[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1323 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1323

    To establish a permanent grant program to improve public safety 
  communications and the interoperability of emergency communications 
                               equipment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 15, 2005

 Mr. Stupak (for himself, Mr. Fossella, Mr. Engel, Mrs. McCarthy, Mr. 
    Oberstar, Mr. Towns, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. McNulty, Ms. 
   Berkley, and Mr. Gordon) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To establish a permanent grant program to improve public safety 
  communications and the interoperability of emergency communications 
                               equipment.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Safety Interoperability 
Implementation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the 
        need for interoperable communications for public safety became 
        even more apparent, and critical to address.
            (2) The inability of many firefighters and police to 
        communicate with each other in the World Trade Centers led to 
        some loss of lives that perhaps could have been prevented.
            (3) As demonstrated by a hearing by the Committee on Energy 
        and Commerce of the House of Representatives, Subcommittee on 
        Telecommunications and the Internet, on June 11, 2003, 
        interoperability problems and spectrum and equipment shortages 
        continue to plague our nation's first responders, and without 
        additional funding these problems will continue.
            (4) Action is critical to address these shortages not only 
        to ensure readiness in the event of another terrorist attack, 
        but also to address daily communications needs that are 
        essential.
            (5) Each day this Nation's public safety officers put their 
        lives on the line to serve this country and immediate increases 
        in funding are essential.
            (6) According to the report by the Council on Foreign 
        Relations, the United States is drastically underfunding local 
        emergency responders, and remains dangerously unprepared to 
        handle a catastrophic attack on American soil.

SEC. 3. PUBLIC SAFETY TRUST FUND.

    Part A of the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 106. PUBLIC SAFETY TRUST FUND.

    ``(a) Establishment.--
            ``(1) Fund established.--There is hereby established in the 
        Treasury of the United States the Public Safety Communications 
        Trust Fund.
            ``(2) Deposits.--The Fund shall consist of--
                    ``(A) the amounts appropriated pursuant to 
                subsection (f); and
                    ``(B) 50 percent of the proceeds of any auction 
                conducted pursuant to section 309(j) of the 
                Communications Act of 1934 for any bands of frequencies 
                other than those described in paragraph (3), except 
                that such percentage may be reduced in accordance with 
                paragraph (4).
            ``(3) Excepted frequencies.--The bands of frequencies 
        described in this paragraph are the following:
                    ``(A) the 216-220 megahertz band, the 1432-1435 
                megahertz band, the 1710-1755 megahertz band, and the 
                2385-2390 megahertz band of frequencies; and
                    ``(B) any other band of frequencies reallocated 
                from Federal use to non-Federal use after January 1, 
                2003, that is assigned by competitive bidding pursuant 
                to section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
                U.S.C. 309(j)), except for bands of frequencies 
                previously identified by the National 
                Telecommunications and Information Administration in 
                the Spectrum Reallocation Final Report, NTIA Special 
                Publication 95-32 (1995).
            ``(4) Reduction of percentage.--If the board of directors 
        submits to the Congress a statement that--
                    ``(A) projects that the future needs for grants 
                under subsection (c) has been reduced to the extent 
                that the percentage specified in paragraph (2) is 
                likely to yield a surplus in the fund beyond the 
                amounts needed to meet such needs, and
                    ``(B) specifies a lower percentage that the board 
                estimates to be sufficient to meet such needs (without 
                yielding a surplus),
        paragraph (2) shall be applied to any auction subject to such 
        paragraph that is conducted after the date of submission of 
        such statement by substituting such lower percentage for 50 
        percent.
            ``(5) Fund availability.--
                    ``(A) Appropriation.--There are hereby appropriated 
                from the Fund such sums as are authorized by the board 
                to be disbursed for grants under this section.
                    ``(B) Reversion of unused funds.--Any grant 
                proceeds that remain unexpended at the end of the grant 
                period as determined under subsection (c)(3) shall 
                revert to and be deposited in the Fund.
    ``(b) Board of Directors.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--The Fund shall be administered by the 
        Administrator of the NTIA, in consultation with a board of 
        directors comprised of 5 members, appointed by the Secretary, 
        with experience in one or more of the following fields: grant 
        and investment management; communications equipment and 
        software applications; and public safety and emergency 
        response. The board shall consult with, or include a member or 
        members from, the Department of Homeland Security.
            ``(2) Functions.--The board shall--
                    ``(A) establish the reasonable and prudent criteria 
                for the selection of the grant recipients under this 
                section;
                    ``(B) determine the amount of the grants awarded; 
                and
                    ``(C) review the use of funds made by such grant 
                recipients.
            ``(3) Compensation prohibited; expenses provided.--The 
        members of the board shall serve without compensation, but may, 
        from appropriated funds available for the administrative 
        expenses of the NTIA, receive travel expenses, including per 
        diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with applicable 
        provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United 
        States Code.
    ``(c) Purpose and Activities of the Trust.--
            ``(1) Grant purposes.--In order to achieve the objectives 
        and carry out the purposes of this part, the Administrator is 
        authorized to make grants, from amounts deposited pursuant to 
        subsection (a)(2) and from the interest or other income on the 
        Fund, to implement interoperability and modernization 
        (including equipment upgrades) for the communications needs of 
        public safety, fire, emergency, law enforcement, and crisis 
        management by State and local government agencies and 
        instrumentalities and nonprofit organizations.
            ``(2) Grant preference for broader scope of 
        interoperability.--In making grants from the Fund, the 
        Administrator shall give preference to eligible entities that 
        are proposing inter-agency or regional and multi-jurisdictional 
        interoperability.
            ``(3) Grant availability.--Grants from the Fund shall be 
        made available on a single or multi-year basis to facilitate 
        long term planning and training.
    ``(d) Eligible Entities.--The following organizations and entities 
are eligible to apply for funds under this section:
            ``(1) an agency or instrumentality of a State or local 
        government of the United States (including an agency or 
        instrumentality of a territory or possession of the United 
        States); and
            ``(2) a nonprofit agency or organization that is exempt 
        from taxes under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 
        of 1986 and that performs a public safety function, as 
        determined by the Administrator.
    ``(e) Permissible Uses of Funds.--Amounts made available by grant 
from the fund may be used by eligible entities for equipment, training, 
planning, and research for the purposes of upgrading communications and 
the interoperability of communications used in public safety, fire, 
emergency, law enforcement, and crisis management.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Fund $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 and each of 
the 2 succeeding fiscal years.
    ``(g) Reports.--
            ``(1) By grant recipients.--Each grant recipient shall 
        submit to the Administrator and the board a report on the use 
        of the funds provided by the grant, and on the progress made 
        with respect to the improvement of the grant recipient's 
        communications capabilities.
            ``(2) By administrator.--The Administrator shall annually 
        submit to the Congress a report on the operations of the Fund 
        and the grants made by the Funds. Such report shall include--
                    ``(A) an identification of the grants made, the 
                recipients thereof, and the planned uses of the amounts 
                made available;
                    ``(B) a financial report on the operations and 
                condition of the Fund; and
                    ``(C) a description of the results of the use of 
                funds provided by grants under this section, including 
                the status of interoperability implementation by the 
                grant recipients.
    ``(h) Regulations.--The Administrator may prescribe such 
regulations as may be necessary and appropriate to carry out this 
section.
    ``(i) Definitions.--As used in this section--
            ``(1) the term `the Fund' means the Public Safety 
        Communications Trust Fund established pursuant to subsection 
        (a); and
            ``(2) the term `the board' means the board of directors 
        established pursuant to subsection (b).''.
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