With Hurricane Irma now present in the State of Florida U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is pushing a new law that would prevent communication breakdowns in emergency disasters.
The Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act, or SANDy is named after a hurricane that hit New York City in 2012 preventing many from communicating by phone. Schumer says the new legislation would allow families and loved ones to stay connected when storms hit and allow people to have access to emergency communication.
The SANDy Act would require all cell phone carriers to carry all signals in emergencies even if their own network is down. It would also assign priority calling to 9-1-1 and other emergency communications and start a process to provide 9-1-1 service over wi-fi and hot spots.
