House Dems introduce spectrum bill

Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Gene Green (D-Texas) introduced a comprehensive spectrum bill on Monday that closely follows legislation passed by the Senate Commerce Committee last month, with the addition of additional protections for broadcasters.

H.R. 2482 is a counterpart to legislation from Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) that would reallocate the valuable D block of spectrum to first responders to build a national, interoperable public-safety network.

“It is disgraceful that nearly 10 years after 9/11, our country’s first responders have neither sufficient spectrum nor a national interoperable network to use in saving American lives,” Dingell said.

The House Homeland Security Committee is strongly in favor of D block reallocation, while members of Energy and Commerce would prefer to auction the spectrum. It is unclear when the full Senate will take up the Rockefeller-Hutchison spectrum bill.

The bill also authorizes the Federal Communications Commission to conduct one incentive auction of spectrum, but differs from the Senate bill in that it includes explicit protections for broadcasters from the FCC seizing spectrum or penalizing broadcasters for not taking part in the auctions.

“It is true that our country’s consumers and wireless companies need more spectrum,” Green said. “That spectrum, however, cannot be unfairly taken from broadcasters, who provide free, over-the-air, local programming to all Americans."

The National Association of Broadcasters, Public Safety Alliance and the Communications Workers of America have all endorsed the bill. The NAB praised the pair for authorizing only one incentive auction, arguing the move would limit uncertainty for the broadcast industry.

The creation of a national, interoperable public safety network was one of the primary recommendations of the 9/11 Commission; lawmakers had hoped to resolve the D block issue before the 10th anniversary of the attacks this year. 

The White House and other supporters have pushed to assign the D block to public safety, while opponents argue that doing so would be too expensive. They favor auctioning the spectrum and using some of the proceeds to build a national public-safety network.

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