leaders gathered to discuss risks from the looming storms, Rep. Mullin announced the Reliable Emergency Alert Delivery Integrity (READI) Act . The federal bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to improve the performance of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system, which is a critical public safety tool that allows authorities to send geographically-targeted alerts to cellphones. Recent disasters have exposed serious flaws in the WEA system, including during the Los Angeles wildfires when an evacuation warning intended for just a few specific neighborhoods, inadvertently went to 10 million residents, causing massive traffic jams, delaying first responders. In other cases, alerts have gone to too few people or weren’t received until hours later. These types of failures erode public trust, and more than 1 in 6 Americans has turned off at least one type of emergency alert. The FCC doesn’t systematically track how quickly alerts arrive, whether they reach everyone in the target area, or how many people outside the area receive them. Alerts are often only sent in English, and millions of people with limited English proficiency may struggle to understand critical warnings, putting them at greater risk of death, injury, or property loss during extreme weather events. “Forecasters are projecting a historic El Niño that could trigger severe weather and create extreme flooding risks in the Bay Area, and we need to be actively preparing for all possible scenarios,” said Rep. Mullin. “In California, we know all too well that seconds count during a crisis, and emergency alerts can truly make the difference between life and death. I’m introducing the READI Act because the federal government needs to improve the Wireless Emergency Alert system so that communities can trust they’ll receive timely and accurate information when they need it most.” Specifically, the bill would direct the FCC to: Establish performance metrics and goals for WEA, including around speed, coverage, and geographic targeting; Assess enhanced capabilities such as more precise geotargeting, longer alert messages, multilingual alerts, and device compatibility; Study the use of advanced translation technologies for multilingual alerts; and Require wireless providers to better label emergency alerts and warn users before they opt out of them. The full bill text is available here . In addition to the READI Act, Rep. Mullin has authored other bills to improve emergency response and help communities face the increasing risks of extreme weather events. The Resilient Emergency Alert Communications and Training (REACT) Act seeks to authorize millions of dollars and federal support for local emergency officials to improve their emergency alert and warning systems through increased training and testing. Rep. Mullin also previously introduced the Federal Flood Risk Management Act , the Groundwater Rise and Infrastructure Preparedness Act , and the Earthquake Resilience Act . ###