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Legislative Victory! Congress Passes Legislation to Create Nationwide Broadband Network

Published Date: 02.17.2012

Bill also extends ‘add-ons’ for medical transport reimbursement through Medicare

On Friday, February 17, the House and Senate passed legislation (H.R. 3630) allocating 10 MHz of radio spectrum in the 700 MHz band (commonly referred to as the “D-Block”) to public safety for the purpose of building a nationwide broadband communications network. Specifically, the bill creates a First Responder Network Authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and provides seven billion dollars along with a license to use the D-Block and adjacent public safety spectrum to build the network. It also provides funding for public safety research and development activities including deployment of Next Generation 9-1-1 services, which will complement the capabilities of the new broadband public safety communications network.

“This is a tremendous victory for the volunteer emergency services and public safety in general,” said National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg. “I’d like to thank Congress for passing this important legislation and especially Senators John Rockefeller, IV (D-WV) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) as well as Representatives Fred Upton (R-MI), Greg Walden (R-OR), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) for their support. I’d like to thank President Obama and Vice President Biden for their support as well. Finally, I’d like to thank our members and all of the other public safety organizations who really worked hard to build support for this bill and push it over the finish line.”

The creation of a nationwide broadband public safety communications network has been a top legislative priority for the NVFC since 2010. Last August, the NVFC issued an Action Alert calling on our members to contact their U.S. Senators to ask them to support S. 911, the Strengthening Public-safety and Enhancing Communications Through Reform, Utilization, and Modernization (SPECTRUM) Act, legislation introduced by Senators Rockefeller and Hutchison that was similar to what was eventually adopted as part of H.R. 3630.

The House of Representatives originally passed H.R. 3630 in December but the NVFC objected to language in that version of the bill that would have required public safety to give back radio spectrum in the 700 MHz band that was already being used by emergency responders in exchange for the D-Block. The compromise struck by the House and Senate authorizes the auction of radio spectrum between 470 and 512 MHz, with a transition date set eleven years after enactment and public safety relocation costs reimbursed by auction proceeds.

Having passed the House and Senate, H.R. 3630 now goes to President Obama who is expected to sign it into law. Obama included funding for the nationwide public safety broadband communications network in his budget requests for FY 2012 and FY 2013 as well as in the jobs bill proposal that he sent to Congress last September. In June last year, the Chairman of the NVFC’s Radio/Wireless Committee, Scott Potter, represented the Council at a White House briefing on The Benefits of Transitioning to a Nationwide Wireless Broadband Network for Public Safety.

“I am thrilled that it looks like the broadband public safety network is going to become a reality,” said Potter. “The potential for upgrading voice communication capabilities is substantial but the implications for being able to transmit videos and data to and from the scenes of emergencies are equally noteworthy. Ideally, once this network is built, a vast array of applications will become readily and affordably available to emergency responders in even the most remote, rural parts of the country. Building the network and ensuring that it is accessible to public safety agencies throughout the country in all different types of communities is the next step in this process.”

Also included in H.R. 3630 was language extending reimbursement rate increases for various medical services, including ambulance transport, through Medicare. A 2007 Government Accountability Office report found that the reimbursement rate paid by Medicare falls short of the actual cost of providing service and that this shortfall is most pronounced in areas with low population density. Under the bill, these “add-ons” are extended through the end of 2012 at rates of two percent for urban, three percent for rural, and 22.6 percent for super rural ground ambulance transport.

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