WASHINGTON-A bi-partisan bill to end the digital TV transition on Dec. 31, 2006, and give spectrum to public safety was re-introduced Thursday after failing to pass in the last Congress.
“The Hero Act sets a firm deadline of Jan. 1, 2007, for the Federal Communications Commission to provide public-safety agencies sole access to the broadcast spectrum Congress set aside for them in 1997. It also removes the digital TV threshold requirement Congress enacted that conditioned transfer of the spectrum to the public-safety agencies on DTV rollout reaching 85 percent of American households. At present, only about 2 percent of households have DTV,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), the bill’s sponsor, in a statement.
The Hero Act stands for the Homeland Emergency Response Operations Act. It is co-sponsored by Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), a former volunteer fire chief and founder of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus.
“While Congress has invested tremendous resources to assist local first responders in preparing for terrorist attacks, we have yet to provide the frequencies and technology they need to communicate and coordinate effectively. Passing the Hero Act is one step we can take to ensure that our first responders have those tools to protect our communities. In failing to do so, we are failing to protect our cities and towns in the case of emergencies,” said Weldon.
In 1997, Congress said that on Jan. 1, 2007, broadcasters would have to return the extra 6 megahertz of spectrum given to TV broadcasters to facilitate the DTV transition. But there was a caveat: TV broadcasters could keep the spectrum if more than 15 percent of the homes in their viewing areas could not receive digital signals. Removing the caveat has become known as establishing a hard date and has been widely encouraged by the wireless industry, which wants access to some of the spectrum. Congress set aside 24 megahertz of the spectrum for public safety with the rest for commercial uses. Some has already been auctioned.
Versions of the Hero Act were passed by the House and Senate during the debate on the Intelligence Reform bill last year, but the language was stripped before final passage.
