A House subcommittee approved a bipartisan bill providing $13.4 million...
A House subcommittee approved a bipartisan bill providing $13.4 million annually from 2012 through 2016 to the Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS), the next-generation emergency alert and warning network. HR-3563 was unanimously approved in a voice vote Thursday morning…
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in the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications. The bill will ensure that the IPAWS programs “work reliably, effectively and efficiently to ensure the appropriate use of taxpayer funds,” said Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla. It authorizes $5 million less than the program received in FY2011, and provides the IPAWS program with “needed direction,” Bilirakis said. The subcommittee approved by voice an amendment by Ranking Member Laura Richardson, D-Calif., that would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide more training for senders of alerts. Richardson withdrew another amendment requiring testing of the IPAWS system at least every two years. Bilirakis said he'd work with Richardson on the amendment before the bill moved to a full committee markup.