WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), introduced legislation last week to set aside broadcast spectrum for state and local public safety communications and to earmark up to $750 million in auction revenues for new equipment for them.
In doing so, McCain beat the Clinton administration to the punch in championing the cause of public safety. But both are doing so at the expense of the 100 or so low-power broadcasters that occupy TV channels 60-69.
“Our country’s emergency communications capability is severely lacking,” said McCain. “This legislation would provide law enforcement officers and public safety officials with the necessary means to fulfill their duty and ensure the safety of the American people is not jeopardized.”
Clinton on Thursday offered to do much the same in his fiscal 1998 budget plan: reserve 24 megahertz (equal to four TV channels) in the UHF band for public safety.
“This proposal will help America’s police and other public safety workers to face a number of critical challenges,” said Janet Reno, U.S. attorney general.
McCain’s bill is more comprehensive than Clinton’s. The “Law Enforcement and Public Safety Telecommunications Empowerment Act,” for example, has two key provisions with potentially far-reaching implications for spectrum auction policy.
First, by giving public safety agencies spectrum, Congress would set a precedent for earmarking monies for telecommunications-related projects. Today, except for underwriting administrative costs of auctions, revenues of wireless license sales go directly into the general U.S. treasury.
That’s not to say policymakers haven’t tried. Clinton last summer proposed to pay for $5 billion of school renovations-an idea pushed by Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.)-from the sale of the 36 megahertz of commercial spectrum in Channels 60-69 not held for public safety.
Second, the McCain bill establishes a non-profit entity-the Public Safety Telecommunications Institute-that would be incorporated in every state to oversee the auction of the 36 megahertz and commercial license assignments. Of the total take, public safety would get 10 percent, which translates into a minimum of $200 million and maximum of $750 million.
Though narrow in scope, the creation of the Institute could set the stage for the wholesale transfer of auction authority from the FCC, a prospect that could get worked into proposals to downsize the FCC. The bill would make authority permanent. The 1993 law that established auctions terminates in August 1998.
“This new spectrum allocation would be a giant step forward toward providing agencies radio frequencies they need to protect the safety of life and property,” said Marilyn Ward, communications manager of the Orlando police department and president of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials-International Inc.
The initiative, which builds on work of a federal advisory committee on future public safety communications needs, would provide near-term relief for police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel in major urban areas with spectrum congestion.
But the spectrum infusion would not satisfy long-term spectrum needs, which the advisory committee estimated to be 70 megahertz over 15 years. The spectrum headed for public safety is adjacent to the 800 MHz band, where the latest public safety radio systems are located. The frequencies are considered to have ideal properties for mobile communications.
