First Responders Protection Act of 2010
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
First Responders Protection Act of 2010 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to increase the electromagnetic spectrum allocation for public safety services by 10 megahertz and reduce such allocation for commercial use by the same amount.
Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to: (1) allocate the paired electromagnetic spectrum bands of 758-763 megahertz and 788-793 megahertz (referred to as D Block) for public safety broadband communications and license such paired bands to public safety; (2) establish rules to permit a public safety broadband licensee to authorize public safety service providers to construct and operate a wireless public safety broadband network in the licensee's spectrum if such authorization would expedite public safety broadband communications; (3) require that any wireless public safety broadband network be fully interoperable, provide for user roaming, be disaster survivable, and have the appropriate level of cyber security; (4) establish regulations to authorize the shared use of the public safety broadband spectrum and network infrastructure by entities that are not defined as public safety services; (5) establish regulations to allow use of the public safety broadband spectrum by emergency response providers; and (6) develop a public safety agency statement of requirements that enables nationwide interoperability and roaming across any communications system using public safety broadband spectrum.
Specifies organizations that shall be included in the Board of Directors of the Public Safety Broadband Licensee.
Establishes in the Treasury: (1) the Public Safety Interoperable Broadband Network Construction Fund; and (2) the Public Safety Interoperable Broadband Network Maintenance and Operation Fund.
Directs the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) establish a grant program to assist public safety entities to establish a nationwide public safety interoperable broadband network in the 700 megahertz band; and (2) administer a program through which not more than 50% of maintenance and operational expenses associated with the public safety interoperable broadband network may be reimbursed from the Maintenance and Operation Fund.
Directs: (1) the Assistant Secretary of Commerce to identify, at a minimum 50 megahertz of contiguous spectrum at frequencies located between 1675 megahertz and 1710 megahertz to be made available for immediate reallocation; and (2) the FCC, by January 31, 2013, to conduct the auction of the licenses for such spectrum, and for the spectrum between the frequencies of 2155 megahertz and 2180 megahertz.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on July 21, 2010. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 21, 2010: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 111th Congress (2009-10), 383 of the 10,778 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.6 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (I-CT) introduced it on July 21, 2010, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 21, 2010, 5895 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5895 days ago, on July 21, 2010.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 111th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2011 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers