Public-safety coalition renews efforts to secure federal NG911 funding

A coalition of public-safety associations today reiterated its support for federal legislation that would provide the funding needed to pay for 911 centers to migrate from legacy technologies to an IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) platform that is designed to support multimedia communications, as well as traditional voice calls.

Representatives of the Public Safety Next Generation 911 Coalition met this week in Washington, D.C., to outline the organization’s future efforts to secure the federal funding needed to make the NG911 vision a reality, according to coalition spokesman Mel Maier.

“Ultimately, our goal is to have legislation this year,” Maier said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We do believe there still is a potential for full funding for next-generation 911 within the spectrum-auction [authority legislation] … It’s a great opportunity to do that in a way that can be neutral to the budget.

“Because we had bicameral and bipartisan support for this in the last session of Congress, we’re hoping that carries through to this new session.”

Last summer, the House passed the Spectrum Innovation Act—H.R. 7624—which would have extended the FCC spectrum-auction authority for 18 months and called for the FCC to auction at least 200 MHz of airwaves in the 3.1-3.45 GHz band. Proceeds from that auction would first provide $3.4 billion for the “rip and replace” program, with up to $10 billion from the auction proceeds—if available—being used to pay for the NG911 transition nationwide.

But this bill was not considered in the Senate. Instead, considerable work was done to revamp the language in the House bill and include it as an amendment in the omnibus budget bill. However, the NG911 language was not included in the omnibus package that Congress approved in December.

Now, a new Congress—with a Republican majority in the House and a Democratic majority in the Senate—is in place and any NG911 legislation must “start over from scratch,” Maier said.

With this in mind, the Public Safety Next Generation 911 Coalition is conducting outreach with staff members of lawmakers on relevant committees about the importance and potential benefits that could be realized with federal 911 funding.

“We believe we have a great base—legislative language that had bipartisan approval—and we’d like to see that reintroduced,” Maier said. “That’s what we’re working on right now.”

Hopes for federal funding were buoyed early last year when FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed that proceeds from a future FCC spectrum auction be used to fund the transition to NG911 technology. This idea proved to be the foundation of last year’s legislation that passed the House, with the bill including language that would use proceeds from a 3.1-3.45 GHz auction to pay for both the “rip and replace” program to rid U.S. networks of gear from China-based companies like Huawei and ZTE and NG911 funding.

Most Beltway sources believe that Congress will not want the FCC’s auction authority to lapse, which ultimately bodes well for items like NG911 funding that can be attached to legislation extending the auction authority. At the moment, the FCC’s authority to conduct spectrum auctions is due to expire on March 9, which marks the next potentially significant date for NG911.

Maier acknowledged that getting legislation through subcommittees, committees and a floor vote on both the House and Senate side by March 9 would be extremely challenging.

“It [the legislative timeline] would be very tight, and we recognize that,” Maier said. “That’s why we’re urging for action now.

Of course, it is also possible that Congress opts to extend the FCC’s auction authority for a short period, as it already has done twice since last September. While the long-term need for the FCC to be able to let operators bid on airwaves is significant—spectrum auctions help drive wireless growth and generate billions of dollars in revenue—the absence of any scheduled auctions in the near term means that lawmakers may not feel an urgent need to approve a lengthier extension of the FCC’s auction authority, according to Beltway sources.

Maier noted that issues cited last year about NG911 funding remain. A key concern noted by the Public Safety Next Generation 911 Coalition and iCERT is the uncertainty surrounding when the $10 billion under the House bill would be available—assuming there were enough auction proceeds to make the money available at all.

Maier said the coalition believes it is important that legislation provide enough money to fully fund the NG911 transition and that the grant program make the money available as quickly as possible. Many public-safety representatives have expressed concern that the NG911 funding might not be available for several years, given the time it would take to identify spectrum and conduct an auction.

“It is a concern,” Maier said. “We don’t want to see this put off for multiple years before that funding becomes available; we want to see this as soon as possible.

“It literally can start saving lives the minute we get this [NG911 technology] put in.”

With this in mind, these groups have asked that the NG911 grant program immediate borrowing power to enable quick access to funding. Precedent for such borrowing authority exists, as the FirstNet Authority was allowed to borrow up to $2 billion of its authorized $7 billion while awaiting full funding via FCC auction proceeds.

In addition, these groups also have asked for $15 billion in NG911 funding. This exceeds the $9 billion to $12 billion called for in a cost study funded by the 911 Implementation and Coordination Office, but many have noted that those cost estimates were based on data that is more than five years old and did not include money for cybersecurity or NG911 training. In addition, the inflation and supply-chain challenges of the last year have caused some to question whether a further increase would be appropriate.

Organizations comprising the Public Safety Next Generation 9-1-1 Coalition are: the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the Fraternal Order of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), the Major County Sheriffs of America, the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, the National Association of State EMS Officials, and the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA).

A press release from the coalition noted that several representatives of these organizations issued statements supporting legislation that would provide federal NG911 funding: