House lawmakers are moving forward with a reauthorization of the federally supported communications network for emergency services, despite mixed support from the public safety community for changes in the measure.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted, 51-0, on Wednesday to forward a bill, as amended, that would reauthorize the First Responder Network Authority through fiscal 2037.

The committee also voted, 52-0, to advance a bill that would set requirements for sending wireless emergency alerts via satellite. The measure, called the Mystic Alerts Act, is named for the summer camp in Texas where flooding killed more than two dozen people last summer.

FirstNet changes

Authority for the first-responder network, known as FirstNet, is set to expire in February 2027. The authority was created in 2012 in response to recommendations after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when public safety agencies using different radio systems and overloaded phone lines struggled to adequately communicate.

The bill would clarify the network board’s status within the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, removing a portion of the original law that made the board an “independent authority” within NTIA.

Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-Va., the bill’s lone co-sponsor, offered a substitute amendment that further delineated the relationship between NTIA and the FirstNet board. The original bill would have made all FirstNet actions subject to NTIA approval, while requiring NTIA to make a list of actions that would not require approval. 

The substitute amendment would instead offer its own list, allowing FirstNet to deploy emergency resources and work on its own strategic priorities and budget without approval. It would still allow NTIA to add more items to the list as necessary.

McClellan said the amendment, which was adopted by voice vote, would address “a key concern of the public safety stakeholders that bureaucratic delays could hinder timely decision-making.”

The amendment would also specify that the board would offer three candidates for the position of associate administrator to oversee FirstNet and NTIA would then make the ultimate selection. It would also set a 60-day deadline for NTIA to respond to certain written recommendations from FirstNet.

McClellan said the bill and the changes made by the amendment would offer both “flexibility” and “accountability” for the relationship between NTIA and FirstNet.

The amendment would make a slight change to requirements for the FirstNet board’s membership. The bill would have required additional members who “have served as public safety professionals,” while the substitute would require that those members are currently “serving.”

Prior to the markup, a group of 15 organizations including the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Emergency Management Association wrote a letter to committee leadership urging support for the bill and the substitute amendment.

“By increasing the representation of active public safety professionals on the FirstNet Board, the amendment would ensure that the FirstNet network that was built for public safety will continue to meet public safety’s needs,” the groups said in their letter. They praised the amendment’s inclusion of a list of actions that wouldn’t require approval from NTIA.

However, the bill is not universally popular with the public safety community.

The Fraternal Order of Police issued a press release Tuesday urging its more than 300,000 members to instead support a “clean” reauthorization of FirstNet.

The letter said that the bill “proposes several changes that will hinder FirstNet’s primary objectives and introduce uncertainties that will jeopardize emergency operations, community protection, and public safety.”

The group said that “shifting decision-making authority away from public safety professionals and placing it in the hands of bureaucrats could revive old weaknesses, marginalize frontline input, and delay vital choices.”

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairs the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, which forwarded the reauthorization bill in February. He said he was “disappointed” that the police group hadn’t “come to the table.” He said the group’s request for a “clean” reauthorization also included the removal of a sunset date for the network.

“That is an untenable position and it doesn’t reflect the hard work we’ve done with law enforcement and first responder groups to make this legislation better, to make the first responder organizations stronger, to make the board more relevant.”

Hudson said he’d like to see the bill move on the floor “as quickly as possible” and called the 51-0 vote “a strong demonstration of bipartisanship.”

Recent issues

The reauthorization effort comes as FirstNet has been under scrutiny, including as the subject of reports from the Commerce Department’s Office of the Inspector General that found that the AT&T-run service was not sufficiently available during the Maui wildfires in 2023 and that senior officials of the FirstNet Authority attempted to interfere with audits.

Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, said the reauthorization was “incredibly important to proceed with” and voted to forward it, but highlighted the reports.

“As sometimes privately owned entities with government funding can do, there sometimes is a lack of accountability,” he said.

AT&T offered its support for the reauthorization legislation in a statement and urged the Senate to also work on the issue.

In January, a Senate Commerce subcommittee held its own hearing on FirstNet, but has not yet marked up any legislation to reauthorize the program.

Satellite alerts

The bill regarding satellite emergency alerts comes less than a year after flooding in the Texas hill country where Camp Mystic was located.

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, sponsored the bill. He and Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter, R-Ga., both said they had family members staying at the camp. Pfluger’s two daughters were evacuated from the camp. Carter’s granddaughters were safe but their cousin died in the flooding.

Pfluger said that satellite alerts could help when traditional mobile networks are down or unavailable.

“I knew that Congress had to act and had to act quickly to improve the redundancy and the reliability in the wireless emergency alert system to ensure that alerts reach families and first responders even in the most challenging circumstances,” he said.