Date: 2015-07-27
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2206. the State Wide Interoperable Communications Enhancement Act. which would establish a grant program to preserve and strengthen interoperable emergency communications capabilities for local and state first responders. The bill requires a state to include in its application for State Homeland Security Grant Program funding a certification: That the governor of the state has designated a Statewide Interoperability Coordinator. or Indicating that the state is performing the functions of such a Coordinator in another manner and identifying the primary point of contact for performance of such functions. The bill would establish the role of State Interoperability Coordinator as: Overseeing the daily operations of the states interoperability efforts. Coordinating state interoperability and communications projects and grant applications for such projects. Establishing and maintaining working groups to develop and implement key interoperability initiatives. and Implementing and updating a Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan that specifies the current status of state efforts to enhance communications interoperability within the state. including future goals for communications interoperability among emergency response agencies in the state. The bill would formalize the role of the State Wide Interoperability Coordinator to ensure that there was a single point of contact in each state. The bill will assist in establishing a single point of contact for Statewide interoperability for state and local first responders. Second. the legislation is necessary to create a seamless level of communication between the Department of Homeland Security and states to ensure that communications regarding terrorist attacks. natural or manmade disasters are managed appropriately. As a senior member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. I am well aware. as are many of my colleagues. of the essential and lifesaving role of communications during a crisis. Because the tragedy of September 11. 2001. was compounded by communication failures among the brave first responders who entered the burning towers that comprised the World Trade Center it has been an imperative of the Homeland Security Committee to address first responder communication interoperability challenges. The number of first responders lost on that single day was the greatest loss of first responders at any single event in U.S. History: 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters. 23 New York City Police Department Officers. 37 Port Authority Police Department officers. 15 EMTs and 3 court officers were casualties of the attacks. The need for this bill authored by Congressman PAYNE is evident. The City of Houston covers over a 1.000 square mile region in Southeast Texas. It has a nighttime population of nearly two million people. which peaks with over three million daytime inhabitants. The city of Houstons 911 Emergency Center manages nearly 9.000 emergency calls per day. The volume of emergency calls can easily double during times of inclement weather or special City social/sporting events like Hurricanes Ike in September 2008. and Katrina as well as Rita. which occurred in September and October of 2005. Annually. one out of every ten citizens uses EMS. There are over 200.000 EMS incidents involving over 225.000 patients or potential patients annually. On the average. EMS responds to a citizen every 3 minutes. Each EMS response is made by one of 88 City of Houston EMS vehicles. In 2013. the City of Houstons fire Department lost Captain EMT Matthew Renaud. Engineer Operator EMT Robert Bebee. Firefighter EMT Robert Garner and Probationary Firefighter Anne Sullivan when they responded to a hotel fire. Each member of the House of Representatives knows of the loss of a first responder who was going to the aid of those in harms way.This bill will offer additional resources to the first responders of the Department of Homeland Security. This bill will ensure that a critical communication element for our nations first responders and the role of the Department of Homeland Security in providing them with support is addressed. I ask my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of H.R. 2206.