WASHINGTON-The Congressional Budget Office has informed House telecom subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) that his 911 federal land antenna-siting bill will not generate the huge windfall projected by the cellular industry and promised early on to public-safety and health-care professionals who support the measure.
“We have a scoring problem,” said Ken Johnson, press secretary for Tauzin, when asked about the timing for subcommittee markup of the bill.
Time, perhaps more than anything, is working against the bill. The House returns to work Tuesday from its Independence Day break, but it will recess again in four weeks for the month of August. That leaves only September for legislative business, with both houses adjourning in early October for midterm election campaigning.
Johnson said Tauzin is working with Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.), chairman of the Commerce Committee, on a date to mark up the 911 antenna-siting bill.
CBO, according to Johnson, said the bill will not raise $1.5 billion in the five-year time frame projected by the cellular industry and the ComCare Alliance.
ComCare, a coalition of health-care and public-safety professionals organized by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and National Strategies Inc., has effectively transformed an industry issue-siting on federal property-into a public-safety crusade.
CBO, Congress’ official number cruncher, declined to comment on the unofficial scoring of the Tauzin legislation. The figure CBO gave Tauzin is said to be $10 million over five years, or about what the General Services Administration-which oversees federal government leasing in urban areas-estimated in congressional testimony.
Indeed, supporters of Tauzin’s bill today appear to be backtracking on the bill’s revenue estimates.
“The scored numbers are not too surprising since GSA had previously given estimates in that range. We’ve never felt that the bill would generate substantial revenue for PSAPs (public safety answering points),” said Bob Gurss, a lawyer who represents the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials.
Gurss said APCO is seeking certain changes in the Tauzin bill, but did not elaborate.
Likewise, David Aylward, executive director of ComCare and president of National Strategies (a lobbying boutique used by CTIA), said in a letter to reporters that “neither ComCare’s members nor the sponsors of this bill believe that the federal money generated by this bill will pay all or most of the costs of getting these technologies in place.”
Aylward said the lion’s share of funding for public-safety enhancements in wireless systems comes from private-sector investment in infrastructure. State grants, explained Aylward, are designed to prod states to do something “they should want to do, without federal incentives.”
The latest funding snag adds to privacy, liability and cancer-research-funding controversies that entangle the bill, which would earmark a portion of federal land antenna-siting fees for 911 capability upgrades and for automatic vehicle crash notification technology research.
In addition, the measure would make 911 the universal emergency telephone number within the country and extend 911 liability protection to wireless carriers in cases where emergency calls fail.
Local landline telcos have protection from 911 lawsuits today, but Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) does not believe wireless carriers should have broad immunity as long as there are coverage gaps in their service areas.
Markey may offer amendments at subcommittee markup to limit wireless 911 liability; to protect privacy of citizens using automatic crash notification systems; and to reserve a small percentage of federal land antenna siting fees for federal cancer research.
Tauzin has signaled he is willing to negotiate with Markey on privacy, but not on cancer-research funding.
The Massachusetts democrat said the federal government, which issues wireless licenses and allows antennas on its property, has a responsibility to inform the nation’s 60 million mobile phone subscribers whether wireless devices pose a health risk.
Research to date is mixed on the issue. Most industry-funded research has not found a link between wireless phones and cancer.
Despite differences between Tauzin and Markey, Rob Cohen, a lobbyist for ComCare, said he remains confident about the bill’s prospects.
“There’s going to be significant bipartisan support for the chairman’s mark,” said Cohen.
Cohen downplayed the CBO’s low score as more of a political problem than a legislative one. He predicted the bill will be marked up in subcommittee in the next 10 days and that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) will introduce a companion bill before the end of the month.
However, Senate Commerce Committee spokeswoman Pia Pialorsi gave no indication that introduction of 911 legislation is impending.
“We are very concerned with this issue and are looking at it closely. But as far as specific legislation, not at this time,” said Pialorsi.
Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), ranking minority member of the panel, is said to disagree with liability provisions of 911 federal land antenna-siting legislation.
