6 U.S.C. § 195d — Social media working group

(a) Establishment: The Secretary must set up a social media working group inside the Department (called "the Group"). (b) Purpose: The Group's job is to help the Department share information better through social media, and to guide the emergency preparedness and response community on using social media before, during, and after a natural disaster, an act of terrorism, or another man-made disaster. (c) Membership: (1) The Group is made up of experts from federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and outside organizations. It must include representatives from ten named offices and groups, including the Department's Office of Public Affairs, its Chief Information Officer, its Privacy Office, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA's Office of Disability Integration and Coordination, the American Red Cross, the Forest Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2) The Secretary (or someone the Secretary picks) chairs the Group. The chairperson picks a state or local government member of the Group to serve as co-chairperson, on a rotating basis. (3) The chairperson also appoints extra members on a rotating basis. There must be at least as many extra members as the regular members named above. These extra members must include at least 3 people from the private sector, plus representatives from state, local, tribal, and territorial entities (such as law enforcement, fire services, emergency management, and public health), from universities and academia, and from nonprofit disaster relief organizations. (4) The chairperson sets term limits for these extra appointed members. (d) Consultation with non-members: Where practical, the Group works with outside public and private sector groups to carry out its purpose. (e) Meetings: (1) The Group must hold its first meeting within 90 days after November 5, 2015. (2) After that, the Group meets whenever the chairperson calls a meeting, but no less than twice a year. (3) Meetings can be held virtually. (f) Reports: In any year the Group meets, it must report to Congress on: (1) current and new social media technologies used in disaster preparedness and response; (2) best practices and lessons learned from using social media during disasters that occurred in the reporting period; (3) recommendations to improve the Department's own use of social media; (4) recommendations to help the public know what information is shared through social media, and how to find it, during a disaster; (5) available training for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial officials on using social media in disaster response; and (6) coordination with the private sector on legal, operational, technical, privacy, and security issues. (g) Duration of group: (1) The Group ends 5 years after November 5, 2015, unless the chairperson renews it for another 5-year period by certifying to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Homeland Security that the Group is still needed to fulfill its purpose. (2) The chairperson can keep renewing the Group for more 5-year periods the same way.