Fraternal Order of Police Criticizes House's Draft FirstNet Bill Ahead of Hearing

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) opposed the current draft FirstNet bill Tuesday, raising fresh questions about the proposal’s prospects. The measure proposes requiring that NTIA approve “any action” the network takes, apart from to-be-identified exceptions. It would also create an associate NTIA administrator to “manage [FirstNet] staff and operations” and require FirstNet to submit to requesting lawmakers “any contract” between the authority and its contractors.

FOP “supports robust accountability and transparency” for FirstNet, but “elements of the draft could foster unnecessary administrative hurdles that slow down FirstNet's functionality,” said Patrick Yoes, the group's national president, in a letter to House Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J. He urged lawmakers to “consider a clean reauthorization that eliminates the expiration clause and confines adjustments to those proven to fortify FirstNet's safety-oriented purpose.”

“FirstNet already faces rigorous scrutiny [via its] Board, the Commerce Department's Inspector General, the [Government Accountability Office], Congress, NTIA, and the FCC,” Yoes said. “Introducing other redundancies would shift focus from technological advancements and upgrades to mere regulatory adherence, yielding no direct gains for public or officer safety.” Some draft provisions “seem to broaden compatibility rules in manners that might compromise specialized systems and reduce priority for responders in critical moments,” he told Guthrie and Pallone. "Integrating FirstNet into larger bureaucratic structures could revive old weaknesses, marginalize frontline input, and delay vital choices." Other provisions “appear to expand interoperability mandates in ways that could erode dedicated infrastructure and dilute priority access for first responders during emergencies,” Yoes added.

House Commerce Republicans were already pushing back against criticisms of the FirstNet draft before the FOP letter. Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida told us she’s surprised that some public safety stakeholders are believing “the rumor mill nonsense” that former FirstNet Board Chairs Richard Carrizzo and Sue Swenson raised about the draft last week, prior to its release (see 2601210069). Cammack said it's “pretty shocking” that those organizations believe Carrizzo and Swenson, whom the lawmaker described as Biden administration appointees to FirstNet, given that those groups are “typically pretty conservative.”

Carrizzo didn’t respond to an interview request. He was FirstNet chairman 2023-24 during the Biden administration, but he first joined the authority’s board during President Donald Trump’s first term (see 1810310042). Swenson was part of FirstNet’s original board in 2012 during the Obama administration and became chairwoman two years later (see 1405290054). She left the board in 2018.

Criticisms 'Not True'

Cammack said she and other House Commerce members are meeting with public safety groups to emphasize that “what they’ve been told” about the FirstNet draft “is not true at all” and to try to rebut criticisms of her Public Safety Communications Act (HR-1519). That bill would codify NTIA’s Office of Public Safety Communications to administer proposed next-generation 911 funding and provide FirstNet oversight (see 2601150048). FOP and the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association opposed HR-1519, saying they believe it would undermine the FirstNet board’s authority (see 2512160073). Cammack countered that neither measure would “give additional authorities to NTIA,” arguing that they just clarify “one point in reducing red tape for” FirstNet.

House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., noted that she’s still “really examining” the draft FirstNet bill and that she's heard concerns from some public safety stakeholders. However, “I think you need some more oversight” of FirstNet than what’s currently in place, Matsui told us. “Things haven’t gone” as intended, but “I just want to balance it all out.”

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., hadn’t seen the House FirstNet draft before the subpanel’s renewal hearing last week, but he told us that the discussion there showed “there’s no decision-maker. No one’s held accountable” enough under the status quo.

Michael Dame, NTIA's associate administrator for the Office of Public Safety Communications, and FirstNet acting board Chair Michael Adkinson both endorse elements of the draft bill in written testimony ahead of Wednesday's hearing. “I have witnessed how [FirstNet’s] independence has been a source of confusion and misunderstanding,” Dame says. Recent reviews from the Commerce Department inspector general -- “and my own experience -- illustrate how FirstNet’s unclear lines of authority blur responsibility and create friction between leadership, the Board, and NTIA. Legislation should reform the structure of the FirstNet Authority by making it an NTIA line office.”

“I have observed that the roles and responsibilities of NTIA, the Board, and the Authority are not well defined in the statute,” Adkinson says. “Bluntly, when everyone is responsible no one is accountable. Reauthorization provides Congress with a clear opportunity to address these challenges directly by clarifying statutory roles, responsibilities, and the chain of command among NTIA, the Board, and the Authority.”