[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 148 (Tuesday, October 21, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2115-E2116]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE PUBLIC SAFETY INTEROPERABILITY IMPLEMENTATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 21, 2003

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, public safety agencies all across our nation 
are charged with ensuring the security of our critical infrastructures 
and the safety of our citizens and their communities. September 11 
served to highlight how critical it is that our public safety agencies 
have the funding, spectrum, and equipment that they need to communicate 
with each other if they are to fulfill their mission.
  The Federal Government has called upon our states and localities to 
be ever more vigilant and prepared against possible acts of terrorism.
  Yet, as hearings in Congress and numerous reports have shown, our 
public safety agencies continue to lack the ability to communicate with 
each other interagency and interjurisdictionally. Firefighters cannot 
talk to police, local police cannot talk to state police, and so on and 
so on.
  We expect our public safety agencies to act with haste and urgency to 
meet all of our needs and homeland security goals. Therefore, we must 
provide them with the tools they need to assist us. It is critical to 
fund radio equipment and technology so that they can talk to each other 
and be effective responders.
  It is for this reason, that along with my colleagues Vito Fossella 
and Eliot Engel, I am introducing today the Public Safety 
Interoperability Implementation Act to address this urgent need.
  Our bill looks at both the short term and long term funding needs 
that face our public safety agencies. We set up a Public Safety 
Communications Trust Fund in the U.S. Treasury, to be administered by 
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). 
While the program will be administered with collaboration with the 
Department of Homeland Security, we believe NTIA should take the lead.
  The Department of Homeland Security has shown itself to be still 
sluggish in responding to the needs of our nation. We cannot afford to 
waste more time, money, or red tape. NTIA, an agency well familiar with 
telecommunications and information technology issues, will be better 
able to address the communications problems that exist and 
expeditiously move our nation's public safety agencies into state-of-
the-art communications.
  In the short term, the Public Safety Communications Trust Fund it 
will be funded by a 3-year grant program funded through the traditional 
appropriations cycle, authorizing up to $500 million a year, so that 
grants may be provided to implement interoperability.
  In the long run, the funding for the trust fund will come from the 
sales of spectrum conducted by the Federal Communications Commission. 
Our bill dedicates 50 percent of net revenue from future spectrum 
auctions to the trust fund.
  Grants will be allocated to eligible entities to achieve 
interoperability, with multiyear grants available to ensure that 
agencies can develop long term plans without having to worry about 
funding from one year to the next. Preference will be given to those 
applicants that present

[[Page E2116]]

regional or multijurisdiction plans, to encourage true across the board 
interoperability.
  Our Nation's public safety agencies' communications should not be at 
the mercy of Congress' funding whims. This issue is too important to 
require public safety agencies, year after year, to wonder what the 
annual funding might be. By dedicating funds from the sale of spectrum, 
we will ensure that funding will be set aside, no matter what happens 
in the annual appropriations process.
  I look forward to working with my fellow members of the Energy and 
Commerce Committee, Chairman Tauzin and Ranking Member Dingell in 
moving this legislation so that we can help our Nation's public safety 
agencies perform their important missions.

                          ____________________