[EAS] 'improving' EAS

[Bill Ruck]

I have said this before.  My good friend, retired from the FCC, and now 
VP Engineering and General Counsel at CSI Telecommunications, Inc., 
Philip M. Kane, PE and Esq, has told me many times that the 
Communications Act of 1934 FORBIDS censorship.  This applies both ways: 
forbidding something and mandating something.  The president signs a 
"finding" every year giving him the authority to mandate federal EBS / 
EAS, probably dating back to CONELRAD.

That is why state and local EBS / EAS must be _voluntary_.

If somebody really had the time and money to take this all the way to 
the Supreme Court Mr. Kane tells me that it is likely that the 
presidential finding could be declared to be violating the 
Communications Act of 1934.

But the FCC does have regulatory authority and thus can require any 
amount of paperwork of any licensee.  So mandating reporting of an 
optional activity may be within their authority.  That can only make 
sense to Beltway mentality.  Being on the Far Left Coast I have a 
different conclusion.

Then there is the entire "unfunded mandate" of EAS at the state and 
local level.  The activity of these committees ranges from excellent to 
"huh?".

Been there, done that, the t-shirt wore out a long time ago.

Bill Ruck
Curmudgeon
San Francisco