Public Safety Alliance Pleads For Safety Spectrum Set-Aside

The Public Safety Alliance will be on Capitol Hill March 30 testifying in support of a bill (HR 607) that would authorize paying broadcasters to give up spectrum as a way to free it up for auctions that would, in turn, help pay for a national interoperable broadband network.

The hearing, "Public Safety Communications: Are the needs of our First Responders being met?" is in the House Homeland Security Committee, and the alliance's answer will be: Not until you create this network, which some have been pushing for since not long after 9/11, almost a decade ago. Members of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, National Sheriffs' Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs will together "implore" Congress to pass the bill, and do so before the Sept. 11 10-year anniversary of the attacks.