Last Thursday Senators Lieberman and McCain introduced S.1040, the Broadband for First Responders Act of 2011. While the text of the bill is not yet available on Thomas, John Chwat has obtained a copy for us. As I reported to you earlier (see below) on February 23 we met with the Senate committee staff that was working on this bill. It is therefore gratifying to see that S.1040 avoids the pitfalls of H.R.607. See Section 206 beginning on page 22. None of the spectrum identified for auction is amateur spectrum. In addition, the actions and studies called for in Section 207 specifically involve only federal law enforcement uses and FCC public safety licensees. Some media reports are referring to S.1040 as the Senate version of H.R.607. It is important that radio amateurs NOT oppose S.1040. There is no reason for us to do so. Other than to oppose any method that would impact amateur spectrum use, we do not support one method of achieving an interoperable broadband public safety network over another. Dave Sumner, K1ZZ <<S 1040 The Broadband for First Responders Act of 2011.pdf>> <<Summary of S 1040.pdf>> _____________________________________________ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 9:44 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: Feb 23 meeting with Senate HSGAC staff Yesterday morning John Chwat, Chris Brooks and I met with three staff members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Troy Cribb and Seamus Hughes for the majority and Lee Dunn for the minority. Our objective was to try to head off the inclusion of 420-440 MHz in a bill that Senators Lieberman and McCain are working on, dealing with the same subject as H.R.607 and S.28. Their main concern with regard to S.28 is that it does not provide for enough Homeland Security involvement in the development and deployment of an interoperable public safety broadband wireless network. Because the issue was spectrum, I did most of the talking for our side. We presented our case, including the two attachments. Both Troy and Lee (Seamus did not say much as he was the junior member of the staff present) seemed very receptive to our argument, appreciative of the public service contributions of Amateur Radio, and anxious to avoid the distraction of having to deal with lots of radio amateur complaints. Of course, it remains to be seen what their bill will contain and whether our visit was successful. They did not offer a timetable for the introduction of their bill and for Senate consideration of the D-block issue. By the way, in view of what we hear about partisanship on the Hill, I was struck by the cooperative spirit shown by the committee staffers toward one another. Dave Sumner, K1ZZ