Lulu’s Law

The law requires the Federal Communications Commission to issue an order, within 180 days of enactment, providing that a shark attack is an event for which a wireless emergency "Alert Message" may be transmitted. It relies on the existing wireless emergency alert system, under which authorized government authorities can already send alerts about public safety emergencies such as severe weather or missing children, and simply adds shark attacks to the list of qualifying events.

The law does not itself send any alerts, build new infrastructure, or require any specific authority to issue a shark-attack alert; it only directs the Commission to make the alert type available for use by state and local authorities that choose to use it.

The Federal Communications Commission, which must issue the implementing order; state and local public safety authorities and lifeguard agencies that could then choose to send shark-attack alerts; and beachgoers and coastal residents with mobile phones who could receive such alerts.

Beachgoers in areas with shark activity could receive faster, phone-based warnings similar to Amber Alerts or severe weather alerts, potentially improving public safety response times. Local authorities gain a new tool but are not required to use it, so the practical effect depends on whether agencies choose to issue shark-attack alerts.

The Federal Communications Commission must issue a formal order within 180 days of enactment adding shark attacks to the list of events eligible for wireless emergency alerts, using the existing "Alert Message" definition in its regulations. Once issued, the order would let authorized federal, state, or local authorities voluntarily use the existing wireless emergency alert system to notify mobile phones in a targeted area of a shark attack, the same mechanism already used for weather and missing-child alerts, without creating new equipment, agencies, or funding streams.