Swalwell Joins Other Homeland Security Committee Members to Introduce Social Media Bill to Increase Public-Private Collaboration in Disaster Response

HAYWARD, CA -- U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15), Member of the Homeland Security Committee, today announced he is an original cosponsor of H.R. 4263, the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014. He introduced it with Reps. Susan W. Brooks (R-IN-5), Donald Payne (D-NJ-10), and Steven Palazzo (R-MS-4). The bipartisan bill expands both the membership and influence of the Department of Homeland Security's existing Virtual Social Media Working Group. The group would include representatives from the private sector, specifically tech companies, and will be required to file a yearly report with Congress. Rep. Swalwell represents many tech companies in the East Bay.

"Social media has become a very powerful tool in disaster response and can sometimes mean the difference between life and death," said Swalwell. "Emergency response personnel are increasingly relying on tweets and Facebook posts to identify needs and deploy critical life-saving assistance. By furthering collaboration between the government and private sector through the Virtual Social Media Working Group, we can do more to harness the power of social media in disaster relief and recovery."

In 2013, Swalwell served as the top Democrat at a Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on how the government can best integrate social media and new technologies in disaster response. Following Hurricane Sandy, users sent more than 20 million Sandy-related tweets.

H.R. 4263 would add a requirement that members from the working group come from outside of the federal government. This would include representatives from state or local government, non-profit disaster relief organizations, academia and the private sector.