A missing report and order in the Federal Register is the final step in finalizing a unanimously approved change to wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) sent to mobile devices, requiring translation into 13 spoken languages and American Sign Language.

Multilingual WEAs are intended to help people with limited English proficiency (LEP) access information on time-sensitive, potentially life-threatening weather events and natural disasters, including fires, flash floods, and earthquakes.

But the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has yet to publish that report and order, meaning the requirement does not yet apply to participating wireless providers.

Now, as NPR reported in mid-June 2025, some nonprofits and members of Congress suggest that the delay stems from a January 20, 2025, Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump.

The Executive Order, “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” requires a designated Trump administration official to approve a given rule before departments and agencies send reports to the Office of the Federal Register. 

While the Executive Order does include a provision that “[t]he Director or Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (the “OMB Director”) may exempt any rule that he deems necessary to address emergency situations,” it is unclear whether this provision would be, or has been, applied to the emergency weather conditions that necessitate WEAs.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told NPR that the Executive Order could have caused the delay, but also pointed out that “the commission has adopted other rules and orders that have been published in the Federal Register since Trump took office.”

The FCC’s delay marks a shift from its prior momentum, having published a news release on January 8, 2025, announcing that the agency had adopted the requirement for participating wireless providers. Interestingly, the news release refers to “the publication of today’s Order in the Federal Register,” but no such record seems to exist.

The publication of the report and order would trigger a 30-month window for participating wireless providers to incorporate multilingual templates for WEAs. Conversely, without a published report and order, such changes would be voluntary, if providers choose to pursue them at all.

Urgent Messages a Long Time Coming

WEAs have their roots in the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act, established by Congress in 2006 to give the FCC the ability to enable mobile providers to send out emergency alerts on behalf of federal, state, and local governments. 

By the time the FCC proposed expanding language access for WEAs in June 2023, 76 wireless providers (of 450 total) participated in the voluntary program, with WEAs available in English and Spanish.

The June 2023 proposal would require providers to make sure subscribers’ devices can translate English-language alerts into their preferred languages, and encouraged providers to take advantage of “machine translation technologies.” The FCC estimated that this would cost participating providers at least USD 39.9m.

According to an October 2023 press release, the FCC adopted rules requiring providers to “support messages in the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the US as well as English and American Sign Language.” At that point, the FCC requested comment on the details of its plan.

In a December 15, 2023, final rule, the FCC clarified that the requirements would go into effect “within 30 months after the [Public Safety and Homeland Security] Bureau publishes its Order in the Federal Register.”

Since then, the next action item on the WEA timeline has remained “to be determined,” without a date listed.

A related proposal was also pitched and pushed through by the FCC in early 2024, to create template alert scripts for television and radio in the 13 most commonly-spoken non-English languages in the US. Like the multilingual WEAs, this requirement — estimated to cost broadcasters approximately USD 12m — does not currently apply.