Rothman, King Unveil D-Block Reallocation Bill with Money for Narrowband

Rothman “shares my commitment to solve the communications problems facing our first responders,” said King, who co-sponsored the bill. “I will continue to lead the charge in the House for reallocation of the D Block to public safety for the development of a national interoperable public safety wireless broadband network.” King said he will “continue to advocate for House consideration” of his own HR-607, “a comprehensive bill that addresses reallocation of the D Block as well as funding for the construction of a public safety network."

Rothman hopes Congress can quickly find agreement on public safety communications issues, he told us Tuesday. “It is incumbent on each of the committees of jurisdiction to work together and to solve this problem without delay or bureaucratic hassle,” Rothman said. He expressed openness to having the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction take up the issue. “Whatever vehicle we can hitch a ride on that will get us where we need to go the fastest and in the most comprehensive way, I'm willing to jump on board."

Rothman was alerted to the narrowband mandate issue in meetings with local government and public safety officials in his district, he said. “The prospect of each of the 37 communities I represent having to find anywhere from $300,000 to $600,000 for new radios in a time of extreme budgetary difficulties was to me a real crisis, especially since failure to come up with this money would result in the inability of our first responders to communicate with one another at all.” So Rothman said he reached out to King to “collectively come up with a solution to this problem.” King contributed the D-block reallocation and funding pieces to the bill, Rothman said.

Lawmakers are increasingly eyeing spectrum auctions as a way to reduce the deficit (CD Sept 19 p4). Auctions appeared in President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act and are expected to be considered by the Joint Select Committee as it seeks $1.5 trillion in savings over 10 years. Unlike the Jobs Act, the Senate Commerce Committee’s Spectrum Act (S-911) and House Commerce Committee draft legislation, the Rothman bill doesn’t authorize the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions. But the Rothman bill would extend the FCC’s auction authority to October 2020 from October 2012, a common “pay for” in spectrum bills, and it authorizes several other spectrum auctions.

Some observers doubt the Rothman bill’s chances as a stand-alone measure. House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., want to auction the D-block to the private sector, so the new Rothman/King bill “probably isn’t going anywhere,” said MF Global analyst Paul Gallant. “But the bill also may be intended to influence” the super committee to reallocate the D-block “and perhaps include more money for public safety,” he said. Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeff Silva said the D-block “might well become a political hot potato” in the super committee’s deliberations, “as lawmakers attempt to balance post-9/11 public-safety communications requirements and pressing deficit reduction pressures."

The Rothman bill directs the FCC to reallocate the D-block to the “public safety broadband licensee,” as defined by the FCC in its order dated July 31, 2007, and selected in an order dated Nov. 19, 2007. Those orders set up the Public Safety Spectrum Trust. Under Rothman’s bill, the licensee would have a board of directors including designees from 40 groups representing public safety and governments.

To pay for the network, the bill would direct the FCC to develop auction rules pairing 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz spectrum, frequencies between 1780-1800 MHz and 2180-2200 MHz, and frequencies between 1915-1920 MHz and 2020-2025 MHz. The first $5.5 billion in proceeds would go to a construction fund. Excess or leftover money would be transferred to an operation and maintenance fund. Any remaining money would go to the U.S. Treasury. The bill restricts the FCC from limiting participation in spectrum auctions based on entities’ size or how much spectrum they already have.

The FCC is directed to establish rules for authorizing public safety service providers to construct and operate the network. The FCC would have to require that the network be “fully interoperable” with all other public safety broadband systems and provide for roaming by local, state, tribal and federal governments, and that priority access goes to public safety. The network should “be built to survive most large-scale disasters” and “have the appropriate level of cyber security,” the bill said. The bill would direct the FCC to “ensure that authorized users have control over all local network uses” and to require that the network is consistent with state interoperable communications plans and the Homeland Security Department’s national emergency communications plan.

The bill would order an FCC rulemaking to authorize shared use of the public safety network with commercial entities while maintaining priority access for public safety and other government entities. The FCC would also have to make rules allowing use of the spectrum by emergency response providers under the bill. And the bill directs the FCC -- in consultation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Homeland Security Department and other federal and state agencies -- to develop a “public safety agency statement of requirements” enabling nationwide interoperability and roaming. The bill would direct DHS, coordinating with NIST, to establish standards for meeting the public safety agency statement requirements.

The bill would allow states and local municipalities to apply for grants to help meet the FCC’s narrowband mandate under which first responders must upgrade their equipment by Jan. 1, 2013. But the mandate lacks funding, Rothman said in a statement. “This unfunded federal mandate will force already overburdened local taxpayers to finance these essential upgrades for our local First Responders,” he said. “Without adequate funding, many of these local First Responders will be left with radio and communications equipment that will be unable to operate during an emergency.”