Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said he soon plans to re-introduce legislation making permanent the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s public-safety interoperability grant program.
NTIA, a unit of the Commerce Department, recently contracted with the Department of Homeland Security to manage the award of $1 billion of grants for interoperable first-responder communications throughout the country.
“I am concerned that the Memorandum of Understanding between DHS and NTIA does not adequately advance innovative ideas,” said Stupak in a statement last week before the House telecom subcommittee. “The administration’s budget compounds my concerns. The budget uses the NTIA funding to offset the administration’s proposed $1 billion cuts to public-safety grants. The administration’s budget is completely contrary to Congress’ intent of new funding and a new approach for communications interoperability. The administration is ignoring Congress’ twin goals: more money and new ideas.”
Stupak previously accused NTIA of abdicating its responsibility to DHS.
NTIA chief John Kneuer told lawmakers repeatedly that ultimate policy decisions on grants remain with his agency, not with DHS.
Stupak nearly succeeded in getting a rider attached to a 2005 budget bill that would have authorized $5.8 billion for grants to improve communications among police, firefighters and medics. DHS has spent $2.9 billion in public-safety interoperability grants to date, but many public-safety agencies lack an interoperability capability whose absence proved fatal for firefighters in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Senate recently voted to earmark another $3.3 billion to help cities and states improve first-responder interoperability, but some lawmakers and public-safety groups believe interoperability must be part of a broader solution in which additional spectrum-specifically in the 700 MHz band-is dedicated for a nationwide broadband public-safety network.
The Federal Communications Commission is considering designating half of public safety’s 24 megahertz of spectrum at 700 MHz for a national broadband first-responder system, but Cyren Call Communications Corp. and first-responder groups insist the proposal is inadequate. They are urging Congress to devote 30 megahertz of spectrum-half of the total at 700 MHz set for auction later this year-for a national network governed by a first-responder trust. The FCC, which rejected the Cyren Call plan because it requires legislation, is considering other options offered by Frontline Wireless L.L.C. and Access Spectrum L.L.C. (broadband optimization plan) that do not require changes in the law. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for his part, backs a bill to give first responders access to more 700 MHz spectrum.
Stupak would fund a permanent public-safety interoperability grant program at NTIA with spectrum auction revenues.
Formula-based approach
Democratic and Republican members of the House telecom panel voiced concerns about whether NTIA’s public-safety grant program would improve interoperability, perpetuate the problem, or be exploited to gold-plate existing first-responder communications gear.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said he worried NTIA will use a formula-based approach rather than a needs assessment to determine the level of federal support for interoperable public-safety communications, reflecting New York lawmakers’ discontent generally with DHS grant-making allocations to date. “We know New York is the biggest target,” Engel said.
Kneuer said public-safety grants would indeed be based on a formula, but assured Engel it would serve only as a starting point for determining grant worthiness.
“After $3 billion and five years, some progress apparently has been made at the local and state level. But I believe not enough progress has been made [on public-safety interoperability]. We need a more forward-looking and innovative approach to a problem that has persisted for too long,” said Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee.
Dingell’s predecessor Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) also said the interoperability problem has lasted far too long and that he would support decisive action by Democratic leaders on the panel to rectify the situation.
