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ACTION ALERT: ENCOURAGE YOUR U.S. HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES TO SUPPORT H.R. 5081 – BROADBAND FOR FIRST RESPONDERS ACT OF 2010Dear Sheriffs: Congressman Peter King (R-NY) has recently introduced the Broadband for First Responders Act of 2010 (H.R. 5081) in the United States House of Representatives. This legislation would mandate that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocate the 10 MHz of Spectrum, known as the D Block, to public safety for the creation of a public safety interoperable mobile broadband network. As you are aware, NSA along with multiple public safety organizations has been urging Congress to introduce and enact this exact legislation, particularly to prevent the FCC from re-auctioning the D Block Spectrum. H.R. 5081 will enable the D Block spectrum to be combined with the current 10 MHz of broadband spectrum that is allocated to public safety to create a 20 MHz block of spectrum to build a nationwide public safety interoperable broadband network. The mobile broadband network will improve our nation’s homeland security and provide first responders with new interoperable communications technologies that are urgently needed. Additionally, the network will enable our local, tribal, state and federal public safety agencies to provide more cost effective services to their communities and save millions of dollars in the efficient delivery of next generation technologies. This is a critical issue for sheriffs and the public safety community. The National Sheriffs’ Association is asking for you to contact your U.S. House Representatives today and strongly urge them to become cosponsors of H.R. 5081. For a sample letter to send to your U.S. Representative(s), please CLICK HERE. Additionally below, please find NSA’s Position Paper and Resolution (approved by NSA’s Board of Directors) on the D Block Spectrum Issue. A copy of the Position Paper and Resolution can also be found on NSA’s Website: www.sheriffs.org on the Government Affairs page under Legislative Issues. Thank you for your continued support! For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Stephanie Garlock, Director of Government Affairs, at sgarlock@sheriffs.org or (703) 838-5316. Sincerely,  Aaron D. Kennard Executive Director THE NATIONAL SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATION URGES SUPPORT AND FUNDING FOR A NATIONWIDE INTEROPERABLE PUBLIC SAFETY WIRELESS BROADBAND NETWORK The National Sheriffs’ Association (“NSA”) strongly supports the allocation of the D Block to Public Safety. NSA, along with 14 other public safety organizations, form the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (“PSST”), a §501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization. The primary mission of the PSST is to provide an organizational structure through which decisions of national public safety leadership can guide the construction and operation of an interoperable nationwide public safety-grade wireless broadband network. PSST, as the representative of national public safety organizations, has been selected by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) as the Public Safety Broadband Licensee (PSBL) for the 10 MHz of 700 MHz public safety nationwide broadband spectrum. NSA strongly supports PSST and the efforts of the FCC to now advance the deployment of mission-critical broadband services to Public Safety. As the 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Licensee, PSST’s primary goal is making recommendations to ensure nationwide roaming, seamless interoperability and priority service of any future 700 MHz nationwide public safety broadband network. NSA encourages the FCC to now facilitate life-saving public safety broadband deployment and to address the technical aspects of any local or regional systems deployed on the 700 MHz public safety broadband spectrum. While 10MHz of spectrum has already been designated for Public Safety use, it is not nearly enough for present or future uses by Public Safety. The additional allocation of the D Block to the current 10MHz available would provide a total of 20MHz of spectrum to the Public Safety community enabling the creation of a strong nationwide public safety interoperable mobile broadband network. Such a public safety broadband network, fully interoperable and advanced nationwide public safety communications system would: 1) be capable of linking each and every local, tribal, state, and federal emergency responder; 2) provide public safety agencies access to new broadband technologies; and 3) facilitate effective communications among first responders not only in disaster/emergencies, but in making ongoing cooperative communication plans. Under current law, the FCC is required to auction off the D Block spectrum. An auction of the D Block spectrum was unsuccessful in its first attempt in 2008. As an alternative to any new auction attempt, NSA along with multiple public safety organizations, believe it is more productive to require the FCC to directly allocate the D Block spectrum to our nation’s Public Safety Community. Without Congressional intercession, any efforts to develop and implement a broadband network, necessary in assisting the nation’s first responders in homeland security and emergency preparedness efforts, will be delayed or not implemented to allocate the D Block of the 700MHz spectrum to our nation’s Public Safety Community. At NSA's Winter Conference in January, 2010 NSA's Board of Directors passed a Resolution urging the U.S. Congress to introduce and enact legislation to allocate the D Block to Public Safety and to provide annual and steady stream of funding needed to create and implement the public safety broadband network. [See the attached NSA Resolution and Position on the Allocation of the D Block to Public Safety.] NSA has made multitude requests to Congress to allocate the D Block to Public Safety and to provide adequate funding for the public safety broadband network. NSA has sent a round of letters from NSA President Sheriff Zaruba and from Sheriff Fitzgerald (2nd VP of NSA, and NSA's Representative to PSST) on the D Block allocation issue. Allocation of the D Block to Public Safety is a critically important issue to our nation’s 3,000+ Elected Offices of Sheriff. The National Sheriffs Association is working with all other public safety partners, state and local government partners and private-public partners to advocate and ensure the allocation of the D Block to Public Safety. ### THE NATIONAL SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATON URGES CONGRESS TO INTRODUCE AND ENACT LEGISLATION TO ALLOCATE THE D BLOCK SPECTRUM IN THE 700MHz TO PUBLIC SAFETY AND PROVIDE ANNUALLY RECURRING AND DEDCIATED FUNDING TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN THE NATIONWIDE PUBLICE SAFETY BROADBAND NETWORK WHEREAS, there is a need among our country’s local, tribal, state and federal government agencies for the additional D block spectrum to build a robust mobile wireless broadband network that will improve our nation’s homeland security and provide first responders with new interoperable communications technologies that are urgently needed. WHEREAS, the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) is a member of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), a not-for-profit organization consisting of representatives of fifteen national public safety organizations; and the PSST holds the nationwide Public Safety Broadband License (PSBL) for 10 MHz of broadband spectrum in the 700 MHz band. WHEREAS, the NSA is supporting legislation to reallocate an additional 10 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band, known as the “D Block,” to public safety and to provide for dedicated and sustained funding to build a nationwide public safety interoperable mobile broadband network. WHEREAS, the additional 10 MHz of spectrum will be combined with the current 10 MHz of broadband spectrum that is allocated to public safety to create a 20 MHz block of spectrum to build a nationwide public safety interoperable broadband network. WHEREAS, recent government and other studies have shown that public safety will not be able to obtain the necessary bandwidth and speed for our current and future needs based on 10 MHz of broadband spectrum alone. WHEREAS, when built, the new public safety broadband network will be able to support a wide range of public safety, government, critical infrastructure and consumer applications such as voice, video, and internet services. WHEREAS, such applications include: transmitting high resolution pictures and building blueprints; on-the-scene telemedicine services; emergency vehicle telematics, such as GPS tracking; incident command and control operations; two-way video conferencing; video monitoring and broadcast services; first responder health monitoring equipment; emergency management programs; large scale evacuation management; public alerting and alarm services; and enabling next generation 9-1-1. WHEREAS, the mobile broadband network will also enable our local, tribal, state and federal public safety agencies to provide more cost effective services to their communities and save millions of dollars in the efficient delivery of next generation technologies; and the envisioned public/private partnership will also provide much needed public safety as well as commercial broadband service to rural America. WHEREAS, next generation technologies hold the promise to significantly improve the emergency communications capabilities of local, tribal, state and federal public safety agencies; and adequate spectrum and funding are the keys to achieving this necessary goal; WHEREAS, the NSA is working to establish the appropriate spectrum and monetary policy framework that will revolutionize the way our first responders and local, tribal, state and federal governments are able to communicate for decades to come; NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Sheriffs’ Association requests Congress introduce and enact legislation to allocate the D block spectrum of the 700MHz spectrum to the public safety community to support the nation’s first responders who put their lives on the line every day to protect and serve their communities; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Sheriffs’ Association requests Congress to provide an annually recurring and dedicated funding source to enable for the creation and maintenance of the nationwide public safety wireless broadband network. |
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