They have separate public safety bills, but Senate Commerce Committee...
They have separate public safety bills, but Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said they want to work together. Late Thursday, Lieberman and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., re-introduced a bill (S-1040)…
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to give the 700 MHz D-block to public safety. A Lieberman spokeswoman said he wants to work with Rockefeller, working on a bill (S-911) to do the same. Rockefeller and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, are in tentative agreement on draft comprehensive spectrum legislation, and they plan to mark it up the week of June 6 (CD May 20 p11). Rockefeller said he’s “glad that Senators Lieberman and McCain share my sense of urgency, and I look forward to working with them to pass a public safety communications bill this Congress.” The Lieberman/McCain bill would require the FCC to make rules on interoperability and roaming, and coordinate with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop equipment standards. The bill would provide up to $5.5 billion for construction and another $5.5 billion for maintenance of the public safety network. The funding would come from commercial auction of 15 MHz between 1675 and 1710 MHz; the AWS-2 H Block and J-Block; the AWS-3 band; and the 1755-1850 MHz band. Any leftover revenue would go toward reducing the national deficit. The bill also extends the commission’s auction authority until 2020. Unlike the Rockefeller bill, it doesn’t authorize voluntary incentive auctions. S-1040 was referred to the Commerce Committee. The Senate Commerce Committee plans to circulate the latest draft of the Rockefeller-Hutchison’s bill a week before the markup, a GOP committee aide said. The changes are “not large in quantity,” but “are significant in policy terms,” the aide said, declining to elaborate. The committee scheduled a markup for June 8, but an agenda hasn’t been announced, the aide said.