Congressman Nick Langworthy has helped reintroduce a bipartisan bill that would request the U.S. Comptroller General to conduct a study on the effectiveness of local alert systems during severe weather events. The bipartisan Weather Alert Response and Notification (WARN) Act was developed following the problems that arose during a major winter storm that hammered Western New York in December 2022. The study would evaluate the efficacy of current alert systems and investigate new platforms for weather alerts that account for advances in technology. It would also evaluate the effectiveness of disseminating unique, life-saving alerts during severe weather, including travel bans and area-specific power outages.
Langworthy says, "In times of emergency, one of the best things we can do to save lives and mitigate damage is to ensure there is an accurate and reliable public notification system. As we saw with Winter Storm Elliott and countless extreme weather events across the nation, effective warning systems are a matter of life and death. This legislation is the first step to replacing inconsistent, fragmented, and arbitrary systems into a streamlined process for an accurate and consistent nationwide emergency alert system. We came extremely close to having this bill become law in the last year, and I'm confident we will be able to get it across the finish line in this new Congress."
The WARN Act was originally introduced by Langworthy in the previous Congress, where it garnered strong bipartisan support and passed unanimously through the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and on the House floor. The measure is co-sponsored by Kansas Democrat Sharice Davids and 17 other House member.
