My local government still lets you sign up for email notifications about services and local alerts. It’s great!
Too expensive, bad idea.
What do you mean? They'll just pass a law saying carriers have to deliver them for free
SMS are virtually free for every carrier. The prices for the customers exist to partially offset the fixed costs of the infrastructure (which already exists).
Here unlimited free SMS for customers has been the norm for most plans.
This is how you get the Andy Burnham "don't use disposable BBQs" announcement sent via the emergency system.