Groups Issue Spectrum Call-To-Action

As the year-end holidays approach and the nation slows down to celebrate, public safety groups remain in high gear, warning of Congressional legislation affecting spectrum allocations. Today the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) asked its members to write members of Congress to express opposition to provisions of H.R. 3630, a bill passed by the house yesterday that includes a section for public safety to give back a previous allocation of spectrum in the 700 MHz band used for in-field data transmission. The group also expressed its support for the provisions in that same bill that allocate spectrum for a nationwide, public safety wireless network, which has long been sought by public safety agencies. The previous day the Public Safety Alliance (PSA) issued a press release with similar sentiments, saying the bill “takes two steps forward,” but then “takes three steps back” with its two spectrum provisions. Read the groups’ statements after the break.

Download (pdf) two letters that the Public Safety Alliance (PSA) sent to Congressional leaders about the legislation.

The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) issued this call-to-action on Dec. 15th:

URGENT: CALL-TO-ACTION

APCO NEEDS YOUR HELP ONCE AGAIN THIS WEEK!

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR TWO UNITED STATES SENATORS TODAY

URGE YOUR SENATORS TO SUPPORT
“S. 911: ALLOCATION OF D BLOCK SPECTRUM, SUFFICIENT FUNDING & PROPER GOVERNANCE TO PUBLIC SAFETY FOR A NATIONWIDE BROADBAND NETWORK”

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, (APCO) International and the Public Safety Alliance urge you contact your two US Senators to ask them to support S. 911 (the Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act of 2011), a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators John “Jay” Rockefeller, IV (D-WV) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) that allocates the D Block of spectrum directly to public safety, provides sufficient funding, and establishes an effective governance structure to construct and oversee a nationwide public safety wireless broadband network.

TELL YOUR SENATORS THAT PUBLIC SAFETY OPPOSES
provisions passed as part of House bill, H.R. 3630, Title IV, including:

A mandated give-back of 14 MHz of critical public safety narrowband 700 MHz spectrum and guard band in Section 4102, and;

A disproven, unworkable, and unaccountable “Administrator” governance model.

Contact your Senators today and tell them you support the language in S. 911. Click below to visit the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Legislative Action Center to quickly and easily send a message to your Senators. Included in the Legislative Action Center is a sample letter for your use. IACP Legislative Action Center

You can also locate contact information for your Senators on the U.S. Senate website by selecting your state from the drop-down menu in the top right-hand corner of the homepage.

Please take this opportunity to contact your United States Senators and ask them to support public safety and our nation’s first responders by supporting S. 911.

Thank you for your help.
Gregg Riddle
President, APCO International
and the Public Safety Alliance leadership

The Public Safety Alliance (PSA) issued this press release:

Public Safety Alliance Welcomes House D Block Allocation & Funding; Gravely Concerned With Narrowband Giveback & Governance Provisions

WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 14, 1011 – The Public Safety Alliance (PSA) today expressed its appreciation for the full House’s vote of support for D Block spectrum allocation to public safety and funding for the Public Safety Broadband Network, but warned of an ominous storm cloud on the horizon as our nation’s first responders, who put their lives on the line everyday, learn more about the full extent of the other provisions in the bill that gives with one hand and takes away with the other to make H.R. 3630, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011, disastrous for public safety’s goal for nationwide interoperable emergency communications.

“Today is filled with strong and mixed emotions for our nation’s first responders and public safety officials. While we welcome the widespread bipartisan and bicameral support increasingly shown for allocation of D Block spectrum to public safety, and $5 to $6.5 billion or more in funding to finally realize the nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, we are bitterly disappointed that our nation’s first responders concerns over the public safety spectrum giveback provision in H.R. 3630 remain unaddressed. It is our expectation that the negotiations between the House and Senate will ultimately yield a solution that fixes our concerns with the bill,” stated Charles Dowd, PSA spokesperson and Deputy Chief of the New York City Police Department. “We have waited long enough and any further delay is not acceptable. Congress must work together to pass a bill that works for our first responders and works for America.”

“While this House bill takes two steps forward by allocating D Block spectrum and providing some of the funding needed to build out the public safety network,” added Gregory Frederick, immediate past president of the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association and Chief of the Louisville, Kentucky Fire Department, “it takes three steps back by yanking 14 MHz of narrowband spectrum that public safety is currently using for interoperable mission-critical voice communications. The bill also straps public safety and state and local governments with an unproven, unaccountable and unworkable “administrator” governance model, and to top it off it does not provide sufficient funding to assure expedited build out of the public safety broadband network in rural America. As currently written, this bill cannot stand. We urge the Senate to do the right thing for America’s first responders and insert S.911; Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act of 2011 in place of the Walden JOBS Act upon receiving H.R.3630 from the House, and send this bill back to the House with this bipartisan legislation instead for final passage.

Additionally, the PSA urges Congress to allow states and localities maximum flexibility in utilizing enhanced “secondary use” beyond current law, and in developing and entering into private and public partnerships that best meet their specific needs to assure sustainment of their mission-critical public safety broadband systems for the future security of all Americans.

For more information about public safety’s concerns over the House passed H.R. 3630; the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011, go to www.psafirst.org/take-action. For more information on a Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, visit www.psafirst.org.