House Communications Sets Vote on NG911 Act; Senate Commerce Eyes FirstNet Hearing
The House Communications Subcommittee set a Thursday markup session on advancing the Next Generation 911 Act (HR-6505) and five other public safety communications bills. HR-6505 would set up federal grants to pay for NG911 technology upgrades but doesn’t include a defined amount of proposed funding. A previous iteration of the measure in the last Congress allocated $15 billion for the tech upgrades (see 2303240067). Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other Republicans have since filed the Supporting U.S. Critical Connectivity and Economic Strategy and Security for BEAD Act (HR-6920/S-3565) to allow states to repurpose non-deployment BEAD funding for NG911 and other purposes. The House Communications meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday.
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Also on the agenda: the Public Safety Communications Act (HR-1519), Lulu’s Law (HR-2076), the Emergency Reporting Act (HR-5200), Kari’s Law Reporting Act (HR-5201) and the Mystic Alerts Act (HR-7022). Lobbyists said they expect House Communications will easily clear all six measures. Witnesses at a House Communications hearing in December praised the bills, although the Fraternal Order of Police and Public Safety Broadband Technology Association have criticized HR-1519. That measure would create an Office of Public Safety Communications within NTIA to administer NG911 funding and communicate policies to public and private entities.
Meanwhile, the Senate Communications Subcommittee is eyeing a Jan. 27 hearing on FirstNet, lobbyists told us. They said they expect the hearing will likely focus on the push to renew the public safety broadband network’s authority before its current February 2027 sunset. House Communications considered the matter as part of a December hearing on public safety communications legislation (see 2512160073). Senate Commerce didn’t immediately comment Tuesday.