[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 45 (Friday, April 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E665]]
                      INTRODUCTION OF THE HERO ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JANE HARMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2005

  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, today, together with my good friend Curt 
Weldon and a bipartisan group of our colleagues, we are introducing 
Homeland Emergency Response Operations or HERO Act. The HERO Act would 
take much-needed broadcast spectrum available for use by America's 
first responders by no later than January 1, 2007.
  Many public safety and state and local governmental associations, as 
well as first responders and other emergency personnel from across the 
country, support this legislation.
  Interoperability is more than a public safety issue. It's a national 
security issue, and to our first responders it can be an issue of life 
or death. In 1997, Congress made a promise to the American people to 
allocate dedicated radio spectrum to first responders. Yet 8 years 
later, we still have not made good on our commitment. Why have we 
broken our promise? Because a handful of broadcasters refuse to 
compromise on this issue.
  Thousands of lives are potentially at stake. We have all heard the 
tragic stories of firefighters who died in the WorId Trade Center on 9/
11 because NYPD helicopters circling overhead could not radio them that 
the towers were glowing and beginning to collapse.
  At the Pentagon on that same dark day, first responders from 
surrounding counties who converged on the scene were forced to use 
runners to convey messages, as their communications equipment was not 
compatible.
  The tragedies of September 11 taught some painful lessons about the 
need for improved communications among and between first responder 
groups. In particular, the events of that and subsequent days have 
underscored the need for more public safety radio spectrum with which 
first responders can perform their live-saving functions.
  The lack of frequency among emergency response agencies and 
jurisdictions is an everyday problem. Police officers, fire fighters, 
emergency medical personnel and others are forced to depend on radio 
systems that operate on incompatible radio frequency bands and lack 
sufficient capacity. We must as a nation remedy this situation as 
effective and interoperable public safety communications are more 
important than ever in the war against terrorism.
  Key elements for first responders to begin using this spectrum are in 
place. The spectrum is allocated, states have already received licenses 
to use the 700 MHz band and local jurisdictions are engaged in regional 
planning needed to get a license. However, the investment to use the 
spectrum by public safety agencies cannot commence unless there is a 
tangible date when that spectrum can be used. Essentially, the first 
responders are waiting on Congress to keep our promise, and I think 
they have waited long enough.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in this important effort to safeguard 
the lives of our public safety workers--and of the communities they 
serve--by co-sponsoring the HERO Act.

                          ____________________