I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5081 

To enhance public safety by making more spectrum available to public safety 

agencies, to facilitate the development of a wireless public safety 

broadband network, to provide standards for the spectrum needs of 

public safety agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 20, 2010 

Mr. KING of New York (for himself, Ms. CLARKE, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, 

Mr. CAO, and Mr. ROGERS of Alabama) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To enhance public safety by making more spectrum available 

to public safety agencies, to facilitate the development 

of a wireless public safety broadband network, to provide 

standards for the spectrum needs of public safety agencies, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband for First 

5 Responders Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The communications capabilities of first re2 sponders and other public safety agencies directly af3 fect the public safety of the people of the United 

4 States and our national security. 

5 (2) As events such as the terrorist attacks of 

6 September 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina re7 vealed, the inability of local, State, tribal, and Fed8 eral first responders to communicate effectively dur9 ing an emergency impairs operations and the ability 

10 to mitigate terrorist acts and natural disasters. 

11 (3) Many public safety communications systems 

12 rely on commercially available systems that lack 

13 broadband capabilities or otherwise fail to provide 

14 the level of service necessary to meet the mission15 critical needs of public safety agencies. 

16 (4) A wireless public safety broadband network 

17 is needed to guarantee priority access for public 

18 safety use and first responder interoperability across 

19 the United States. 

20 (5) Allocating the paired electromagnetic spec21 trum bands of 758–763 megahertz and 788–793 

22 megahertz, referred to as the D Block, to public 

23 safety agencies is the only assured way of meeting 

24 public safety’s needs for sufficient spectrum and 


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1 would help reduce the complexity and future oper2 ating cost of public safety communications systems. 

3 (6) Because the communications needs of public 

4 safety agencies may differ by geographic region (in5 cluding whether they require a dedicated commu6 nications system or can rely on a system shared with 

7 commercial users), each region requires flexibility to 

8 develop a model that meets its needs without sacri9 ficing the interoperability of the system as a whole. 

10 (7) The most timely and cost-effective way to 

11 achieve nationwide interoperability in public safety 

12 communications will be to leverage commercial infra13 structure without compromising the mission-critical 

14 needs of public safety agencies. 

15 (8) The use by public safety agencies of stand16 ardized technologies commonly employed in the com17 mercial telecommunications sector will provide sig18 nificant benefits, including improved capabilities, 

19 greater economies of scale, and more rapid adoption 

20 of technological innovations. 

21 (9) When it is in the interest of public safety, 

22 the Federal Communications Commission should en23 courage any public safety licensee or spectrum lessee 

24 to consider using existing or planned commercial in25 frastructure. 


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1 SEC. 3. ALLOCATION AND ASSIGNMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY 

2 LICENSES. 

3 (a) SPECTRUM ALLOCATION.—Section 337(a) of the 

4 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 337(a)) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘24’’ and in7 serting ‘‘34’’; and 

8 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘36’’ and in9 serting ‘‘26’’. 

10 (b) ASSIGNMENT.—Section 337(b) of such Act (47 

11 U.S.C. 337(b)) is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(b) ASSIGNMENT.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 

14 after the date of enactment of the Broadband for 

15 First Responders Act of 2010, the Commission shall 

16 allocate the paired electromagnetic spectrum bands 

17 of 758–763 megahertz and 788–793 megahertz for 

18 public safety broadband communications and shall 

19 assign such paired bands to public safety. 

20 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF RULES.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

22 establish rules to permit a public safety 

23 broadband licensee to authorize providers of 

24 public safety services to construct and operate 

25 a wireless public safety broadband network in 

26 the spectrum licensed to the public safety 


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1 broadband licensee if the public safety 

2 broadband licensee determines that such au3 thorization would expedite the deployment of 

4 public safety broadband communications. 

5 ‘‘(B) NETWORK REQUIREMENTS.—The 

6 Commission shall require that any such wireless 

7 public safety broadband network shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) be fully interoperable and remain 

9 interoperable with, and in conformance 

10 with the same broadband technology stand11 ards as, all other public safety broadband 

12 systems deployed or authorized; 

13 ‘‘(ii) provide for roaming by local, 

14 State, tribal, and Federal Government and 

15 other authorized users of the spectrum li16 censed to the public safety broadband li17 censee; 

18 ‘‘(iii) provide priority access to public 

19 safety agencies; 

20 ‘‘(iv) be built to survive most large21 scale disasters; and 

22 ‘‘(v) ensure that networks of such sys23 tems have the appropriate level of cyber se24 curity. 


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1 ‘‘(C) DEADLINE.—The Commission shall 

2 establish rules under this paragraph not later 

3 than 180 days after the date of enactment of 

4 the Broadband for First Responders Act of 

5 2010.’’. 

6 (c) NETWORK-SHARING AGREEMENTS.—Section 337 

7 of such Act (47 U.S.C. 337) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub9 section (g); and 

10 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(f) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—The Commission 

13 shall establish regulations to— 

14 ‘‘(1) authorize the shared use of the public safe15 ty broadband spectrum and network infrastructure 

16 by entities that are not defined as public safety serv17 ices in subsection (g)(1), subject to requirements 

18 that public safety services retain priority access to 

19 the spectrum, pursuant to procedures adopted by the 

20 Commission; and 

21 ‘‘(2) allow use of the public safety broadband 

22 spectrum by emergency response providers, as de23 fined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 

24 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101).’’. 


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1 (d) DEFINITION.—Section 337(g) of such Act (as so 

2 redesignated) is amended— 

3 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 

4 paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively; and 

5 (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so re6 designated, the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC SAFETY BROADBAND SPEC8 TRUM.—The term ‘public safety broadband spec9 trum’ means the electromagnetic spectrum between 

10 758 megahertz and 768 megahertz, inclusive, and 

11 788 megahertz and 798 megahertz, inclusive and 

12 any additional electromagnetic frequencies allocated 

13 for public safety use that the Commission shall des14 ignate for public safety broadband use.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. STANDARDS. 

16 (a) INTEROPERABILITY REQUIREMENTS.—Not later 

17 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

18 the Federal Communications Commission, in consultation 

19 with the Director of the National Institute of Standards 

20 and Technology, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 

21 Attorney General, and local, State, tribal, and Federal 

22 public safety agencies, shall develop a public safety agency 

23 statement of requirements that enables nationwide inter24 operability and roaming across any communications sysVerDate Nov 24 2008 16:42 Apr 21, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5081.IH H5081

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1 tem using public safety broadband spectrum, as defined 

2 in section 337(g) of the Communications Act of 1934. 

3 (b) SPECIFICATIONS.—Such requirements shall es4 tablish an appropriate standard, or set of standards, to 

5 ensure nationwide interoperability and roaming, taking 

6 into consideration— 

7 (1) the extent to which particular technologies 

8 and user equipment are, or are likely to be, available 

9 in the commercial marketplace; 

10 (2) the availability of necessary technologies 

11 and equipment on reasonable and non-discriminatory 

12 licensing terms; 

13 (3) the ability to evolve with technological devel14 opments in the commercial marketplace; 

15 (4) the ability to accommodate prioritization for 

16 public safety transmissions; 

17 (5) the ability to accommodate appropriate se18 curity measures for public safety transmissions; and 

19 (6) any other considerations the Federal Com20 munications Commission deems appropriate. 

Æ 


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