Congress Offers First Responders More Seats And Less Steering Wheel

Congress is debating who should control the network built to help first responders communicate. The House’s proposed solution gives more public-safety people seats on the board while shifting authority away from it. Welcome aboard. Wonderful to have your expertise. Please enjoy the steering wheel we have disconnected.

FirstNet’s authorization expires in February. That is a legal deadline, not a report that everyone’s radio is about to emit one tragic squeak and die. But the network created after 9/11 communication failures now requires Congress to complete an exercise in communicating its own intentions. A challenging assignment. There may have to be a subcommittee on listening.

The House passed its version in April. It would extend the authority through fiscal 2037 and increase required public-safety board members from three to five. It would also remove FirstNet’s statutory independence within Commerce and shift approval powers toward the department’s telecommunications administration, with exceptions preserving some board functions.

Two extra experts. Less independent authority. Congress has invented the advisory passenger.

There are real reasons to change things. Commerce’s inspector general found inadequate service during the Maui wildfires and attempted interference with audits by senior FirstNet officials, Roll Call reports. An emergency network cannot treat being inspected as the emergency. If the smoke alarm keeps making you look bad, the solution is not to have management examine its attitude.

But accountability and removing operational control are not interchangeable words, however convenient that would make a bill summary.

The Fraternal Order of Police opposes the control shift. The National League of Cities supports the amended House bill while worrying about day-to-day operations. So this isn’t a neat picture of all responders standing on one side and Congress eating crayons on the other. The people who rely on the system disagree about the fix. Somehow, that makes actually resolving the question more necessary.

Senate talks continue without a published alternative or final deal. The House’s April answer is still waiting for the other chamber’s response.

The first responders have equipment for talking across agencies. Perhaps Congress could borrow some before adding the extra seats.