▶ 0:14:30Wrong button. I think I pushed your button. I don't know where to push it. Okay. Someone got struck with lightning backstage. Um, but I'm looking forward to hearing from our witnesses about the needs of our first responders and how to improve communications for our public safety. Um, I want to start by, um, though, by taking a moment of personal privilege and recognizing, uh, our chief counsel, kate harper. Uh, today is her last day working for the committee. Um.
▶ 0:14:57We're bittersweet, uh, but excited for her as she starts a new job after an incredible career on the hill. Six of those years with our great committee on energy and commerce. Uh, kate has a lot to be proud of in her time here. Find, uh, a nearly impossible deal for our spectrum auction and this year's reconciliation bill. Uh, working on keeping our kids safe from tiktok's chinese ownership and finding ways to expand broadband for all americans.
▶ 0:15:23She has been invaluable to the progress and growth of our subcommittee and subcommittee members, uh, myself especially. And, uh, I know that, uh, I can can attribute a lot of my success, um, probably all my success as chairman to her and her hard work. Um, so looking forward to seeing her grow in her career and more importantly, uh, as her family grows. So thank you, kate, for your wonderful service to this committee. We wish you all the best.
▶ 0:15:51And I will recognize our ranking member, miss matsui. Uh, for as much time as she may consume. >> thank you very much, Mr. chairman. I also, from this side of the aisle, very much applaud kate's efforts and everything else that we've been doing on this committee and, quite frankly, the importance of us all working together on this, too.
▶ 0:16:20And I applaud the fact that we've been making progress on certain areas. And I know that we have you to thank thank for that. And so service is so important, I believe, for all of us, uh, on this committee. And I really believe what we do in this committee really does resound beyond this committee. And we thank all the people who work on this committee in order to do this. So thank you very much, kate. Really, really, really appreciate it. Thank you. >> thank you for that.
▶ 0:16:49Um, listen, communication systems are crucial for our public safety organizations. Our first responders need reliable communications to be able to answer calls for help. We have unfortunately experienced many instances where our public safety communications didn't work, and the consequences were devastating. During the horrific terrorist attacks in the united states on september 11th, 2001, the anniversary of which is this week.
▶ 0:17:14Um, our communications networks were overloaded, resulting in calls being dropped or not going through. More recently, although significantly improved from 2001, in my home state of north carolina, we felt the severe impacts from hurricane helene's devastation, ultimately preventing people from being able to call 911 and receiving life saving care. Um, these are just two examples of major events where a lack of public safety communication cost hundreds and thousands of lives.
▶ 0:17:42Uh, today's first responder communication landscape looks vastly different than that of 2001. After nine over 11, congress stood up the nine over 11 commission, which released recommendations to prepare for and guard against future attacks. One of those recommendations led to congress establishing the first responder network authority, or firstnet, a nationwide broadband network specifically built for public safety.
▶ 0:18:08Firstnet was allocated 20mhz of spectrum and $7 billion to build out the networks in all 50 states and territories. In 2017, at&t was selected to deploy this network, and since then other providers offer competitive services to serve public safety with firstnet authorities statutory authority set to expire in 2027, it's time for congress to assess the progress made by firstnet to ensure the law requirements are being met and is adequately
▶ 0:18:38Serving the needs of our public safety community. Additionally, our 911 call centers are working to deploy advanced technology known as next generation 911 next. Generation 911 is a critical technology upgrade for our first responders, and I have been a long time supporter of this deployment nationwide.
▶ 0:18:57This internet protocol based system at our 911 call centers will open the door for advanced tools for both the public and first responders to use ng9 one one equipped centers are able to receive text messages, photos, and videos to help aid response efforts. This technology also allows for seamless integration of artificial intelligence for cybersecurity purposes, and to aid call takers in times of large call volume, or provide real time language transcription or translation.
▶ 0:19:29Once fully deployed, ng9 one one will be able to provide specific geolocation data for wireless callers, known as dispatchable location. This accurate location will let first responders know the exact location of a caller automatically, instead of just the nearest cell tower. Similar technologies are also being implemented to transmit vertical location data, which can help first responders locate the exact floor of someone in a high rise building.
▶ 0:19:55Equipping our first responders with this information can improve response times and help save lives. Importantly, this technology allows calls to be transferred or rerouted to other call centers in the event a call center is taken offline due to an outage or natural disaster, our public safety and law enforcement enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to help us in our times of need, and we must make sure they have the best tools available to do their jobs.
▶ 0:20:20Today, we will hear from our witnesses about the state of public safety, communications, and whether public safety needs are being met. We will hear about the tools and technologies that are most effective for them to do their job, and where improvements can be made. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today about these issues, and how congress can stand ready as a partner. I now recognize the ranking member of the gentlelady from california for her opening statement. >> thank you very much, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:20:46Today's hearing is about one of the most critical resources keeping america safe. Public safety communications are vital to ensure we have round the clock warnings to avoid tragedies such as lives lost and the tens of thousands displaced during this year's california wildlife wildfire season, or this summer's flash floods in central texas, the deadliest in almost 49 years. These are not just one off events.
▶ 0:21:12As climate change worsens, extreme weather events are becoming more common and deadly. Yet instead of investing in the public communications systems that literally save lives, republicans are bending the knee as president trump takes a wrecking ball to our public safety infrastructure.
▶ 0:21:28In july, congressional republicans gave in to president trump's demands to cancel over $1 billion in funding to local public television and radio stations, public media stations, which reach nearly 99% of americans and can send out emergency alerts even when cellular and internet service are down.
▶ 0:21:49In 2018, sacramento's kvie public tv delivered the first ever earthquake earthquake early warning in under three seconds. This warning system by california public tv stations gives the public critical seconds of notice before shaking begins, allowing people to move to safety hospitals to protect patients and operators to secure critical infrastructure.
▶ 0:22:16Yet republicans chose to defund public media, kneecapping local and especially rural and remote communities ability to receive life saving information. This isn't just speculation. We're already seeing the consequences play out in real time.
▶ 0:22:33The corporation for public broadcasting can no longer administer grants for the next generation warning system, leaving in limbo millions of dollars in funding to upgrade local stations, emergency alert equipment and thanks to their one big ugly bill, republicans have billions of spectrum auction dollars to fund tax breaks for the wealthy, abandoning past bipartisan plans to use those funds for next generation 911 nationwide
▶ 0:23:04To update decade old systems and provide faster, more accurate emergency responses. At the same time, the trump administration is gutting public safety agencies like the national weather service. Those close to 600 national weather service staff who were critical to delivering effective forecasting and disaster coordination.
▶ 0:23:29In may, the national weather service offices in sacramento and hanford had to close 24 over seven operations because the trump administration decimated over half of their workers. National weather service is not waste or fraud. It's an essential service to ensure americans can prepare for and survive natural disasters. Yet the trump administration continues to dismantle what makes americans safe.
▶ 0:23:54Take fema, the lead agency for coordinating federal disaster response before hurricane season. President trump slashed fema's workforce and canceled billions in disaster preparedness funding across the board, where the government is providing a service that makes people safer, president trump has decided it's not worth the cost.
▶ 0:24:17Is that really the legacy my republican colleagues want to leave behind the best they have to offer their constituents. We should be investing more resources in our public safety infrastructure, not taking a chainsaw to them. We must restore public media funding. Invest in next generation 911 nationwide and fight back against president trump's public safety cuts.
▶ 0:24:40I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about how we can strengthen public safety communications, and I do hope we can get back to working on this issue in a common, bipartisan way instead of standing by as this administration cripples our public safety and disaster preparedness. And with that, I yield the balance of my time. >> thank you. Gentlelady, I now recognize the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from kentucky, for five minutes for his opening statement. >> thank you. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:25:09Thank you for bringing us together for this important hearing. Thanks for all of our witnesses for being here. As you know, we're here in the wake of the tragic floods of texas, and our hearts have been heavy for, uh, representative pfluger, who sits next to me, and representative carter, who had children and grandchildren at the camp, who were who are fortunately, uh, okay, but they lost friends and and representative carter's grandchildren lost their cousin on the other side of his family. And it's just heart wrenching time in our our prayers are still out for these, these families.
▶ 0:25:38And it's just, uh, but this tragedy highlights the importance of the hearing we have today and the communication communications infrastructure that we need in desperate moments like these. And, um, we may take 911 for granted. As a matter of fact, if anybody's ever heard robert robert aderholt say this in 1968, the first 911 call was placed in haleyville, alabama. I'm not sure why haleyville alabama chose to be the first place to do it, but they did.
▶ 0:26:06And before that, you had to look up the police sheriff or the police officer or the hospital number and a phone book. Those of us old enough to remember phone books and now the single, uh, three digit number improves the response times and saves lives. So I think robert was 2 or 3 years old. So think of how far the world's come in robert aderholt lifetime. And it's just not that long ago. I mean, I know he's a little older than than he wants to be, but it's not that long ago that we really had to that this was implemented.
▶ 0:26:34And so since that first call, the technology has really changed. But it's it's changing exponentially now. And next generation 911 is becoming more common at call centers around the country, which means faster and more prepared emergency responses, including enhanced location accuracy. I remember when I first got here, we we were talking about this the first time that, uh, somebody in a hotel rooms, mom, some domestic abuse, and a child called nine one knew to call 911. And they were they were little, but couldn't tell them which room they were in.
▶ 0:27:03So you can't even so the the police showed up to a big hotel, but didn't have any idea which room to go to. So I know that is even better with this, this type of, uh, where we are with nine next generation. So regardless of what type of technology, which service providers first responders use, it is critical that their communication tools work reliable in the moment of need. My home state of kentucky has dealt with flooding and tornadoes in recent months in my district, dealt with the same just a few years ago, including my neighbors behind me.
▶ 0:27:33The the the tornado missed my house by about 100 yards. And so I've seen firsthand how access to reliable communications and having first responders that show up when you're needed is is extremely, extremely important. And it helps those in need. But before I wrap up, I, I have to take a second to to thank, uh, kate harper as well. Take kate o'connor, harper harper as well. She's been a valuable member of the team. Always pleasant, always.
▶ 0:27:58And one of the smartest people you'll deal with in this, in the maybe in all spaces, but certainly in telecommunications. And it's just been a pleasure to work with. And my daughter lives in has moved to chicago. So always enjoy her chicago accent. And, uh, the fact that she's going to work for a company, I don't know if we can say or not, but the company that has a hard. Oh, and a high hard a in the title, it's fun to hear her say where she's going to work. So anyway, so that's, uh, thanks a lot. Godspeed.
▶ 0:28:27And, uh, we you you mean a lot to to this committee. And I look forward to working with you in your new endeavor. And, mister chairman, I yield back. >> thank the gentleman. Now, recognize the gentleman from new jersey, the ranking member, for five minutes for his opening statement. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. At a time when our nation is facing more and more devastating extreme weather events, from wildfires to hurricanes to flooding, it's critical that congress do more to keep first responders connected and our communities informed.
▶ 0:28:53The energy and commerce committee has a long history of supporting emergency communications systems, and the first responders who rely on them day in and day out to keep our communications safe. Unfortunately, the republican majority has jammed through bills that abandon first responders and the safety of our communities. The republicans big ugly bill reinstated the federal communications commission spectrum auction authority without any plan to ensure that auction proceeds will, from priorities that serve the public interest.
▶ 0:29:22In fact, my republican colleagues abandon a bipartisan agreement that was unanimously passed out of the full committee last congress to fully fund the deployment of next generation 911 across the country, using those revenues raised from spectrum auctions, many of america's emergency communications centers rely on outdated infrastructure and technologies from half a century ago. This makes them less effective in dispatching timely emergency response and leaves them dangerously vulnerable to cyber attacks.
▶ 0:29:53It's long past time to address this problem, but instead of devoting just a fraction of the big ugly bills, nearly 990 billion in spectrum auction revenues to modernize our public safety communications systems, republicans made a conscious choice that tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations are more deserving cause. And I completely disagree. Next generation 911 is a critical public safety initiative that would save countless lives.
▶ 0:30:18Ng9 one one will allow americans to call and send texts, images, or videos to 911 to help first responders and emergency personnel better assess emergencies and assist people in need. It will reduce response times and equip first responders with life saving information before they arrive at the scene. And these funds would save lives. But republicans walked away from the agreement to invest in this program with a big, ugly bill.
▶ 0:30:45And I think it's a betrayal of our nation's first responders and 911 dispatchers. In another blow to public safety, congressional republicans and president trump stripped away billions of dollars in promised funding to public broadcasters who play a vital role keeping communities informed during times of emergency. The corporation for public broadcasting will now close its doors by end by the end of this month, and the public stations that served are already staring down the negative consequences of republicans actions.
▶ 0:31:12Look no further than the federal emergency management agency's next generation warning system grant program, which was administered by the corporation for public broadcasting. It provided funding to public media to keep communities informed during disasters, like during the recent floods in texas and during hurricanes last year in florida and western north carolina.
▶ 0:31:33Since the funding rescission, the program's future is in serious jeopardy, threatening public stations access to funding to upgrade and maintain emergency alert systems, and this committee's work to improve public safety communications capabilities has traditionally been a bipartisan endeavor, and it should be. But it's impossible to ignore the near constant damage our republican colleagues inflict on institutions that serve the public interest.
▶ 0:31:58It's our job to ensure first responders have the tools they need to communicate, and that broadcasters are equipped to keep the public informed. And these senseless cuts make their jobs harder, not easier. So I hope we can reverse course and get back to work in a bipartisan way to pass real solutions to make our public safety communications systems faster, more reliable and more secure for the benefit of all americans. We should be working together to pass and fully fund the next generation 911 program.
▶ 0:32:28But we also have to come together to address the looming sunset of the first responder network authority, or firstnet, to ensure that first responders do not lose access to this vital communications network and the capabilities that it provides. Public safety organizations representing law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services and local authorities have called on congress to pass legislation to preserve firstnet authority to operate beyond the sunset date, and it's critical that we act on that as well. So, again, Mr.
▶ 0:32:59Chairman, I look forward to the discussion. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. >> thank the gentleman. Um, we've now concluded with member opening statements. The chair reminds members that pursuant to the committee rules, all members opening statements will be made part of the record. I'd like to again thank our witnesses for being here today to testify before this subcommittee. Uh, our witnesses will have five minutes each to provide an opening statement, which will be followed by a round of questions from members. The witnesses here before us today are Mr.
▶ 0:33:28Steve newton, emergency management director from chatham county, north carolina, emergency management, uh, sheriff shannon dicus, same from san bernardino county. Bernardino county tells me that's the largest county in america. Um, thank you, sheriff. Doctor brian fonts, former chief executive officer for the national emergency number association. And Mr. randall c wright, executive director, florida public radio emergency network and project beacon. Thank you all again, Mr. newton.
▶ 0:34:00You are recognized for five minutes for your opening statement. Thank you. Chairman hudson, ranking member matsui. >> and distinguished members of the subcommittee. My name is steve newton. I'm the emergency management director of chatham county, north carolina. I also serve as the vice chair of the statewide interoperability executive committee. I welcome the opportunity to discuss public safety communications as it exists today in the united states.
▶ 0:34:25The ability for public safety leaders and responders to communicate is never more essential than the days immediately before and immediately following a disaster. We depend on communications pathways from government to government, government to the public and public to the public. When any of these pathways fails, there are dire consequences. In many cases, the ability to communicate may help us prevent a disaster from becoming a catastrophe.
▶ 0:34:53Widespread and sustained inoperable cellular networks, land mobile radio systems, and 911 call routing create an exceptionally difficult operating environment in which incident commanders and responders aren't aware of changing conditions, can't adequately plan and request resources. Can't effectively direct response activities, alert the public, or protect frontline personnel.
▶ 0:35:17Over the last 32 years, I have participated in response to 21 federally declared disasters across north carolina, louisiana, puerto rico, hawaii, and south carolina. Most recently, I responded to hurricane helene in western north carolina and directed the response to tropical storm chantal in my own jurisdiction. Of those disasters, three stand out for their impact to public safety communications. First was in 2005 at saint tammany parish in louisiana.
▶ 0:35:46After hurricane katrina. And the common theme that you will hear wind, torrential rain and flooding, uh, in this case, storm surge resulted in loss of life, damage to homes, damage to 911 centers and I will fluctuate between calling it a911 center, a comm center, or a public safety answering point. Please, please forgive me. Uh, our emergency response facilities were affected. Public works yards, communications tower, wired and wireless internet and telephony.
▶ 0:36:21In louisiana, 2911 centers were offline for more than 30 days for the first week after impact, we had no call routing, so 911 calls were either abandoned or were not consistently routed. Some were answered, some just did not go through, uh, even after ten days, some manual call routing was could occur and they went to ten digit lines.
▶ 0:36:46And what you get with a ten digit standard telephone line is you get a voice, but you don't get any of the additional data locations, anything like that. Uh, in 2017, I responded to the commonwealth of puerto rico after hurricane maria, the day after landfall on september 20th, 95% of their cell phones were out of service. And that's a combination. And again, you'll hear common themes today.
▶ 0:37:09It was a combination of damage to fiber optic, uh, backhaul and transport lines, and then certainly into the days and weeks and months that followed. Uh, it was interruption of the power supply. Due to limited communications. Uh, our team, we broke up into several teams. Uh, I was given the area around san juan, uh, in six municipalities or counties in puerto rico.
▶ 0:37:35We spent three days going from municipality to municipality to try to locate local leaders, to just understand what they were facing, understand what the dire needs were that we could work on today. Uh, and these needs. And I arrived three weeks out. These needs included oxygen, water, food. Uh, and again, we had to drive around with a piece of paper and try to find these folks.
▶ 0:38:02Uh, ultimately, it would take 11 months to restore 100% of power on the island. Uh, the longest power outage in us history that I'm aware of. And then in 2024, I responded to western north carolina after hurricane helene again. Wind, torrential rain, flooding in this case, landslides, uh, did the same damage. Uh, damaged infrastructure, damaged homes, loss of life. Uh, over 1700 miles of fiber optic cable were destroyed.
▶ 0:38:3119 saps were taken offline where they could not receive a nominal one call directly. In our case, 74% of cell sites were out of service across the region. Again, the result? The result of fiber optic transport lines being cut, uh, the result of power outages and inaccessibility. Hurricane helene represented some of the most complex communications challenges I've ever faced as a professional. I will leave you with the successes.
▶ 0:39:00Uh, for us, the north carolina number one board's statewide emergency services ip network, the net meant that of those 19 saps, their calls were routed to a backup piece. So if a call made it to the system, it was answered. Our state highway patrol's viper, uh, land mobile radio system processed 3 million calls.
▶ 0:39:22And then finally, our partnership that coordinated repairs, deployables and broadband internet to bring us back online. Thank you. >> thank you. Uh, sheriff, you have five minutes for your opening statement. >> chairman hudson and ranking member mazzoli and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. And thank you for all of your continued leadership on advancing next gen 911.
▶ 0:39:50My name is shannon dicus, and I serve as the sheriff of san bernardino county, california. I'm testifying on behalf of major county sheriffs of america, an association representing sheriffs offices that collectively serve more than 110 million people in urban, suburban and rural communities. Sheriff's offices cover entire counties, which means we oversee both city and unincorporated areas, critical infrastructure and remote rural regions.
▶ 0:40:17We respond to a wide range of emergencies to coordinate daily with federal agencies, state and local partners, fire service and emergency medical service. We also operate some of the nation's largest 911 centers. Many smaller agencies in our regions rely on us for communication support. So when systems are disrupted, the impact is broad for this region. For this reason, emergency communications remain one of our highest priorities.
▶ 0:40:47We have seen why this work matters. When central texas was hit with severe flooding this summer, many residents reported late or missing warnings. Those delays cost precious time. That is why modern, interoperable systems like next generation 911 are essential. They ensure alerts reach people quickly across multiple technical platforms and give responders better situational awareness.
▶ 0:41:11We also know firsthand how cyber incidents can disrupt emergency response in 2023, san bernardino county sheriff's department experienced a ransomware attack that took our computer aided dispatch offline and forced deputies to rely on handheld radios and manual processes while we restored operations. The event underscored how vulnerable local systems can be and why consistent federal cybersecurity standards and resources are so important.
▶ 0:41:40So today, I respectfully ask that congress take four key steps. The first, pass legislation to upgrade america to true next gen 911 capabilities, with an emphasis on cybersecurity resiliency and real time data. Number two fund these essential upgrades to ensure consistent service in both urban and rural areas.
▶ 0:42:05Number three, remove the sunset provision on the firstnet authority, allowing continued reinvestment of program revenues into network improvements without taxpayer dollars. And number four, establish federal cybersecurity standards to help public safety agencies protect against growing digital threats. In san bernardino county, which spans 20,000mi and serves more than 2 million residents, we have worked to modernize our systems.
▶ 0:42:34We are among the first in california to deploy text to 911, and have since expanded to full next generation 911, with geo diverse call routing and improved interoperability, these improvements have strengthened our response through connectivity gaps. However, vulnerabilities still remain. Firstnet has also been a valuable addition. California's decision to opt in brought five new firstnet towers to our county.
▶ 0:43:01The firstnet authority has committed 2 billion nationwide to reinvest and fund in the program itself, rather than funding by taxpayers. To maintain that progress, congress must extend firstnet authorization beyond 2027. Finally, I want to highlight the importance of our public safety communicators. The professionals who answer our 911 calls, reclassifying them under the 911 saves act will ensure they receive the training and support and resources that they need. Mr.
▶ 0:43:33Chairman and members, our request is straightforward. Continue building on systems that are working, strengthen cybersecurity protections and provide the resources necessary to ensure that every community has access to modern, reliable emergency communications. Thank you for your attention and I look forward to all of your questions. >> thank you. Sheriff. Doctor fox, you are recognized for five minutes for your opening statement. >> thank you very much.
▶ 0:44:02Chairman hudson, ranking member matsui, and members of the subcommittee. I'm honored to be here today. My goal is really rather simple. I have two of them. The first is to ask congress to enact legislation to reclassify the dedicated 911 professionals as true public safety professionals, and to fully fund the deployment of next generation 911. I echo the comments of my colleagues.
▶ 0:44:26Currently, 911 professionals are classified as administrative or secretarial, similar to receptionists and secretaries rather than the protective service, and it is with this protective service that includes police and fire. It should also include 911 professionals. This misclassification is a relic of legacy 911 last century haleyville, alabama.
▶ 0:44:50When I was a senior in high school, when the first public 911 call was made. Today, 911 professionals do so much more. They handle medical triage, provide crucial situational awareness for our emergency response teams, and they undergo rigorous training in the various medical protocols, technologies and procedures that must be followed.
▶ 0:45:16Representative torres, a former nine one professional, and representative fitzpatrick, along with senators blackburn and klobuchar, have long championed the 911 saves act. This zero cost bill would reclassify 911 telecommunicators, or professionals, as I call them, for what they are true public safety professionals. They are key components to the emergency response team.
▶ 0:45:41As such, they deserve to be recognized alongside their public safety colleagues. The next issue funding is urgently needed for next generation. 911911 is often the first point of contact between citizens and emergency first responders or field responders. Yet many of our nation's 911 systems are rooted in last century voice centric technology.
▶ 0:46:06Nearly 90% of the 911 calls today originate from smartphone devices, broadband capable devices. The legacy 911 systems are not designed to receive data or to process data, videos, texts or other important information relevant to that specific emergency.
▶ 0:46:29The answer is simple next generation 901 is a suite of standards based technologies that will fully modernize the 911 systems with information rich, data enhanced cybersecurity, redundancy and resiliency. We've heard this already, and this will inevitably protect the public in a more efficient manner.
▶ 0:46:54It allows 911 centers to push and pull data between and among the centers themselves. But 901 only works if 911 centers across the nation can acquire necessary technologies. Transitions, costs.
▶ 0:47:13Moving from legacy 911 systems to next generation nine one systems adds financial strain to local communities, tribal lands, and states. The sooner 911 can be deployed, the sooner these expensive to maintain less century legacy systems can be phased out.
▶ 0:47:34We saw the potential of 911 in north carolina with hurricane helene centers using emergency service ip networks or nets or nets, a key component in the building blocks for next generation 901 enabled a variety of things to occur, such as geofencing, affected areas, and routing calls to other centers that were not affected by the hurricane.
▶ 0:48:02But dsi nets alone are not enough until the entire country is fully deployed. Next generation 911. No state, regardless of its investment, will fully realize the maximum benefits of next generation 911. In 2012, congress authorized a study to determine the cost to fully transition to next generation 911.
▶ 0:48:25That study was completed in 2018 and adjusted for today's dollars, the value of that estimated, and there was a range between roughly nine and $13 billion. But that if you were adjusting it for today's dollars, you'd be closer to $15 billion waiting for another cost study or analysis to be completed is not necessarily the answer.
▶ 0:48:49And in fact, it could turn out to be a delay, such as the six year study, for the answer is to fund next generation 911. I want to thank chairman hudson, vice chairman allen, ranking members pallone and matsui for their bipartisan support of next generation 911 funding during the markup of the reconciliation bill and previous statements.
▶ 0:49:10I urge congress to establish a consistent funding stream that can be accessed easily and efficiently by state and local governments for the deployment of next generation 911. In january of 2024, nine former fcc chairs, both republicans and democratic administrations, sent a letter to congress underscoring the need to fully fund next generation 911.
▶ 0:49:34I believe that was the first time in the history of the fcc that nine former chairmen agreed to the common issue of funding, in this case, next generation 911. Unfortunately, everybody in this room will likely end up calling 911 at some point in their life. I would hope that we would provide them your constituents, all of us. The best 911 service in america. Thank you very much, Mr. chairman. >> thank you, Mr. wright.
▶ 0:50:03You're recognized for five minutes for your opening statement. >> thank you. Good morning, chairman hudson and members session. I'm randy wright, executive director of the new properties at the university of florida and general manager of wuft, which are noncommercial public radio and television stations.
▶ 0:50:20Our mission at wuft and the university of florida extends across the state of florida, but also the state of south carolina through the transformative public safety initiatives, florida public radio emergency network and a new initiative called beacon, which is an ai driven. >> you know, you would think, you would think starting in radio at the age of 14, right?
▶ 0:50:50But let's do it with the mic on. Should I start over or continue? Just continue. Okay. I apologize for that. We have recently launched a new ai driven initiative, uh, in florida called beacon, and we've done this in partnership with the florida division of emergency management and executive director, kevin guthrie, wuft and my colleagues in florida and south carolina are among 1300 public radio and 360 public television stations that form america's public
▶ 0:51:21Safety communications infrastructure. These stations reach our entire nation with reliable emergency alerting services in a noncommercial environment that's free of sensationalism. This public media technical infrastructure forms the backbone of our nation's alerting capabilities. The public radio satellite system connects all of these stations, enabling immediate national emergency alerts to be shared on the most resilient medium, which is over-the-air radio.
▶ 0:51:48Many people aren't aware that the pbs awards pbs warned system serves as one of only two conduits to the nation for our wireless emergency alerts. This critical broadcast infrastructure serves as the last mile for public safety and emergency alerts to reach americans, and that must be protected, wuft ephron, a florida public radio emergency network launched in 2013, really exemplifies public media's power in crisis, and it relies heavily on the power and reach of broadcast transmission.
▶ 0:52:20Ephron, which serves every public radio and television station in florida and in south carolina, doesn't merely respond to disasters. Our team, working in collaboration with our public media partners, anticipates these disasters. Before hurricane milton arrived last year, ephron was already mobilizing, delivering active updates in english and spanish across both states of florida and south carolina. When the power failed, cellular and internet service were lost.
▶ 0:52:48Ephron came through loud and clear through public radio transmitters, providing critically important updates during and following that crisis. The university of florida, as one of the nation's leading public land grant institutions, has pioneered technologies that truly transform public broadcasting infrastructure into community lifelines. Wuft provides the only consistent local news source for much of north florida, including rural areas with no other news outlets.
▶ 0:53:18This journalistic depth powers our position as a lifeline for fact based public safety and emergency information that saves lives and property. In partnership with emergency management agency statewide, uf is truly a hotbed for a variety of public safety initiatives, including a current effort with at&t firstnet to develop safer places, which allows our university of florida research teams and law enforcement to advance solutions to better protect against situations like active assailants.
▶ 0:53:48There is absolutely no greater calling than the safety of our nation, and uf and wuft continue to lead in partnership with and alongside local, state and federal agencies. Now, wuft, as I mentioned, just developed beacon within the last two years.
▶ 0:54:06This is a revolutionary 24 hour, always on alerting channel that utilizes artificial intelligence to continuously and immediately broadcast only official public safety alerts. Beacon broadcast on dedicated public radio frequencies. It streams online and it reaches mobile devices through the beacon app, serving communities in multiple languages.
▶ 0:54:29Beacon provides a commercial and news free sanctuary where nothing but those official alerts get out without distraction. Developed in coordination and partnership with the florida division of emergency management, wuft and the university of florida have already established numerous beacon stations across florida representing america's and, quite frankly, the world's first comprehensive alerting channel. With more beacon sites to launch in the weeks to come.
▶ 0:54:58Local emergency management leaders at the county level like jen grice and alachua county, florida john schultz in lee county, florida, have fully embraced beacon along with other county level leaders already incorporating the solution into their community engagement strategies. This marriage of efferen and beacon creates a comprehensive solution, delivering trusted coverage alongside official alerts directly from emergency management agencies.
▶ 0:55:22What this means is that these are solutions that serve all americans, urban or rural, rich or poor, with comprehensive, immediate, and ongoing alerting. With the recent rescission of federal funding, support for public broadcasting, which directly impacts this infrastructure, that's so critical to the alerting last mile. We urge congress to find new pathways of support for these critical services and for innovative solutions like fpn and beacon.
▶ 0:55:49Public media's infrastructure represents an irreplaceable national asset for emergency communications, particularly serving rural and underserved communities where alternatives are prohibitively expensive. In the public broadcasting sphere. We are very proud and consider ourselves to be a utility for the american people.
▶ 0:56:10A must have, not a nice to have public broadcasting and our infrastructure truly consist to become america's alerting first responders. Thank you. >> thank you, Mr. wright. We'll now begin a period of questions from members. I'll recognize myself for five minutes. Uh, Mr. newton, uh, thank you for being here today.
▶ 0:56:34Uh, you talked about 2024 hurricane helene, uh, tore through western north carolina, causing widespread damage and more than 100 fatalities. I understand a significant portion of the communications infrastructure was destroyed. Uh, per your testimony and several of the call centers, the call centers were out of commission. Um, can you talk about how north carolina statewide next generation 911 system helped public safety officials respond to this disaster? >> thank you for the question.
▶ 0:57:04The 19 apps that were taken offline, uh, because of fiber line cuts, uh, primarily, uh, were able to be rerouted. And so because the calls are managed and from a digital level on the net that we have statewide with all 124 apps that if their normal call rerouting plan isn't appropriate because of call volume and things like that, that a, the network management center, uh, operations center,
▶ 0:57:35The nmac is able to then reprovision and turn those calls to another nine one center. It's not impacted. In fact, uh, one of the communities that was impacted, uh, mitchell county, um, I believe it's mitchell. Uh, we received calls for them for 30 days, uh, after the event, which means that I call 911 from western north carolina. I get help from a trained, equipped professional, and then that call itself. And I need fire, I need ems, I need police.
▶ 0:58:07He's able to be routed back to somebody who actually dispatches it. >> that's amazing. Um, you know, next generation 911 is has been said by several witnesses is the next critical step in improving our nation's public safety communications system. Uh, it will allow for more advanced types of communications, as you mentioned, uh, increase interoperability, like the example you gave, uh, and increase cybersecurity. However, these systems are complex and require careful planning and expertise for implementation. Doctor fonts.
▶ 0:58:36Uh, how can congress be an effective partner in ensuring the success a successful nationwide deployment of next generation 911 technology? >> thank you. I think first and foremost is to provide the funding necessary to transition to next generation 911 communities across the country while maintaining legacy systems at their cost, also are beginning or need to begin making the investment in next generation 911.
▶ 0:59:04It's a costly endeavor, and the longer the time frame between the legacy 911 system sunsetting and the deployment of next generation 911, the greater the cost is going to be to the community. So the easiest, the quickest. And I say quickest not to give any false impression that it's going to be an overnight activity.
▶ 0:59:27But if the dollars were there, planning and the completion of those that already began, their plans can take place to ensure that our nation has the best available next generation 911 systems. >> thank you for that.
▶ 0:59:42Uh, sheriff dicus, san bernardino county, uh, as you said, has more than 20,000mi and geographically very diverse, including urban density, national forest, mojave desert, uh, does just one communication, service or technology reach every part of your your jurisdiction? And if not, how does your department, uh, handle, uh, that and ensure that you've got maximum communication across the county? >> chairman. That's an excellent question.
▶ 1:00:11So it's really a combination of multiple systems. So for instance, in our computer, in terms of answering calls for deputy sheriffs, we run two communication cards. One is firstnet and the other is a verizon uh card. And the reason is, is coverage for a county that vast. I mean, it takes 4.5 hours to drive across.
▶ 1:00:30And then, of course, our legacy 800mhz systems, which really is the backbone that we depend on having the ability for a deputy to either get on the radio or get on a cell phone and accomplish the task that they've been asked to do. >> appreciate that. Um, I have this question, I guess would be for anybody here, but, um. What? It's sort of a building on what I asked. Doctor.
▶ 1:00:55I understand funding is an issue, but are there other things congress can do to sort of help cut through and make this nationwide deployment possible? Are there other issues out there that that we need to resolve or intervene on behalf of that, that you can think of? I'd open that to any of the witnesses. >> uh, I'll take it, chairman. It's been my own experience. Uh, governance and policy issues.
▶ 1:01:20When you're talking about critical infrastructure that you're placing across the country, uh, especially when you're going through different jurisdictions, they obviously have different policies and different governance, creating a national standard so that you can overcome those types of obstructions, making sure we're able to build out that critical infrastructure so that we can all communicate across the board, which is why I've saved really important for this group to take a look at and provide that consistency in that platform for the build out for all the states. >> all right.
▶ 1:01:50>> I'd like to add to that the obvious importance, of course, is planning. And so I think it's important that if funding were made available, it is important to recognize how that funding is made available. Is it something that you do on an incremental basis, a first tranche of funding for planning and early rollout, a second tranche of funding for the deployment and of course, the final tranche for completion.
▶ 1:02:17So I'm asking that congress can be creative in how they fund next generation. 911 the governance aspect is vitally important. You want to make sure that, however funds are available, that those funds work within the processes, the procedures that state 911 administrators and local governments actually have in place in order to utilize the funding that would be available for the purpose of deploying next generation. >> 911 great, I appreciate that.
▶ 1:02:48Uh, this time I'll recognize our ranking member, gentlelady from california for five minutes for her questions. >> thank you very much, Mr. chairman. Um, california public broadcasting stations like sacramento, kvie play a critical role in public safety from providing wildfire outbreak alerts to delivering early earthquake warnings within seconds.
▶ 1:03:08This summer, president trump and congressional republicans gathered more than $1 billion in funding to our local public television and radio stations, funding that our local stations rely on to provide a fail safe path for americans to receive life saving emergency alerts, warnings and evacuation routes. Mr. right. I think you agree that we do need this public funding. It's really critical for public safety.
▶ 1:03:33And, well, I say this too, but can private for profit networks sufficiently place public media's role in public safety communications? >> thank you. Congresswoman, I appreciate your question.
▶ 1:03:46You know, I think that public broadcasting to start with is is very unique, uh, in our media ecosphere here in the country, the recession has had profound impacts already in terms of local services that stations like yours in sacramento have been able to make, but now may be having to cut. I think the the unique advantages that the public broadcasting infrastructure brings to bear are what we need to focus on. And some of those are we have a unified approach.
▶ 1:04:16We have a system that reaches the entire country. Uh, we have a culture that's built around public safety and public service. Uh, it's not a profit motive, uh, that is incorporated into our dna, our dna, and our culture is built around public safety and public service. So do I think that we are uniquely qualified with the investment that the american people have made through the decades, to really take advantage of this infrastructure, to enhance public safety, to enhance service to the american people.
▶ 1:04:46I think the future belongs to public broadcasting when it comes to creating these public safety solutions. >> right. I agree with you there. Um, this committee played a pivotal role in standing up the nationwide public safety broadband network, or firstnet. I have long advocated for strong and effective governance over firstnet, as it holds significant responsibility over the use of highly valuable spectrum and public funding.
▶ 1:05:13Doctor foss is firstnet solving public safety communications needs? If you had the power to fund additional public safety priorities, would you focus on and how much money it costs? >> yes, I am going back. Thank you for that question. Actually, I'm going back now. Um, several years. >> not too far back now, because we don't have much time here. >> I know, I believe me, the fact of the matter is, public safety did not have access to a nationwide public safety broadband network.
▶ 1:05:42Now we call this firstnet or the firstnet authority that oversees this public safety broadband network. I'm not here to say that that network should be sunsetted. What I am saying is that network does provide a service.
▶ 1:05:57What I do believe, however, is that when you're considering, uh, the reauthorization of firstnet, that you take a look at all of the ways that have or issues that have been identified by the inspector general's reports regarding the authority's oversight of that. I also believe that we're now in a world of competition in public safety, broadband networks. We didn't have that in 2012.
▶ 1:06:25So we have companies like verizon or t-mobile or others coming online that provides opportunities for public safety to utilize broadband networks. I believe that public safety is best served when they are in control, and they are capable of making decisions as to what network. >> I want. >> to ask.
▶ 1:06:49>> sheriff dicus, as this committee addresses firstnet reauthorization, how can we best strengthen our first responders access to reliable, resilient, and dedicated communications systems? >> um, ranking member it's certainly my opinion, and I've experienced this firsthand. In a county that's as large as san bernardino, the build out of firstnet is critical. And the reason being is I always explain it's what's in the dirt that supports us. So we talk about fiber.
▶ 1:07:16And some of my colleagues up here, there's a lot of these things that are not in the ground, but yet we still respond to critical infrastructure. And in my county, we're talking about rare earth minerals and things that as you spread out to the unpopulated areas of the county that could still potentially be attacked. So the build out of firstnet to provide that priority broadband system, to be able to move that information is critically important.
▶ 1:07:39Also, there are layers of this, and the layers look something like not just getting the call to the first responder, but managing it, getting them the best intelligence, being able to transfer pictures, being able to transfer audio where a lot of drone technology is coming into public safety right now, being able to do that real time video, and it takes a broadband network to be able to transfer modern, modern types of communication. >> okay. Thank you very much. And I've run out of time.
▶ 1:08:06So I yield. >> thank the gentlelady. Uh, recognize the chairman of the full committee, Mr. guthrie, for your questions for five minutes. >> thank you. I want to start with the sheriff. And in kentucky, we have 120 counties. Uh, and in the our founding fathers decided they wanted a county seat within a horse, a day's horseback ride. You can go back and forth.
▶ 1:08:26So we have a lot of counties I remember driving to from nevada to las vegas and and I looked at my wife, I said, you know, in about three hours into our drug, we've been in one county the whole time we were in san bernardino county. So it's good you're here because you have a perspective of an urban area and, and, and broad spaces and wide open spaces and the hottest place on earth, right. Needles, california, the hottest city in america or something like that. But if I remember. So here we are talking about firstnet, and that's what's important.
▶ 1:08:54And it was created in 2012, expires in 2027. So we have to so so sheriff discus with your experience. And and I know you've talked about it in your opening statement. Some questions. But just as a user of firstnet just what do you think we need to do different in this reauthorization that makes your job easier or better? We can serve our citizens better. >> well, certainly fund it and then continue to expand it.
▶ 1:09:18There are still a lot of rural areas across this country that are not covered, and having a priority type broadband system only for public safety with preemptive technologies to where if the traffic gets too much, say there's a disaster somewhere else, they can move to make sure that that specific agency or jurisdiction has priority within the system. Um, and, and I think with ai, there are still so many things to come.
▶ 1:09:43Technically, having a robust broadband network to be able to ingest whatever types of new communications we're going to receive is critically important to moving public safety forward and managing major critical incidents. >> so due to the size of your county, I don't know how many counties california has, but your county is large, as we described. Um, you used multiple service providers across your county, right? And I know that's probably necessary.
▶ 1:10:09And does it affect your ability to do your job by having different service providers in your, in your own jurisdiction? >> so in the past, in my damn patrol, absolutely it did. You actually had to be aware of where your your radios, how far they reached, uh, phones and things of that nature. So you had to manually change the radios. Now with modern technology, the computer actually switches between which service provider has the most signal strength. And same thing with our radio systems.
▶ 1:10:36But even the manual radio systems have advanced in technology to know whether or not a deputy sheriff or law enforcement officer may be lying on the ground versus standing straight up. So the data you're getting in terms of intelligence on the call is really second to none. And making sure we posture ourselves for that in the remote places like needles is critically important. >> the world's largest thermometer. Right.
▶ 1:10:58The, uh, so the, um, so your ability to do your job, the technology has compensated for the fact you have multiple jurisdictions, multiple providers in your jurisdiction. So it's. >> it certainly has helped. Yes. >> okay. Thanks. And also, uh, unfortunately, we've seen cyber attacks, uh, disrupt 911 systems and dispatch centers. So, sheriff and Mr. newton, um, the question from your perspective, what more can the federal government do to help local law enforcement and public safety agencies strengthen their cyber security?
▶ 1:11:28>> as I mentioned in my opening, uh, we've experienced a cyber attack. And as the sheriff, all of a sudden you have these conflicting issues. And number one is talking about maybe some governance or policies that relates to cyber security insurance for counties like mine. And the reason the reason being is they bring in expertise to be able to manage those and get you your systems back up. But talking about our computer automated dispatch system, it took us down. Most sheriffs for all of you, a lot of our local agencies, we rely on our backbone.
▶ 1:11:58So we talk about security switches, in our case, california law enforcement telecommunications system. Even though we still had voice technology to communicate to the cops on the radio, think about being able to get warrants processed. You could be out with a dangerous felon and not get it. So, uh, absolutely, 100% critical to keep this moving forward and look at things outside of not just the technology, but also the support and how to get it quickly. >> okay, Mr. newton, how can the federal government help in cybersecurity situations?
▶ 1:12:28>> I think expanding the work that we already do, the collaborations with the fbi and the cybersecurity infrastructure security agency, um, the common theme of reliable funding, uh, what we see, uh, we had a very similar experience as the sheriff in our community, uh, in which it's a continuity event for us that our ability to do mission essential functions is interfered with.
▶ 1:12:54And so our ability to, you know, bring in resources. And how do we keep how do we stay in the business of providing government services, uh, during these events? And then I think, uh, continuation of, uh, vulnerability assessments of looking at, uh, it's a it's a big patchwork quilt across this country, uh, and especially in the, in the world of cybersecurity, we have got to invest the time and effort, uh, into where do we stand?
▶ 1:13:23Where do we need to be? How do we get better? >> thank you, I yield back. >> thank you. Chairman. The chair now recognizes the ranking member of the full committee. Mr. pallone, for your five minutes of questions. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. For more than a decade, this committee has worked to pass legislation to upgrade communications systems and 911 centers around the country. And it's a bipartisan endeavor that will improve emergency response and save lives.
▶ 1:13:48And that's why I was so disappointed that my republican colleagues passed their big, ugly bill without any plan to use the proceeds from spectrum auctions for programs that serve the public interest, like next generation 911. So I have two questions, Mr. fontes. Mr. fonts, you have been a strong advocate for using spectrum auction proceeds to fund public safety priorities.
▶ 1:14:11Can you explain why authorizing the fcc's auction authority for ten years without funding next generation 911 is a setback for public safety and first responders, if you will. >> thank you. I was around when the commission first received authorization from congress to auction spectrum, and that has and continues to be a success.
▶ 1:14:34It was unfortunate that that authority lapsed efforts continued to provide spectrum for our commercial and noncommercial uses for the commercial space, and easy and efficient way to allocate and license spectrum is through auction authority. Now, we're in a situation where spectrum can be auctioned, but the ability to use auction revenues to fund next generation 911 doesn't exist. So there are opportunities here.
▶ 1:15:04I would first off, take a look at the fcc and say, look, I know you have proceedings in the 4.9 gig ban or other proceedings here that may not fall within the purview of the restrictions or the reallocations of 911 funding under the reconciliation bill. Are there opportunities there to take a look at additional spectrum that could possibly be auctioned off to support funding for next generation 911?
▶ 1:15:34>> okay. And then the second question is, um, that some have suggested that congress needs to seek a new cost estimate for next generation 911 before passing a bill, but I don't I think this is not only unnecessary, but also further delays, long overdue action to invest in our public safety networks. So, doctor, do you think we need another cost estimate for next generation 911? >> no, but I think raising the question is an appropriate thing to ask.
▶ 1:16:03You know, do we need additional research or studies to assess cost? I don't think we do. And the reasons are, first off, the fcc collects as part of their annual 911 report, uh, how much states are investing in next generation 911? So that would give a clear indication of how states are progressing in their efforts to deploy next generation. 911.
▶ 1:16:28I also think that if the allocation of funds were available and managed correctly and working with state nine one authorities, local governments and so forth, we would be able to see how that money is rolled out and deploying next generation 911 so as to not just dump a pot of money and say, okay, it's yours. Have fun with it. It's looking at a pot of money and managing it wisely. And who knows?
▶ 1:16:58With state investment as well as federal investment, we may achieve next generation 911 sooner rather than later. >> well thank you. I'm going to ask Mr. newton and Mr. wright if you have time. Um, I think you know that, um, uh, Mr. bilirakis and I have a bill, um, the am radio for every vehicle act. And I know, Mr. newton, you emphasized the need to ensure access to am radio and vehicles.
▶ 1:17:26Um, can I ask you, Mr. newton, and if time. Mr. right. Can you explain why access to a a am radio and vehicles is vital for protecting the public during disaster situations? And what are the potential consequences if new vehicles do not include access to am radio? Start with Mr. newton and see if we have time for Mr. wright. >> thank you sir. The am is it remains important to us, remains relevant to us.
▶ 1:17:51As far as alerts and warnings, it covers greater than 90% of the population of where americans live now. Uh, it's something that's, uh, you know, we we enjoy that as being a, an existing pathway to, to make these notifications as we migrate. If vehicles are allowed to migrate away from having it guaranteed that it has an am radio in it. Uh, and then we're faced with we've lost a tool in the toolbox.
▶ 1:18:19Uh, and I think it again, it still remains relevant today. Uh, it, you know, just as relevant as an ip based tool. >> all right. And there's only seven minutes. Mr. wright, you want to say anything quick? >> sure. Make no mistake about it, am radio is a critical tool in the tool chest.
▶ 1:18:3952 public radio stations operate in the am band, and am is the perfect, perfect vehicle for a project like beacon for an always on alerting channel. >> thank you. Thank you, Mr. chairman. >> thank you. Now recognize the gentleman from georgia, the vice chair of the subcommittee. Mr. allen, for five minutes for your questions. >> thank you, chairman hudson, for holding this important hearing today. And to our expert witnesses. Thank you for joining us.
▶ 1:19:05Last year, my district suffered catastrophic damage and loss from hurricane. This was a once in a hundred year hurricane. Never before have we seen such damage in both the central savannah river area and all of eastern georgia. Uh, you can imagine 100 year old trees and losing 40% of our tree scape.
▶ 1:19:28And, uh, in fact, the first press conference that we, uh, had with the governor there, the state director was asked the question, how do we know where the shelters and the water and the food supplies will be the locations? And he said, go to our website. We had no power, no internet. And of course, all the television stations were there covering the press conference and no television for ten days.
▶ 1:19:57So you can see that we've got some work to do. In the weeks after this hurricane, we had, uh, disruptions, uh, as I mentioned, and danger to both personal safety and property, uh, simply reinforce I want to simply reinforce how vital it is that we guarantee our public safety officials can always be assured that their communications will not be disrupted, especially during times of emergency. Uh, sheriff dockets. And, uh, Mr.
▶ 1:20:26Newton, how has the market for public services changed in the last ten years? >> so the market going going back to your point and you brought up a great point. Okay. The website's not available. How do we know one of the things we're doing in our county. And obviously everybody has one of these cell phones for the most part now is creating apps. We have ready sb county as the app.
▶ 1:20:48So a lot of the predictive technologies of what will happen in a fire, flood, mudslide, uh, we had snowmageddon similar to kind of what you're describing that we in southern california, of all places, uh, but the market going, it's kind of we've talked about various medias here today. The market is really all the media is, and we're looking at things generationally. Also, certain people ingest things differently than others. And if we don't take that into part of this conversation, then we're missing the point. Same thing with first responders.
▶ 1:21:17If we don't develop a robust broadband network, they're going to figure out how to do it on their own with this device here. So, um, the market has changed significantly. And then also you talk about let's go into the sky. In my county, I have the san andreas fault. I have two main dispatch centers for that purpose. And that purpose alone in terms of engineering, um, reports that have been done, if that fault goes, they are going to certainly separate.
▶ 1:21:41We're also looking at starlink and looking at the sky so that we can not just have our safety broadband network, but augment it to where we can hit a satellite and still communicate voice over ip with the systems that we're talking about here today. >> okay, Mr. newton. >> thank you. A lot of the areas that I respond to, uh, just these conditions, they change. Uh, what's working today? Uh, may not necessarily be working tomorrow.
▶ 1:22:11Uh, we have, uh, I believe, in yancey county. Uh, we had at least 13 a-frame, uh, sandwich boards that in, in central parts of different communities. That's how we shared information, uh, for the first several weeks, uh, we in during halloween, uh, we also were able to take advantage of low earth orbit satellite systems.
▶ 1:22:33Uh, I think there's still an opportunity for the very small aperture, uh, satellite systems, uh, to keep some of these other devices online. Uh, we would much rather have an actual cell site instead of a deployable, uh, but our ability to work through that and in fact, many communities.
▶ 1:22:52Now, once the deployables were introduced by the carriers, uh, we have now invested in our own, uh, and we just coordinate with the carriers to make sure that we're not the cause of harmful interference. >> Mr. newton. Uh, obviously. Uh, do you feel better about the options that we have today versus ten years ago? And why did you choose firstnet? Uh, over another service. >> so we choose we actually have a diverse, uh, series of systems that we use.
▶ 1:23:21So we use, uh, the big three, uh, you know, firstnet, verizon and t-mobile, uh, because again, in my office, we can't fail. Everything always has to work. Uh, what firstnet has given us is that that dedicated core specifically for public safety, that the use of band 14, which they were allocated, uh, that allows, uh, again, dedicated to public safety activities.
▶ 1:23:46Um, I know during tropical storm chantal, uh, I took advantage of it when I had to set off our fire system. Uh, I was able to. I was in the midst of the storm. I was able to connect using my firstnet device to our, uh, the off the shelf software that actually sets off our wi-fi system. >> okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. To our witnesses. I have a few more questions I'll submit for the for the record. And I appreciate your response on that. And I yield back, Mr.
▶ 1:24:16Chairman. >> thank you. I'll now recognize the gentleman from florida, Mr. soto, for five minutes for your questions. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. >> and let me start with a thank you. I know we have a lot of law enforcement, firefighters, first responders in the room, uh, including the sheriff. Uh, we appreciate all that you do to help protect us. And that's what this discussion is about today. Saving lives and, um, responding to emergencies, including natural disasters. Um, I represent central florida. We have urban, suburban and rural areas.
▶ 1:24:44And so we have to respond to all different types of scenarios. Uh, for years, this committee has had a lot of great bipartisan work, uh, using spectrum auction funds. The firstnet, which we heard from today about rip and replace to help remove, uh, chinese telecommunications equipment that is spying on americans and, of course, broadband deployment.
▶ 1:25:08But we've seen a departure from that from that lately with the the deeply unpopular big ugly law using that spectrum funding for the first time for billionaire tax cuts over public safety and disaster response. I know for florida, that is not a good deal for us.
▶ 1:25:27Added mass firings at fema, uh, cuts to next generation warning systems, uh, through public broadcasting, through the rescission package, um, as well as a rural broadband program that's been stalled for eight months, ever since the president got elected. Uh, this partizanship has come at a really terrible time. Uh, we see hurricanes getting more extreme due to climate change in florida. Uh, and we're we got three months to go. I know Mr. right knows what I'm talking about there.
▶ 1:25:55Uh, and, uh, our farmers, they're being hammered right now. Trump's tariffs, rising input costs and a shrinking farm workforce due to mass deportation. The least we could do is get them internet, uh, as quick as we can. And then as far as public safety, um, we can reduce crime and enhance public safety by continuing to fund the cops program to support local law enforcement. We see a cut requested by the president for the cops program.
▶ 1:26:21I think we need to stand strong in congress to support our local law enforcement, and we could reauthorize firstnet with potential improvements and reforms that we're here to talk about today, as well as next generation 911, including satellite. When I, which I know Mr. newton talked about, among other technologies. Uh, sheriff dicus, thank you for being here. I know Mr. aguilar would be pleased to know that you're here today. Uh, and and I know Mr. ruiz as well.
▶ 1:26:48Uh, my first question, you had mentioned that next generation 911 gives you better situational awareness. So I wanted to, um, give you an opportunity to elaborate. How does it give you better situational awareness? >> I'm so glad you asked that question. So when we talk about it, I'll just give you an example. We have an app called quick capture. We're fortunate to have esri. The gis works for dod and does a number of things using gis technology. But I'll give you an example of a fire.
▶ 1:27:19When we go in, we give a warning. You generally have a law enforcement officer go through the same neighborhoods and say, hey, this could be coming. Get ready to go, that type of thing. We'll have people that say whether they're going to go or refuse to go. We can immediately with this application using gis technology, which runs on a broadband network, to be able to say, shannon dicus is not leaving. So now when it goes from a warning to mandatory, we know we can go directly back to him. Look, it's imminent. The fire is going to hit here. You have to leave now.
▶ 1:27:47So that situational awareness of the public, also situational awareness of your deputies and law enforcement officer and fire personnel in the field. Then also we remember after action reports are critically important. So we do a better job next time. We can map every place a law enforcement officer or firefighter was at to see if we hit the proper coverage areas, what communication systems we're working and got us to those points. So it's it's it's it's amazing the technology that's available to law enforcement and first responders.
▶ 1:28:17Now to really do that analysis and give folks like you feedback to give you really what I call street view. >> thank you. Chair. Mr. wright, welcome to washington. Uh, you talked about, uh, the the beacon, uh, uh, radio station and, and, uh, how critical is public broadcasting to our rural areas around alachua county, south osceola and orange county? Uh, we all know when all else fails, fails. The car radio is is the last resort.
▶ 1:28:46I know that from personal experience. If you could discuss that a little bit. >> sure. Well, thank you for your question. You know, truly, the infrastructure that the american taxpayers and congress has invested in for decades in the public broadcasting transmission system. That truly is our last mile. The discussions about enhanced 911 are great, and this hits personally very close to home. My son in law is a missouri state trooper in saint louis. I sit on the florida highway patrol advisory council.
▶ 1:29:15I understand how critically important that is, that the public is able to communicate or first responders are able to communicate. But once we get that information to our agencies, then they're alerting and their advisory information has to get to the public in a very resilient environment. And that's what that public broadcasting infrastructure investment has been about for 50 to 60 years.
▶ 1:29:41We need to maintain that investment to ensure that the citizens of florida and south carolina and missouri and every other state in the country has easy, unfettered access to these critical alerts and advisories. >> thank you. My time has expired. >> thank the gentleman now recognizes the gentleman from ohio, Mr. latta, for five. >> minutes, chairman. And thanks to our witnesses for being with us today and for holding this really important hearing.
▶ 1:30:06I recently met with the crawford county sheriff's department in my district, where they demonstrated how they utilize firstnet to ensure they have reliable communication to respond to emergencies. And as one of the republicans and one of the early members who was here, that when we created the firstnet program, I must say seeing firstnet deployed through my district and the nation underscores how this true public private partnership has been tremendously successful.
▶ 1:30:35Sheriff dicus, if I could start with you, congress created firstnet, ensured public safety has a seat at the table when the coverage decisions are made. And let me say early on when we've had those initial hearings, uh, there was a kind of a disconnect where washington thought it was going to impose its decisions and how it thought was going to run, and kind of forgot to talk to the folks at the local and state levels. And fortunately, we saw a real change that came about from that.
▶ 1:31:02But could you speak to the uniqueness this network offers for the public safety community when we when we talk about firstnet? >> absolutely. First of all, you mentioned it, and I think this is where major county sheriffs becomes the the best resource for all of you. And it's what I mentioned earlier in terms of street view. How are our troops out there on the streets actually interacting and what works the best, and to have our opinions about these things.
▶ 1:31:28But when you talk about governance and the way that firstnet has rolled out for the first time, law enforcement and those professionals that are using that are part of those groups in terms of the implementation across the country and certainly in our state and locally. So it gives us a voice we haven't had before, but more importantly for all of you, allows you to hear how this affects us, what's going on in the streets and how we use that technology to better service to the public.
▶ 1:31:54>> you know, in your testimony, uh, your first infrastructure security, uh, you've got some, you know, some areas in here that are kind of scary because we're talking about, you know, you responded to the vandalism sabotage target of acts of terrorism against towers and network, um, uh, modes. And, you know, you're talking about wanting to make sure you have the resilience of the system. It requires both digital and physical security measures. Could you talk about this?
▶ 1:32:18I kind of probably know what you're talking about on the security side, but what about on the digital side on how you protect it? >> so it was mentioned and we just kind of surface touched it on the digital side related to cybersecurity, having almost do type of audit processes for our system. We're talking about critical information not just to service the public, but also to different assets across the united states, critical infrastructure that we all work to protect.
▶ 1:32:46Um, it's almost a ten year anniversary of what we call december 2nd. But the second largest terrorist attack occurred in san bernardino county. Um, and in that area, at first, when those things happen, you don't know. Is that the primary target? What's the purpose? So you start setting out to look at your critical infrastructure, the physical protection, and from a cybersecurity perspective, being able to protect those. But it's really the audits and identifying the vulnerabilities leading up to that, both on the physical side and the technical side.
▶ 1:33:14And there's a lot of expertise here at the federal government level. If that could be shared with the locals, that would certainly enhance those security measures. >> excellent. Um, Mr. newton, as you know, there is a sunset for the first night program, and congress will need to reauthorize it by the end of 2026. Is there any length of time you believe would be appropriate for reauthorization? >> and I'm sorry, could you repeat that? >> yeah.
▶ 1:33:38Um, with the sunset for that program, and congress would need to reauthorize it by the end of 2026. Do you believe there's any length of time that would be appropriate for the reauthorization for firstnet? >> uh, overall, it's a 2025 year project. Um, I don't really have a clear opinion on it. I think what's important to me is the oversight, uh, is the make sure we're meeting the goals that we set.
▶ 1:34:06I think it's establishing, you know, again, one of the things I bring up frequently is recovery time objectives, uh, you know, making sure that those are being met, uh, and especially with the, each new disaster because they're not going to be fewer, uh, the next one that we see, let's revisit it. And how are we doing? What progress are we making? Um, so I don't I'm not sure I can put a time frame on that. >> okay. Let me just follow up.
▶ 1:34:34In my last 33 seconds I've got here, you know, in your experience, responding to disasters, has that ipa system been effective for transmitting emergency alerts to impacted communities? >> and I'm sorry. >> yeah. In your experience, responding to disasters has the ipa system been effective for transmitting emergency alerts to impacted communities? >> yes. Uh, I think the technology is effective.
▶ 1:35:00I think that the things that we need to work on is I our training, uh, our ability to set the systems off, our reliance on it, and the public's response to a warning. Do they behave? They do. They actually do the response that we've asked them to, the protective action. >> thank you very much. My time has expired, I yield back. >> thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from california, Mr. ruiz or doctor ruiz, for five minutes for your questions. >> thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:35:28As a physician and member of congress representing medically underserved rural southern california, I cannot overstate the importance of reliable broadband infrastructure for public health and safety in rural communities across the coachella valley and imperial valleys and in rural san bernardino county, uh, in my district, access to emergency care and telehealth can mean the difference between life and death.
▶ 1:35:53Many residents, including working families, face barriers care due to poor internet connectivity. These challenges are worsened by long travel distances, provider shortages, and the recently passed republican big ugly bill are going to make those worse. Nearly $1 trillion to medicaid cuts, uh, hospitals will close, meaning people are going to be more uninsured, needing more specialty care, increased chronic illness.
▶ 1:36:21They're going to have to travel longer distances. So it's like we took ten giant steps back in one, and we're trying to make one tiny step forward with this hearing. And broadband is no longer a luxury. It is essential infrastructure for the common good. Rural residents are at risk for not having good broadband and and uh, and not having connection is a risk for chronic illness.
▶ 1:36:48In 2019, the fcc found that 17% of rural americans lack broadband versus only 1% of urban residents. The cdc also links poor internet access to higher rates of chronic conditions and worse health outcomes. Having broadband is a social determinant of health. Broadband is vital for veterans patient managing chronic diseases, remote monitoring and seniors relying on remote specialists.
▶ 1:37:14It is also important for first responders to respond to emergencies. Uh, sheriff dicus, from your perspective, how do unreliable broadband and outdated safety networks hinder law enforcement coordination during disasters? >> I'm sorry, doctor reeves, a number of things that you said we use regularly, I think you've experienced where you actually have an emergency situation in the field. You're talking to the doctor at the emergency room before you even move the patient. So those things are critically important.
▶ 1:37:46Broadband across the rural areas as you're requesting. But it's even something simpler as saving lives. So unfortunately, we deal with a lot of school shootings and things with major county sheriffs and law enforcement really across the nation. If you think about your ability to have that situational awareness, you're going after the threat. You're trying to stop the threat. But there are children that have been shot. Being able to direct your medical emergency personnel into them saves lives. You can't just secure the area. You've got to move.
▶ 1:38:14It is a moving, actionable, ongoing event. >> let me ask you another question. Does needles in lake havasu, the area in san bernardino that I represent, I use ng9 one one. >> they they are they're transitioning. And that's a very unique area because of the borders involved, as you well know. And even on the lake, we have multiple jurisdictions as a result of that. So yes, we are using that technology. >> thank you.
▶ 1:38:38Um, we you know, because we need to modernize and expand our emergency communication systems, uh, which is why I strongly support the next generation. 911, our 911 call centers must be able to receive real time text, photos and videos to enhance emergency response and protect both callers and first responders. But this only works if the digital backbone is strong. In my district, we have already seen the consequences of aging infrastructure.
▶ 1:39:04Copper wire theft has disrupted 911 service, delaying emergency response and endangering lives, according to the gao. Insufficient broadband infrastructure in rural areas contributes to slower response times, as first responders cannot always access critical information in real time. Slower response time in the emergency department means if you're having a stroke, you're more likely to die or have permanent damage. Same thing with cardiac arrest or heart attacks.
▶ 1:39:30Uh, doctor fonts, given your leadership at national emergency number association, what should congress do to retire old systems and equip public safety answering points or psap for ng9 one one? >> thank you for your question. I'm looking at public safety writ large from the field responders to the public, who calls 911 the weakest link in this whole chain is next generation 911.
▶ 1:39:55You talk about broadband capabilities that the public would have available to them, and the ability to transmit information to 911. Well, if that 911 center is not next generation 911 capable or is voice centric. In other words, rich information is removed. You lose valuable information, valuable time, what congress can do. And I've said this in multiple occasions. >> five seconds.
▶ 1:40:23>> is to ensure funding for next generation 911. >> thank you. And with that, I yield back my time. >> well done. Thank you. Uh, the chair now recognizes the gentleman from virginia, Mr. griffith, for five minutes to ask your questions. Thank you very. >> much, Mr. chairman. >> I appreciate it, Mr. newton. >> I know that, uh. >> you're part. >> of north carolina is a little bit east of the part that I border. But my district is very mountainous, and I.
▶ 1:40:47I border a big chunk of north carolina from henry county, which would be martinsville area all the way to where the virginia north carolina line ends. Um, we weren't hit as hard, but we were hit by helene. And interestingly, uh, in the areas most hard hit, all of my cell service went down.
▶ 1:41:09Uh, so I'm out driving around the day afterwards and actually had an employee who I lost for several hours. And the good news is we didn't have any, uh, water fatalities. We had two that were related to wind. Uh, but we didn't have any actual water fatalities in my district. But we had significant damage. And all the cell phones, towers, whatever, for whatever reason.
▶ 1:41:33And it was it turns out it was different reasons in different areas because I tried to find a common thread and couldn't. So what can we do to, uh, to harden our communication infrastructures so that we don't have that problem? Again? Because in grayson county, they had one hot spot in in downtown independence. Right on. And that's on the north carolina border in, um, damascus.
▶ 1:41:55We had to bring in, uh, uh, low earth orbit starlink. There was a mobile unit available in wise county that the health wagon brought over. Um, and then later firstnet showed up, apparently, or or in some kind of conjunction there eventually. But what can we do to harden our existing structure? And should we be looking at leapfrogging to go to low earth orbit as a part?
▶ 1:42:23I know person that's looking at that, but what what should we be doing? Because every locality has problems, uh, particularly in western, uh, north carolina and southwestern virginia, they all have problems coming up with the funding and low-earth orbit. Looks like it's a more affordable way to go than some of the others. What say you? >> so I think there's there's a couple of different approaches that that are relevant here. I think there is the trying to prevent a site from going down.
▶ 1:42:53And then there's also trying to compress the time that that site is down if we do meet that threshold. So I think the preventing the site from going down, uh, you know, harding measures at the sites things to prevent vandalism. There's the things that cause our problems or they lose a link on, uh, fiber link so they don't have data or they lose power. Uh, and usually those are not independent of each other. Usually we have some combination of that.
▶ 1:43:19So, uh, on the side of losing the connectivity, um, what we found and this is, you know, as low earth orbit satellite constellations are improved, this will likely change. But there's also a capacity issue with those. So we may balance it with a vsat, which is slightly slower, but a more dedicated card out. >> right. For everybody back home. >> vsat I'm sorry. Uh, variable or very small aperture.
▶ 1:43:45Uh, terminal. Okay. Uh, it's a satellite service. It's in geosynchronous orbit. Slightly lower bandwidth, but there's still it's a carved out dedicated pathway. Uh, what we saw is early on our low earth orbit satellite terminals, the starlink, uh, they provide us connectivity very quickly. Very easy, easy to deploy. At some point, you reach a capacity.
▶ 1:44:14Uh, so there's that side of it. There's also in what we do in our state, usc, what many state eocs do is that combination or that that partnership with the carriers to bring them in to how do we get your services back up? Where are the services down? What can we do to help those carriers get them back up?
▶ 1:44:36And then the last thing I would leave you with would be the, uh, when we had western north carolina, just like in western virginia, uh, the western portion of virginia, uh, are difficult areas to provide data services in. And so what tends to happen is we put all of our carriers on one fiber optic line. And so if that one line is hit by a tree, by a landslide, whatever it may be, then all the services on that fiber line go down. Yeah.
▶ 1:45:04>> and I don't know how you solve that because we've got so many, uh, it's mountainous, there's lots of little valleys and so forth. That's hard. I will say, as far as being able to respond quickly, in tazewell county, the at least the first responders were able to get their system, their radio system back up and running because somebody knew exactly what to do. They went to the tower and started the generator, uh, which for whatever reason, hadn't started itself.
▶ 1:45:29But but one of their, one of their team knew that's where they needed to go. And they got it taken care of fairly quickly in that county. But there were other places where it took days before we we got everything back up and running. Uh, so I do appreciate that. Uh, looks like my time is out. And I appreciate all of you being here today. This is an important issue. Thank you, Mr. chairman, I yield back. >> thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from california, Mr. peters, for five minutes for your questions. Thank you. >> Mr. chairman, for holding this important hearing.
▶ 1:46:00>> and there's been a lot of agreement here. I don't want to go over a lot of ground that's already been tried. I think all of us, uh, in this committee, really want to help our first responders, uh, make the best decisions and keep all of our respective communities safe across the country. Um, I would say, you know, we have suffered a couple setbacks in this effort, um, on funding. One is we had an agreement that, um, we would use spectrum auction proceeds to fund this, and that money went into the big bill.
▶ 1:46:29Um, and so now the work we've done in this committee has taken a little bit of a hit. Um, I would say also, I got to say on rescissions that this is a really difficult thing for this body. You make a deal with the other side and you go, you talk about things like public broadcasting and whether it should be publicly funded because it's broadcasting, or whether it should be publicly funded, because it helps you with emergency access. And we make a deal. We shake hands, the president signs it, and then you go back and you swipe out what you don't like.
▶ 1:46:58And it makes it really hard, uh, to continue to work even on stuff that we agree on, uh, when we do practices like that. So I'm hoping that my colleagues, um, appreciating you may not agree with that particular policy, will understand and maybe resist the temptation to do this anymore. We've got to get back to working together. We've got to get back to understanding that this institution has an independent duty, the power of the purse. We all should stand up for it.
▶ 1:47:25Uh, even on the items, particular items we might not agree with. But when it's important to the whole agreement and the whole ability of us to make progress and trust each other, trust is what it's all about in this room. Um, sheriff dicus, I want to ask you a particular question. Uh, to build on some of the stuff that's happened. I took a ride along with my local police department in san diego. One of the things I noticed was how primitive the technology was in the car, uh, to tell you where to go. And so what I saw, first of all, it's all by radio.
▶ 1:47:54It seems like each officer decides where he or she will go. Uh, based on a screen that looks like it could have been from the 80s. Well, will, um, next generation 911 help in the car? Help those officers get to the right place? Maybe help response times, maybe prioritize calls in a way that we haven't been able to do with technology before? >> the answer is yes, sir. It will.
▶ 1:48:19Um, you are looking at primitive technology, and a lot of it is cost that it does to replace computer automated dispatch systems and things of that nature. And you're running on legacy systems. So instead of using something modern like apple carplay to be able to get from call to call, you're using an archaic system. So you're absolutely right there. That's why you'll see a lot of the officers, I'm sure you did on your ride along actually go to technology like this.
▶ 1:48:42So having that reliable broadband network and what's going to drive that is the amount of data that a first responder can actually ingest. Now you've heard the concept real time crime center. That's the data. That's the data reception center. To be able to work on a broadband network and then transfer that back out to the field so that you have real time operational data. >> how does the federal government participate in making sure that that that technology is available, maybe standardized and maybe ultimately adopted?
▶ 1:49:10>> yeah, I mentioned earlier policy and governance, giving some direct guidelines so that public safety can always be on the latest and greatest system and also the funding sources. Unfortunately, any type of technological advancement you get, you can almost count on as a local agency, there's going to be a 5% uplift every year, and it just becomes cost prohibitive for both counties and local jurisdictions. >> well, I you know, we're from relatively large organizations in terms of sheriff and police. I mean, I imagine that for smaller outfits, it's even more difficult.
▶ 1:49:39I mean, can can the federal government assist with that? >> so it's kind of interesting in terms of the implementation, I call it an accounting as big as your county and as big as mine. I call it the have and have nots. Smaller jurisdictions, if the funding is available, can actually turn much quicker than the larger ones because I have to make what works, as was mentioned out in needles earlier, all the way to my very, um, populated urban areas. So the small areas and small police departments, if they have the money, can usually turn on a dime and get this fairly quickly.
▶ 1:50:09So again, making that funding available. >> well, you're in congress. I think we all appreciate the risk of bureaucracy in larger organizations. So thanks for bringing that up. Um, I would say first, that is up for reauthorization in 2027. I'm glad we're starting meaningful conversations. I've made my caveat about working together. Uh, I hope people take it seriously. Uh, and I hope we can we can make some improvements to improve the program for the benefit of our first responders, who we all care about. And with that, I yield back. >> thank the gentleman.
▶ 1:50:38Recognize the gentleman from florida, Mr. bilirakis, for five minutes to ask you. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. I appreciate. >> it very much. Thanks for holding this hearing. Uh, during my district work period, I was able to tour the citrus county emergency response center under the direction of sheriff david vincent. Uh, and see firsthand how firstnet is facilitating life saving operations for my constituents.
▶ 1:51:03But all over the state of florida, the sheriff highlighted how firstnet has advanced. Uh, it's really enhanced officer safety and response time, specifically, the increased connectivity has allowed, uh, his deputies to be able to upload body cam footage from within their vehicles, as opposed to having to drive to a separate location to upload. So, uh, Mr.
▶ 1:51:31Newton, I have a question from your experience, what can you say about response times and information sharing among emergency personnel pre versus post firstnet implementation? >> thank you for the question. The what we have seen, uh, primarily has been historically. If we had a call for you, we would call you on a land mobile radio and tell you on over voice. Uh, this is where your call is. This is the address.
▶ 1:52:02These are the conditions that are occurring. Uh, and that's if everything worked fine and the weather's great, and the radio transmission went through. Uh, now, that police officer, that sheriff's deputy, that paramedic have a terminal in their car that oftentimes we don't even have to say the words, the call gets sent to them digitally. The information is there. The chance for us to give you an address incorrectly is taken off of the table.
▶ 1:52:27Um, and then the rich content, the if we have video, if we have files associated, if we have a history associated with an address, uh, all of those things are then part of this ecosystem that this responder is now working in. Uh, and that is the most significant change that we've seen, that the rich data that they immediately have access to. >> thank you very much. Uh, next question. Uh, every so often we hear about the 911 outages impacting communities.
▶ 1:52:56Just in july, a911, uh, outage affected six florida counties, including citrus and pasco county, which I represent. Ultimately, in this instance, the outage was due to an inadvertently cut cable. However, it raises questions about emergency operation, redundancy and security. So, Mr.
▶ 1:53:17Newton, again, what procedures do you have in place in the event of a911 outage, and what are your recommendations for ensuring continuity of 911 services that would help prevent the frequency of these outages around the country? >> the biggest threat to any 911 system is a backhoe. The what? What we implement in 911 centers across north carolina, uh, ideally is a disparate pathway.
▶ 1:53:46So physically comes in at a different angle from a different street, if possible. Uh, for fiber lines or any of our backup lines, uh, if that in some cases, that's not, uh, we discussed in western north carolina, sometimes you only have one path, or that last mile may be shared by, uh, you know, two different carriers coming in, but then they share that last mile to your building, your physical structure. Uh, and that is at risk.
▶ 1:54:12One of the projects that north carolina is working on now is an at&t firstnet. Uh, additional backhaul, uh, where an additional avpn or at&t virtual private network that is solely over firstnet. It takes advantage of the the secure, uh, the security of the core of firstnet, and it becomes a wireless, uh, at least is immune to the backhoe.
▶ 1:54:37Uh, that will guarantee that we still have at least one more pathway into that 911 center to provide telephony to provide data. >> thank you for that. Uh, doctor france, uh, looking forward to the future. We must we have a number of hearings. We've had a number of hearings in this committee on ai. Uh, how do you envision ai being utilized to enhance emergency response in the future? And how can congress help to make that a reality?
▶ 1:55:06Doctor france, please. >> thank you. Thank you for that question. I am a real strong believer in any new technology. Ai is is that I think in 911 field right now, it's it's early. It's an early entrant. But looking to the future, to your question, I think I can do a lot to enhance the information coming into the 911 center and ultimately distributed to those who are the field responders. You can do simultaneous translations.
▶ 1:55:34You may be able to, uh, assess the situational awareness by factors that the human eye or the human ear cannot detect so easily. That would allow that nine one professional to perhaps follow up with more specific questions. Being able to garner that information is critically important to make sure that our responders are fully prepared for the situation that they're going to participate in. >> make sense?
▶ 1:56:02I appreciate it very much, and I yield back, Mr. chairman. Thank you. >> thank you. Chair now recognizes gentlelady from michigan, miss dingell for five minutes. >> thank you, Mr. chair. Every day we see firsthand the critical need to modernize our emergency communications infrastructure, whether it's upgrading 911 systems, expanding coverage for first responders, or ensuring our weather alert systems are reliable. These investments directly impact public safety across the country.
▶ 1:56:30Since I've been in congress, I fought for and secured funding to upgrade communications technology because our first responders deserve strong and resilient tools to protect our communities. As co-chair of the ems caucus with chair hudson, I know how critical these issues are. Our first responders work around the clock under immense pressure, and the least we can do is to ensure they have reliable systems that help save lives. These upgrades are tangible.
▶ 1:57:00They include faster response times, uninterrupted 911 service during power outages, and life saving information delivered to our communities. And as the need grows, resources aren't keeping up.
▶ 1:57:14I'm going to join my other colleagues in expressing my concern that the spectrum auction proceeds from president trump's one big I use different adjectives beautiful bill are being diverted to pay for tax breaks rather than use for next generation 911 and other public safety. But having said that, let me start with local weather notification systems. Last year, a tornado struck southeast michigan without any advance warning, resulting in the death of a two year old boy.
▶ 1:57:43To put things in perspective, michigan typically experiences about 13 to 15 tornadoes in in an entire year as of late august 2025. This year, total of tornadoes is 30, more than double the average. And this summer, during another period of extreme severe weather, noaa's all hazardous weather radios went completely offline, leaving parts of my district in the dark.
▶ 1:58:12These radios are essential to public safety, especially in our low connect connectivity communities, where internet and cellular based alerts aren't reliable or available. And when they fail, lives are at risk. That all of you know. Mr. newton, the failure of the noaa radios, coupled with the lack of a tornado tornado warning last year, shows we need more than just a fix. We need redundancy and backup plans.
▶ 1:58:40What should we be doing to strengthen resiliency in our emergency alert systems to ensure they don't fail during life threatening weather events? >> thank you for that question. I thank specifically for the national weather service warning, uh, weather alert radios. Uh, again, it's ongoing. None none of these projects are a one time, uh, they require continued, sustained funding.
▶ 1:59:06Uh, whether it's upgrades, updates, maintenance, uh, the technical expertise to do those, those repairs, all of those are absolutely essential. Uh, I think also, we live in an ecosystem of warning and notification and alert systems, um, that there's no one approach that that successfully warns a public, uh, part of that is also the redundancy that we built in that what we really like about noaa weather alert radios is the fact they make a lot of noise, and they'll wake you up at 2:00 in
▶ 1:59:37The morning, especially for the unexpected, uh, incident that's occurring. Uh, but, you know, encouraging additional, uh, redundancies and defense in depth with more than one way to receive a notification. >> thank you, Mr. wright. We've heard reports that budget constraints and staffing shortages at noaa, the national weather service, fema, may be impacting the ability to upgrade systems and maintain operations.
▶ 2:00:02How do budget cuts and staffing shortages impact coordination and reliability, and the ability to respond quickly to emergencies? >> well, they make an extraordinary impact across the entire spectrum. The scientists, the experts at the national weather service, the national hurricane center, throughout the the noaa culture.
▶ 2:00:20They are the experts that provide us with this alerting information that then flowing through the fema ipaws system goes to the public broadcasting infrastructure, which exists across the entire country and through the pbs warn system, which is the redundant system for our wireless emergency alerts. So these are really critical questions that we have to wrestle with today. But at the end of the day, part of the solution is innovation.
▶ 2:00:51Utilizing the infrastructure that we've been investing in for years and years. And that's the public broadcasting infrastructure. That last mile, our beacon project, which does incorporate artificial intelligence in the most responsible possible way, takes these alerts coming directly from the national weather service, the national hurricane center, county emergency agencies, and then translates those directly into a 24 hour always on alerting channel on the most resilient medium, which is broadcast radio.
▶ 2:01:20We've seen this time and time again in florida and south carolina, where during the worst of times, when these go down and you lose internet connectivity and you lose everything else that people thinks is their final, you know, word, no, no, no, it's broadcast radio and it's the work that's happening through projects like efron and beacon that are making the difference. We have to be afraid.
▶ 2:01:45We have to be not be afraid of innovation and fully utilizing the infrastructure that exists today and investing in that. >> thank you. I know I'm out of time. I'll yield back, Mr. chair, but I have more questions. For the record. >> we'll be happy to have you submit those, and witnesses, I'm sure, will be happy to respond. Uh, I now recognize the gentleman from georgia. Mr. carter, for your five minutes of questions. >> thank you. >> Mr. chairman. And thank you for holding this hearing. And thank all of you for being here.
▶ 2:02:15Emergency emergency communication is certainly important and certainly important in my district. I have the honor and privilege of representing the entire coast of georgia, over 100 miles of pristine coastline. And of course, we have a lot of hurricanes in our area, hurricanes as well as flooding. In fact, hurricane helene was one of the most devastating storms that we've ever had in south georgia. And it, um, it certainly was was a challenge to our emergency communication.
▶ 2:02:42Um, it tore through the home straight through my home state of georgia, and it wreaked havoc on cell towers and on fiber lines and many other resources that were needed to have efficient communication and and went on up, as you know, Mr. newton, into western north carolina. And, and certainly the devastation up there was, was, um, severe. From your experience, Mr.
▶ 2:03:05Newton managing hurricane responses, what communication tools do local emergency managers rely on most when cell towers and power infrastructure are damaged? >> thank you for that question. I usually at that point. So our primary systems, our telephony, what we normally rely on is down, uh, there is no one solution. Uh, but what it tends to be is a combination.
▶ 2:03:32So in the last, uh, during helene, uh, it was a lot of deployables where whether it's a satellite or a cell tower on a light truck or a cow, a cell on wheels, uh, any combination of a whole fleet, uh, across different carriers that to restore cell signals in a, in a small area at the same time, uh, our ability to pass information, uh, through a whole community approach.
▶ 2:04:02We're sharing the am radio stations, pbs radio stations. We're sharing incident information. We're sharing where the shelters are, where water is. Uh, and that's, you know, I'd love to take credit for that, but that's they they took information that we were broadcasting as well as other sources, crafted it together. And they're a trusted local source. And they put that information out as well. Uh, amateur radio, ocs comm, uh, has always been with us. It's always been a tool for sharing information. And so we use that.
▶ 2:04:33Uh, I had never been a huge proponent for low earth orbit satellite internet systems. Uh, I now own at least six, uh, because of that event. >> that's interesting. That's interesting. Well, let me ask you something. What about, um, what about communicating across jurisdictional lines in the state of georgia, we have 159 counties, a lot of counties, more than we really need. But, um, and each of them have their own emergency management system, or at least most of them do.
▶ 2:05:00What are the kind of challenges that you face when you're across jurisdictional lines like that? >> so across jurisdictional lines, you have disparate radio systems. I may be on a conventional uhf or vhf versus a trunked radio system.
▶ 2:05:14Uh, in north carolina, we enjoy a combined 700 800mhz trunked radio system that's statewide, uh, and statewide and has links to virginia, has links to south carolina, has links to georgia, uh, and our ability to to patch things in within that we have we dictate certainly as part of the statewide interoperability committee, uh, we dictate certain interoperability channels and talk groups and frequencies that should be in any radio in that system.
▶ 2:05:43And so as long as I can see you and we have a radio program to the same system, we can find a way to communicate. >> well, let me ask you this. What kind of improvements would you would you like to see after the experience that you had with hurricane helene and the experiences that you've had with other types of natural disasters? What kind of improvements do you think would help local governments the most?
▶ 2:06:07>> uh, local governments, we have that period of time immediately after a disaster, uh, where we could communicate using our traditional means. And there's that that fog of not knowing exactly what's happening, not knowing what resource we use, a pull method. We we generally don't send resources ahead of time until we know what's needed. And that local emergency manager calls it in and say, I need this, I need that. So not having communications is really critical for us.
▶ 2:06:33I think, uh, again, hardening of the especially in the high density areas, cell sites, uh, having a recovery time objective, uh, granted, an eight day recovery of most of our cellular systems, you know, 20 or 80 some percent of it is nothing short of miraculous. It's not enough. We work in these environments. We rely on these systems to communicate. It's a national public safety broadband network.
▶ 2:07:03We needed it back up, right, like all the other carriers. >> well, again, this is extremely important. Thank all of you. Thank all the witnesses for being here. And thank you again, Mr. chairman, for holding this hearing. And I yield back. >> gentleman yields back. Now recognize representative kelly for her five minutes of questioning. >> thank you, Mr. >> chair and ranking member matsui for holding this hearing. And thank you to all of our witnesses for participating.
▶ 2:07:29The recent flooding in illinois second congressional district, which I represent, which is chicago, the suburbs and central illinois, has once again underscored how crucial it is for constituents to have reliable and timely access to public safety alerts during natural disasters.
▶ 2:07:44When cellular networks fail, as we have seen during major emergencies, alternative communication pathways become a lifeline for communities, ensuring that all emergency systems, including 911 telecommunicators and public safety broadcast networks such as firstnet are fully modernized, resilient and properly funded is essential to protecting lives and property. Mr.
▶ 2:08:10Newton, as an emergency management director with decades of experience responding to major disasters, you have first hand knowledge of how critical, reliable communication systems are for an effective emergency response during events like hurricane katrina, widespread outages of cellular networks hampered response efforts and endangered lives.
▶ 2:08:30Based on your experience, what improvements are the most urgent to ensure that firstnet remains resilient and operational during prolonged power outages and physical damage? >> thank you for that question. I echo what I mentioned before. I believe hardening of certain facilities, you know, trying to prevent a single point of failure anywhere in the network.
▶ 2:08:56Uh, I think, uh, you know, sustained funding to not only maintain the network but expand the network. I think the other challenge that we continue to face is coverage in rural areas, uh, and making sure that we continue to expand in those areas as well. >> thank you. Uh, as you've heard, we've all heard that chicago might get a visit from the national guard.
▶ 2:09:18Um, in light of these threats to militarized cities like chicago, how much how much will such actions impact first responder communication systems and their ability to coordinate effectively during real crises? And what improvements are necessary to ensure our public safety? Communication networks can withstand, withstand, and adapt to disruptions in such scenarios.
▶ 2:09:45>> in my opinion, I think that it poses less a technical challenge for us. The capacity is there, the radios are there, the interoperability or frequencies are there. I think it's a leadership challenge in making sure that we have these different groups and different organizations that are operating within the same communities and making sure that they are communicating.
▶ 2:10:06I think the most dangerous thing that we would have would be, uh, two different organizations that are not communicating, um, and create some encounter there. I think that would be my biggest concern is that, uh, you know, regardless of the operations that are occurring. Are we talking. >> um. >> the next generation 911 act is crucial for modernizing emergency communications to handle today's data driven demands.
▶ 2:10:36Yet many communities face barriers to its full deployment. Doctor, is it phones? >> thank you. It is true. >> how would securing full funding for the next generation 911 system improve the ability of emergency services to receive and utilize critical data, including text, photos, videos during emergency calls? >> thank you for the question. And it's a simple question that is very complicated.
▶ 2:11:03The simple question is the simple answer is funding and funding is essential. There is no question about it. Communities, tribal lands, rural areas may have challenges maintaining both the legacy system while they're transitioning to a next generation one system at cost. So there is an opportunity here to move 911 into the 21st century.
▶ 2:11:27As I said earlier, 911 is the weakest link between the public and their broadband capabilities and public safety responders with their broadband capabilities.
▶ 2:11:39911 if in the next generation nine one environment were to actually happen, the information rich associations with those calls coming in will benefit the public, will benefit the ability of responders to respond appropriately for the emergency register. Funding is the key issue. >> thank you so much and it is an issue I have.
▶ 2:12:05Even though I have the city of chicago, I have 4500 farms in my district, two in central illinois, very rural areas. So, so very important. Thank you. And I yield back. >> gentlelady yields back. Now recognize my good friend from the great state of texas, Mr. pfluger, for his five minutes of questioning. >> uh, thank you, Mr. chairman. And I applaud the committee for having this hearing. It's it's obviously very important. And I think a bipartisan issue that we've talked so much today.
▶ 2:12:30Uh, obviously over the summer, we went through, um, a very tragic time and in a, in a place in a location in geographically speaking, that is very hard at times to, to get connected and to send alerts. And so my mind has been there, uh, all summer on, you know, what it means to alert people. And I think this is exactly the type of work this committee should be proud of doing in a bipartisan way. I'll start with the with firstnet. I've recently been connected to firstnet.
▶ 2:13:00After the, um, the events happened. The flooding happened this summer. And, um, wanted, you know, I think it's a good example of a public private partnership and wanted to dig in a little bit. Some of these questions, we've kind of danced around, so they're going to be similar. Um, but, sheriff, I'll start with you. I know that there have been concerns expressed about how to improve the oversight and the transparency, um, of firstnet and the network.
▶ 2:13:23But I want to hear your experiences with firstnet and, um, either challenges with signal strength or the system in general, um, or the positive issues that you've seen from firstnet. >> now, thank you for that question. Mostly what we've seen is positive. The reality in a county as large as mine is, is really the build out.
▶ 2:13:43And it is also communications, in your case in texas, the communications before the event happened, staging things that the locals may need. And a lot of what I see is we're driving down. We in law enforcement, we call this a mutual aid process a lot of times, and I'll say it may sometime be like a political perspective, but it's being driven down. That process works up. We call and ask for those.
▶ 2:14:11We stage assets both federally, state and locally to be able to respond in the event the weather changes. So when we're talking about a broadband network, we're talking about including ai, predictive technologies that can run you through scenarios for the staging of that equipment and prepare the first responders to be much quicker in an event like you experienced is something we need, and firstnet carries that through. We just need more of it so we can guarantee that connectivity. >> well, thank you for that, Mr. newton.
▶ 2:14:40I'll go to you, um, and just refer back to, uh, hurricane helene and the experiences, um, that you saw there from the the wireless emergency alerts. Uh, excuse me, from, uh, from firstnet. Not not getting ahead of myself, but from firstnet on hurricane helene.
▶ 2:15:02>> we saw first and foremost that the partnerships at the state level of coordinating where we're spawning or deploying equipment to where is the need, uh, and then throughout the event, as the event evolved, our ability to move equipment around, uh, and make things work, uh, again, you know, it was a catastrophic disaster for us. It was tremendous damage. Never seen this much from a technical side.
▶ 2:15:28The type of damage that we saw to fiber optic lines, uh, and to power system, uh, our ability to power cell sites. Uh, but the the close partnerships there and the fact that we have, uh, several agencies that have their own deployables. And so I'm able to set up my own firstnet temporary, uh, compact, rapid deployable. Uh, and I think, you know, the challenge I think we'll see in the near future is as that becomes more prolific, we still have to coordinate that with the carrier.
▶ 2:15:58We want to make sure that we're not creating the interference. >> well, that brings up a good, um, just kind of a good point. I mean, sometimes we can't stage, sometimes we can't predict. You know, in the case of the, uh, the floods that happened in my district and in, in kerrville, I mean, that that highlights maybe the need for secondary options, um, and the challenges of getting into those rural places which, whether it's hurricane helene or it's in the hill country of texas or other places, sometimes you can't you can't actually physically get there.
▶ 2:16:28So, um, you know, I want to hear your thoughts on lower low earth orbit, uh, direct to device, um, options that could be helpful in those cases. >> and so one of my staff members deployed to helene the day after, uh, impact. And his task was to bring back connectivity to aps. And I believe, I don't know if it was his first or his 13th piece that that he arrived at.
▶ 2:16:53The person greeted him at the door and said, I, I don't know what an angel looks like, but I believe it's you. Uh, and his role was to bring connectivity to a communication center, uh, who had been in the dark, uh, from the time of impact. And so, uh, I think, in fact, what he deployed was a low earth orbit satellite system, a starlink system that provided wi-fi, and that gave you wi-fi calling.
▶ 2:17:18And that center was then reconnected, both with the public and their families who didn't know those telecommunicators how they fared. >> well, thank you for that. Uh, again, I applaud the committee for the work on, um, reauthorizing and getting firstnet, you know, moving in a, in a positive direction, but also some other options. And I think my time is expired. So I yield back. >> gentleman yields back. Now recognize representative menendez first five minutes of questioning. >> thank you chairman. Thank you to the.
▶ 2:17:46>> witnesses for being here today, especially those who are representing the public safety community. We appreciate your dedication to keeping all americans safe. Mr. chairman, we've heard a lot of talk about strengthening public safety infrastructure from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle today. But the trump administration, congressional republicans have consistently weakened our emergency management systems, endangering the lives of americans and first responders and making us less prepared when disasters strike.
▶ 2:18:12It's not lost on me that we're holding this hearing on the same week as the september 11th terrorist attacks, an anniversary that's particularly salient in my district, which was home to many of the first responders who answered the call of duty that day. And to me personally, I was there across the river in hoboken and later served as a commissioner of the port authority of new york and new jersey.
▶ 2:18:34And so it's my belief that we need to do everything possible to keep our first responders safe, to give them the best equipment and technology that we possibly can, something that will do so long as I get to serve in this role. September 11th also revealed fundamental issues with our nation's public safety communications. And while we've improved our emergency preparedness. Republicans and president trump are heading us in the wrong direction. Republicans have cut funding for public broadcasting, hindered the next generation warning system, and left next generation 911 without a dedicated source of funding.
▶ 2:19:04At the same time, the trump administration has gutted emergency preparedness funding, including fema's building resilient infrastructure and communities program that supported hazard mitigation projects in hoboken, bayonne, newark. All municipalities that have the privilege of representing. It's extremely frustrating and disappointing that we find ourselves here with all the work in progress that we've made. I'd like to start my questioning with the importance of next generation 911.
▶ 2:19:32New jersey has experienced 75 natural disasters, costing over $1 billion over the last 40 years. As a new jerseyan who lived through superstorm sandy, I know how critical it is that we have effective emergency communications infrastructure. Sheriff, just a yes or no is upgrading our nation's emergency communications systems a life saving necessity? >> yes, sir.
▶ 2:19:54>> and, sheriff, how critical is upgrading our next generation 911 systems for the cybersecurity and resiliency of our nation's emergency communications networks? >> critical. >> thank you, doctor fontes, you responded earlier to a question from ranking member pallone that there isn't currently a clear pathway to fund next generation 911 through spectrum auction proceeds. So just a yes or no. Sitting here today, would you feel more confident about the future of next generation 911?
▶ 2:20:24If republicans had not walked away from a bipartisan agreement to fund it through spectrum auctions? >> yes, sir. >> thank you. I'm incredibly concerned that republicans have abandoned this bipartisan agreement that would have used funding from the fcc spectrum auction authority to fund next generation 911, making our public safety networks less secure and less resilient from cyber attacks.
▶ 2:20:46And all of this is happening in the context of the trump administration's cuts to critical cybersecurity initiatives for telecommunications networks at cisa and other agencies. Mr. newton sheriff, does the federal government have an essential role to play with respect to ensuring that we have the cybersecurity capabilities to protect our emergency communication systems? Yes or no? >> yes. >> yes, sir.
▶ 2:21:14>> and should we not be doing more to collaborate with our local agencies who are on the front lines to give you all the resources to ensure that as we improve our communication systems, that their cybersecurity resilient, yes or no? >> yes, sir. >> thank you, Mr. wright. Congressional republicans recently rescinded funding for the corporation for public broadcasting, ending its role in administering the next generation warning system program that helps local communities receive emergency alerts during natural disasters. Mr.
▶ 2:21:43Right is funding for the next generation warning system crucial for our nation's public safety, infrastructure. >> life saving. >> and how have cuts to the corporation for public broadcasting from the republican rescissions package affected funding for the next generation warning system? >> profoundly? Uh, congress, in its wisdom, since fy 22, has appropriated $176 million to the next generation warning system. Thank you. Now we have $100 million that's in limbo.
▶ 2:22:12That money can be put to good use. >> understood. Mr. right. Just yes or no. Following the shutdown of the corporation for public broadcasting, should fema take over administering grants for the next generation warning system? >> yes, I believe it should. >> thank you. That's why I co-led a letter with my colleague, congresswoman barragan, demanding that the acting administration administrator, fema, take action. But in closing, this shouldn't be a republican issue. This shouldn't be a democrat issue. This shouldn't even be a bipartisan issue. This should be nonpartisan.
▶ 2:22:39But we find ourselves in times where this administration and my colleagues across the aisle are being complicit in making us weaker and less secure, and we should be doing the exact opposite. Thank you all so much for being here for all the work that you do. >> thank you. Gentlemen. Now, recognize the gentlelady from indiana for five minutes to ask your questions. >> thank you, Mr. chairman and ranking member matsui, thanks to you, to the witnesses for being here today and for your testimony. Last month, I met with first responders in ripley county, indiana.
▶ 2:23:07I saw firsthand the importance of reliable public safety communications with firstnet. Uh, I've also, um, represented a district that has had its share of natural disasters and know the importance of needing to have clear communication systems throughout. Um, it was great to see them share information on how quickly, uh, and effectively, uh, resources can be deployed and information can be exchanged, uh, with first responders to keep the public safe.
▶ 2:23:37In rural districts like mine, there are areas of the district that are still, um, what I would consider dead spots in terms of communication services with traditional cellular service. So firstnet does provide that additional access for our first responders, uh, in our, uh, less than covered areas. Uh, but communication, as many of you have mentioned, is, is more than convenient. It can be life saving.
▶ 2:24:04Today's hearing reminds us that success requires federal, state, and local partners all rowing in the same direction. In a crisis, no single system can carry the load. True resilience comes from interoperability, making sure radio, cellular, satellite and next generation 911 systems can connect seamlessly so first responders can communicate and share information in real time.
▶ 2:24:30Uh, to the panel, could you speak about the importance of interoperability in public safety communications? What steps should we consider to make sure these systems do work seamlessly across jurisdictions and in our technologies? Start with Mr. newton. >> thank you. Uh, thank, uh, first and foremost, the continued funding for the statewide interoperability coordinators that are located in each state.
▶ 2:24:53Uh, those those individuals really guide the process of, uh, you know, the technology may be there, but then what are the processes? What are the policies and plans, sheriff?
▶ 2:25:08>> communication and technology is what we're focused on obviously today, but it's also the interoperability and knowing who your partners are across those lines prior to settling some of these governance decisions as it relates to technology, but more importantly, knowing each other before the incident happens and you're shaking hands for the first time in the street. >> thank you. >> interoperability is essential and be a key component to next generation 911.
▶ 2:25:31Currently, if I'm typing in or entering data into a cad system and I have to transfer that to another 911 center, the 911 center may have to reenter all that information. The next generation 911 environment. You'll be able to push that data and information out to as many would be as would be appropriate for the response to the emergency. Thank you. >> you know, I've learned a lot working with public safety agencies and emergency managers in florida and south carolina the last ten years.
▶ 2:25:59Uh, not coming from emergency management, I've learned a great deal about how critically important this interoperability is. For them to have access to that information is critically important. They can then make the proper decisions regarding alerting and advising the public. That's where the public broadcasting infrastructure comes into play, that final mile. And that's while supporting that infrastructure is so critically important for the future. >> I guess a follow up question for you, Mr.
▶ 2:26:28Wright, would be what, um, what part, if any, does am radio play in that overall, uh, discussion? >> it plays a huge part. Um, you know, it's interesting, growing up in the midwest, uh, as a child, I remember at night listening to stations like wls out of chicago and a well, that am technology, you know, what's old is new again, when it comes to public safety, it is the most resilient infrastructure that we have.
▶ 2:26:56It's critically important, the am act critically important for passage to support public safety. >> and in rural areas, uh, fiber lines and towers are vulnerable to natural disasters. Um, leaving communities cut off at the exact time that it could be needed most. Um, Mr. newton, how do you see satellite technology shaping the future of public safety communications?
▶ 2:27:20>> I see satellite technology in two respects, one being a exigent temporary solution, uh, to spot problems that that we have an issue here at this one location, uh, that we can use that as a temporary solution. It is also a hardening and redundancy feature of some of these sites, especially in our most remote sites. Um, some of these, uh, in fact, one tower, it was six miles of debris to get to a tower. Uh, it is not practical to get to that during a disaster.
▶ 2:27:50>> thank you again for our witnesses and for your testimony. This hearing underscores how vital it is that our first responders have communications they can rely on, whether it's in rural counties in indiana or urban centers across the country. Lives depend on these systems, and the systems must be resilient, interoperable and secure. I look forward to continuing the work on this issue. Uh, thank you, Mr. chairman, I yield back. >> thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from ohio, Mr. landsman, for five minutes. >> thank you, Mr. chair. And thank you all for being here.
▶ 2:28:20Um, I wanted to talk about sort of the infrastructure that that we need to invest in. Uh, and so I'm just I'm curious, uh, what you all would say moving forward has to be our top priorities. Obviously. I want to get your thoughts on the public broadcasting piece and what should happen, uh, moving forward, what you think needs to this congress needs to do, um, and and it's not a leading question. I'm curious as to what the answer is.
▶ 2:28:48What what could some of the bipartisan solutions be? And then, uh, whether it's next gen nine one, one or the other pieces, what are if you were to make a list of the things that the united states congress should be investing in collectively so that the system, uh, has what it needs, the next iteration, the next generation, so that we are keeping everybody safe. I'm from cincinnati.
▶ 2:29:16I represent both hamilton county and warren county in southwest ohio, uh, and was at city hall for a long time. And so I'm deeply familiar with the the importance of our emergency communication centers. Uh, and what happens when things don't, uh, work out the way they're supposed to? Uh, lives are lost, and it's it's it's it decimates a community.
▶ 2:29:44Uh, and so obviously, we, we want to constantly be getting better from how quickly we pick up the call to how quickly we get a first responder out there. Uh, and in the case of a mass event, how quickly we do everything. So, um, I'm going to stop and just ask, uh, and starting with Mr. wright, can you talk a little bit about the public broadcasting? You have a lot.
▶ 2:30:08And but if you had to pick, you know, your top 2 or 3 things that congress should do moving forward, uh, what would those be? And then what are the other capacity investments that need to be made? >> you know, I thank you for your question. I think the first thing, uh, is to wrestle back control of the next generation warning system, grant money that is truly a bipartisan solution, that for the last 3 to 4 years, congress has fully funded.
▶ 2:30:36And so we would hope that the funding would continue for that, but then move to deploy those funds into our public broadcasting infrastructure as quickly as possible. You know, we have recently heard that a public broadcaster in fairbanks, alaska, now turns their transmitter off overnight from midnight to 6 a.m. >> to save money. And that is rescission related. But there are also issues related to the next generation warning system for infrastructure support. And I can speak to it personally.
▶ 2:31:07We just put through an sta with the fcc to operate our full power television transmitter at half power. Because it's out of date. It's old. We can't get parts for it any longer. We have two grant proposals in the ng warning system proposal system, and they remain unacted on. Okay. So move on now. >> thank you. And I'll I'm going to follow up with my team.
▶ 2:31:33We'll send a note a letter, you know, just to get the ball rolling and see if there are other members of the committee that want to work with us. I suspect there will be, because I do think this is bipartisan. Yeah. >> very simple. Fund next generation 911. Yeah.
▶ 2:31:45When we're talking about our overall public safety service at large, and particularly where there's federal involvement in funding, ensure that the authorities that are responsible for that are operating correctly functionally, so that we know that the money that is available is being spent wisely and deploying the systems needed. >> can you just say a word or two about that? I mean, is that just basic oversight or is there something specific you're getting at? >> I think it is basic oversight.
▶ 2:32:14In large part, it's just the fact that in case of next generation nine one, there's no 911 office anymore at the federal level, I. >> got you. Okay. That's good to know. >> thank you. My comments are along the same lines. Still continue the build out with firstnet. Anything that's priority specific for public safety is something we need to expand upon. So we don't have those commercial interruptions with other networks.
▶ 2:32:36And, uh, to make sure the governance issue that we are all talking, a lot of you are frustrated about, you know, partizan issues and things of that nature. But remember when the twin towers fell as it relates to law enforcement, we weren't talking to our federal, local and state partners. We all could have been part of the solution. We need to make sure that that continues as well, so that we solve these problems and that everybody understands this isn't a red or blue issue. It's really a common sense issue for all of the americans across the board. >> yeah. Well, said. Mr. newton.
▶ 2:33:0810s. Sorry. >> 10s. >> uh. >> ongoing funding for especially our land mobile radio systems. Um, the challenge we have, it upgrades, updates, maintenance, deferred maintenance. Those are ongoing, constant challenges. Uh, and we're not away from those yet. Firstnet is an adjunct to that. >> okay. Thank you all. I yield back. >> excellent questions, Mr. landsman. Um, now, recognize the gentleman from texas? Mr. goldman, for your five minutes of questions. Thank you, Mr. chairman. >> uh, thank you very much.
▶ 2:33:36Uh, to the entire panel for being here today. Um, when it comes down to our end of the of the dyas, I apologize as some of the questions have been asked for, I did have to step out and take a call. So if I'm repetitive in my questions, I apologize. But, um, again, thank you very much for being here. Uh, I'll start with both you, um, Mr. newton and sheriff, uh, my staff recently toured a facility where firstnet, portable cell towers and other network assets are stored and maintained in texas.
▶ 2:34:04Uh, can you speak to whether your agencies have used portable cell towers during emergency response or disaster planning, and how they help enhance and address communications during these events? Mr. newton, if you'd like to start. >> uh, as a matter of fact, uh, we my organization owns one. We've deployed it, uh, two days ago, and it's in practice. It's in use right now during a search in a particularly rural area, uh, where we have a large temporary concentration of a lot of public safety.
▶ 2:34:33Um, so we we absolutely see the value in it. And whether it's an emergency or disaster. >> great. Thank you. Sheriff. >> the answer for me is also, yes, we've mentioned a lot of, um, looking at a cell tower as being critical infrastructure. And when they go down, whether it's vandalism, man made or natural disaster, these portable units we can bring in and still community can continue to communicate.
▶ 2:34:56And then also when you talk about density of communication, putting those at our command centers, that allows that traffic to be leveled out is really critical to things going on and things that we're responding to almost daily. >> great. Thank you very much. Um, doctor, how fontes how, um, critical is a strong broadband connection to utilizing the fullest extent of next generation 911 systems?
▶ 2:35:24>> well, unfortunately, next generation 911 systems don't exist nationwide. There are states that are in various stages of deployment of next generation 911 systems. Many have deployed what we call issi, nets or emergency service internet protocol networks that allow for the movement of information. But next generation 911 is so much more than that.
▶ 2:35:46Therefore, the information coming in from the public or sensors or anything that would come into 911 is in large part if there's any data or information associated with that would be dummy down in large part for voice communication. Now, there are situations where some centers are capable of receiving data, uh, that would enable our field responders to respond more effectively.
▶ 2:36:12It is imperative, imperative that we have next generation 911 deployed so that the broadband capability from the consumer, the person dialing 911 goes to a broadband next generation 911 system into an ip based broadband public safety communications network. We have to make sure that all the links in the full chain of command of public safety are current in technology.
▶ 2:36:41Thank you. >> thank you very much. And my final question, I'll go back to you, sheriff. Uh, my district is home to both large urban area and rural communities. Um, you noted in your testimony that smaller agencies often rely on larger counties for emergency communication infrastructure. What federal steps would help ensure that next generation 911 deployment doesn't leave behind rural areas? >> so it's twofold.
▶ 2:37:07Uh, obviously, we've talked about funding the majority of the morning, but also having federal level cyber security, um, audits and practices that are really dod level in my mind, to be able to protect those small agencies that can't afford it. In other words, if they're riding on a sheriff's backbone in some of those agencies that we make sure that backbone is continually secured to the latest and greatest standards. >> great. >> thank you all again. That's the end of my questioning, Mr. chairman. Thank you very much.
▶ 2:37:37I appreciate the time I yield back. >> thank you. Now, recognize the gentlelady from virginia, miss mcclellan, for five minutes for your questions. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss our nation's critical public safety communications networks at a time when natural disasters and public emergencies are becoming more commonplace. Um, and as we've heard, communities rely on these systems not only in moments of crisis, but for the trust and confidence that come from knowing that help is on the way.
▶ 2:38:04And as we confront more school shootings, hurricanes and other emergencies, ensuring that our first responders have reliable, interoperable and modern communication tools isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. And it's critically important that no community gets left behind in the transition to these tools. It could be the difference between life and death. And yet, the latest data available shows that many communities, particularly rural ones, are in fact left behind.
▶ 2:38:34Today, in only seven states or territories have all apps fully transitioned to next gen 9114 states and territories remain in the legacy stage, meaning no peace app has transitioned and many of these legacy systems still rely on copper, which is over a century old. The rest of the states and territories are in various states of transition.
▶ 2:39:02So for each of the witnesses and I think I know the answer, do you think congress should prioritize ensuring that all roughly 5700 primary and secondary public safety answering points should transition to next generation 911? >> yes. >> yes, absolutely. >> yes.
▶ 2:39:25And I would also add very quickly that the university of florida has been proactive in terms of creating products that address the very issue you're talking about with rural and underserved areas. We've deployed a new beacon alerting channel that is dedicated to for rural counties, and it's proving to be very successful. >> good. Thank you. Um, and this this hearing has made clear that funding is the primary challenge for making this transition.
▶ 2:39:53I think it's important to level set, because it's not in the record yet that local governments are the ones that primarily own and operate these apps and pay for their establishment, their operation, their maintenance and their transition, uh, primarily through general funds and in many cases, local or state imposed in.on one surcharges. And unfortunately, our localities, as we've heard, just don't have the funding to make these upgrades. This year.
▶ 2:40:21The house majority had several chances to stand with rural communities and improve our communications infrastructure, but they didn't. They could have used spectrum auction proceeds to fund next gen 911, but they didn't. They could have pushed back on the administration's delays in broadband deployment, which is necessary to close the digital divide so that more people can see the benefits of next gen 911. But they didn't.
▶ 2:40:44They could have opposed cuts to the corporation for public broadcasting, which administers the next generation warning system grant programs. But they didn't. For all of the witnesses. Do you agree that these issues are all interconnected and that without them, rural communities will be left behind? >> yes. >> yes, we're talking about a number of things here this morning.
▶ 2:41:11But even legacy systems remaining modernizing in a number of things, and it really is an all in approach. Yes. >> yes, yes. >> and will congress last estimated that the cost to transition all apps to next gen 911 uh, in 2018, I think we'd all agree that the cost of likely gone up in the last seven years at a minimum through inflation and the cost of labor.
▶ 2:41:35But tariffs are also having an impact on the cost as they raise and raising supply chain issues for copper, for those apps that are still on legacy systems for fiber optic components, pvcs and other insulation materials. Um, and I don't have enough time maybe for a full answer. But, sheriff, I want to elaborate a little bit. You touched on the critical role that next gen 911 could play in response to school shootings.
▶ 2:42:02Can you elaborate a little more specifically on on how important it is to to save lives in that situation? >> sure. So what I'm talking to is primarily intelligence, both things that are going on at the school prior to the event even happening. And when you're talking about a real time crime center or some of these technological advances we're talking about is being able to feed that first responder, what is the picture they're dealing with, what was before, who showed up and what's going on. >> and specifically they need to see video. >> video certainly helps.
▶ 2:42:31And sometimes it's the video that the 911 dispatcher is receiving, or a real time crime center that's being translated. What is being seen to the person that's trying to drive to get there. >> but it's more than just a voice on the phone explaining what's happening. >> yeah, absolutely. We live in a modern age where pictures, video and a number of things we're all operating on, frankly, used to operating on with our cell phones and first responders are no different. The more information, the better. >> thank you I yield back. >> thank you. Now recognize the gentleman from florida, Mr.
▶ 2:43:01Dunn, for your five minutes of questions. >> thank you very much, Mr. chairman. And thank you to the first responders. >> who volunteered. >> your time to be here with us today. Uh, your service is greatly appreciated. >> this is. >> the first in a series of hearings. >> we'll be. Doing on, uh. >> emergency communications this year. Uh, programs like the first responder network, uh, firstnet and next gen 911 are essential in florida.
▶ 2:43:25My district, florida's second congressional district, makes up most of the panhandle, and we are no strangers to, uh, preparing and responding to natural disasters. Uh, additionally, my district is home to some of the most frequented beaches, uh, which requires the emergency responders to lead and protocols, preparation, response resources for all kinds of emergencies.
▶ 2:43:51In 2018, hurricane michael made landfall in my district as a cat five, and it destroyed everything in its path. And we're still rebuilding seven years later. Uh, and then we had hurricanes ian, idalia and most recently, helene all made landfall in our district.
▶ 2:44:11Uh, so the unfortunate truth is that, uh, you know, our enduring hurricane michael, our sheriff's department, everybody in our county, everybody in 12 counties lost all communications, cell phones, landlines, even police repeaters went down. Uh, so the bay county sheriff's office had to make a critical decision to switch to firstnet. Uh, right after the storm. And fortunately, they were connected almost immediately.
▶ 2:44:42However, there's witnesses here have mentioned a different areas, have different coverage capabilities, and interoperability is still very essential. So, you know, while some sheriff's offices are using first state or at&t, others using verizon, other carriers, uh, on the other hand, the next gen 911 program has helped streamline our tech advantages for our call centers.
▶ 2:45:07And thanks to these programs, as we've talked about, we've had now we have, uh, video and text capability, not just text, but video capabilities as well. Uh, sheriff dicus, you recounted, uh, that as a result of california's opt in to firstnet, uh, san bernardino received five new firstnet tower sites. Uh, we've had similar accounts in florida, as we look at, uh, reauthorizing the firstnet program.
▶ 2:45:35Can you explain your thoughts on the importance of the creation of firstnet after the 911, uh, terrorist attacks? And do you believe that the program was a necessary catalyst, uh, for building the emergency networks around the country? >> so I'll work. I'll work your question backward, but absolutely.
▶ 2:45:58And when we talk about interoperability and it's an opportunity to build out, no matter the build out, that we've already discussed, where firstnet is at this point, they're still vulnerabilities and they're still gaps. We have a voice at the table. And where do we start filling in those gaps to be able to take care of the public? >> can you enumerate a few of those gaps? >> sure. In my area, in some of these things, even federal land, mount baldy is a popular hiking area and it's part of firstnet.
▶ 2:46:27We were actually able to get a cell tower there. For all the hikers that are coming from the los angeles basin, being able to use that cell tower for emergency purposes. And as a sheriff, I'm mandated to do search and rescue, uh, responsibilities in the state of california. So that's the only way in which I can get to them, rather than using the traditional ground pounders. Or somebody realized somebody didn't return home. It's more immediate. >> yeah, I have to tell you, the sheriffs were in my district. I have 16 of them. They're they're outstanding.
▶ 2:46:54Uh, um, so as a user first, and if you had interactions or conversations regarding the program or oversight of the programs from anyone from ntia, national telecommunications and information administration that oversees this program, and what from these conversations are you at liberty to share for our purposes as fact finding oversight? Uh, organization.
▶ 2:47:25>> and that's it for me or any other? >> yeah. For you, sir. >> sure. >> so so in terms of my staff that works with those folks as they roll, as they roll this out and the governing agencies, we've had nothing but positive contacts other than there's so much more needed to be able to fill the gaps that we talked about earlier. >> so, you know, we'd love to help you fill those gaps. Please communicate with us. Uh, I have a number of other questions for the other members of the panel, and obviously my time has expired. Uh, but this is a fascinating discussion.
▶ 2:47:56It's important, and it's certainly close to our hearts in florida, where we experience a lot of natural disasters. Uh, thank you, gentlemen, all for attending today. Mr. chair, I yield back. >> thank you. Now, recognize the gentlelady from florida, miss castor, for five minutes to ask your questions. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. Thank you for calling this hearing. And thank you to all of the witnesses and all of the first responders who are there every single day to to keep us safe, uh, safe and well and, uh, for Mr. right.
▶ 2:48:25I'm sorry that I've learned a lot about your your commitment to the florida public radio emergency network and beacon. But I've also learned today that before, uh, we came into the hearing room that you're the voice of the florida gator football. You're the pa announcer. And I'm really sorry that that congressman bilirakis and congresswoman cammack are not here to hear me say go bulls, because that was an extraordinary event.
▶ 2:48:52I'm sure there was some emergency gator signals sent up for that loss on saturday. >> now, I clearly understood earlier how to turn my mic on and off. >> yeah. But thank you. >> but thank you, congresswoman. I appreciate your sentiment. >> but, um, here we are.
▶ 2:49:08Uh, we're we're about to to come into the one year anniversary of hurricane helene and milton and in my neck of the woods in the tampa bay area, that was the worst catastrophe we've experienced, uh, in anyone's memories. Uh, during that time, after helene, 1.3 million people lost power. And then milton was right on its heels, where over 3.4 million floridians lost power.
▶ 2:49:36And and it's given me some flashbacks, because what what happened also was we couldn't get oil tankers in, so there was no fuel. We had, uh, police guarding gas stations. So people didn't have power. They didn't have gas. They didn't have internet. Uh, so what they relied on is just what you said. The over, uh, over the air broadcast radio. And I remember very well digging out my old walkman, uh, that with batteries.
▶ 2:50:05And I could listen to all of the updates, the bridges that were opened, the ones that were closed, food distribution. And then that helped me, uh, as a, as a public servant to get that important information out to, to my neighbors. Um, so I'm so grateful for what has happened over time in building that network. It is not easy, but it really is a model. It can't, you know, your your phone.
▶ 2:50:32You're not going to be able to charge your phone in a catastrophe like that. So the, the the satellite networks are important. You're everyone has said we need redundant systems. But I found in the in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe with no power and no internet, it is the the public radio network. So what are the lessons for other communities? Because you've worked with our florida department of emergency management for years to develop that network.
▶ 2:51:01What are the what are the lessons learned that you can share with the rest of the country on building those networks out? >> well, I think, you know, one of the best lessons that we've learned in florida is that we're we're better together than we are separate. And what I mean by that is that we we have an infrastructure in place through the broadcast infrastructure with with public stations around the entire nation.
▶ 2:51:23And so the florida model that we have deployed into south carolina as well, through our partnership with south carolina etv and public radio. Same exact model, very efficient. In fact, one of the recognitions that I'm most proud of is a florida tax watch award for productivity and efficiency. >> they're a very, very, very conservative group in florida. >> I appreciate you recognizing that.
▶ 2:51:47That's why, uh, that award is, uh, center in my office, because it speaks volumes about the work that we're doing and the importance of that work. And I think that we are uniquely positioned at this moment in time to take advantage of that infrastructure, to reinvest in it, to ensure that when the next hurricane comes in or the next wildfire event happens, that that communications infrastructure for the last mile is there, and then that we're utilizing innovative
▶ 2:52:18Solutions like efron and beacon to get those alerts out to the public when they need them most. Yes. Enhance 911 critically important, but the work from those agencies out to the public, that's just as important. That's another piece of the chain that we cannot forget. >> it's all that coordination. Because in a catastrophe and emergencies are locally managed, state coordinated and federally supported.
▶ 2:52:43And it seems like what we're missing right now is the federal supportive piece of it to take a hatchet to the corporation for public broadcasting that puts those grants at risk for the infrastructure we need the, the, the federal grants, not to mention all of the resiliency grants, all of the attacks on federal emergency management agency. Fema needs reform, but it can't be eliminated. We would be um, everyone would be in dire straits.
▶ 2:53:14>> we have a proven model in public broadcasting. We've made the investments in the past. We need to continue making those. And I think it was tip o'neill who used to say that all politics is local, all alerting is local, and that's where the public broadcasters come into play. >> thank you. Thank you, Mr. chairman, I yield back. >> thank you. Now, recognize the gentleman from south carolina, Mr. fry, for five minutes to ask your questions. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. Thank you for having this, uh, very important and vital hearing today. Uh, thank you to our witnesses for your candid and accurate testimony.
▶ 2:53:42Public safety is critically important to me, especially as a representative of a coastal district in south carolina. Uh, for us, storms like hurricanes are not if but when, uh, and when disaster strikes, communication is not just important. It's life saving.
▶ 2:54:00Uh, in august, I had the privilege of visiting the marion county sheriff's office, uh, in my district, to learn firsthand about the role, uh, that programs like firstnet play in supporting our first responders. Uh, and what I saw was encouraging, but I think it underscores, uh, how critically reliable communications are so important. Uh, when disaster hits, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter to our first responders.
▶ 2:54:28Um, it doesn't matter to our first responders who is providing them with the service. But if the service is being provided, uh, emergencies can happen in an instant. And it's our duty in congress to make sure, uh, and to, to, uh, that those who are on the ground have the necessary tools, uh, they need to do their jobs effectively, securely, and without delay. Sheriff, let's start with you. Um, as you know, firstnet was established by congress to give our first responders a dedicated nationwide broadband network.
▶ 2:54:56Uh, and at&t currently operates, uh, under that authority. Uh, at the same time, providers like verizon and t-mobile are doing their own thing, um, offering public safety services. So from your experience on the ground, uh, how do you see these different offerings working together in practice? Uh, and what steps should congress consider to ensure that the focus stays on the reliability and interoperability of for our first responders? >> so.
▶ 2:55:25>> uh, to your question, we are an agency that is an example of exactly what you're asking. Our county is so vast, we can't just rely just on firstnet because of cell tower coverage and other places. So our computers automatically do a strength test. Essentially, that's constantly happening while a sheriff's deputy drives around and whichever service provider is the strongest signal, that's the one the computer automatically goes with. So they are working together in those aspects.
▶ 2:55:51I think what we're talking about is really reliability when we need it, and we're talking about the amount of traffic during an emergency that may go over one of those systems where firstnet is exclusive to public safety. And that's certainly why I would like to see the buildout continue. >> thank you for that. You've also highlighted both the successes and challenges with firstnet rollout, including the reinvestment of funds into new infrastructure. Uh, but also the risks from outages, uh, vandalism and cyber attacks.
▶ 2:56:20Looking ahead, what steps should congress prioritize to ensure reliability and resiliency in these networks, particularly as firstnet authority approaches its 2027 sunset date? >> certainly start looking at particularly firstnet towers and those that are specific to public safety as critical infrastructure. So in other words, there's security aspects, maybe even the way they're designed and building. We've had a lot of talk this morning about copper getting cut, for instance. Fiber is no different.
▶ 2:56:49And actually in some cases, I think it's harder to repair fiber. At least that's been our experience. So physical security and then cyber security are our number one priorities. And if we can use the federal government's help to do that I think we're in the right place. >> thank you for that. Um, we frequently discuss ai and its potential impact on this committee. Uh, emergency communications are no different. Uh, I will change the game.
▶ 2:57:11Doctor fontes, you also note that next generation 911 will allow americans to send texts, images, videos, and other forms of data directly to call centers, uh, data that could be enhanced or triaged through ai tools. How do you see ai shaping the effectiveness of next generation 911 in practice? And what safeguards should congress consider to ensure that this technology strengthens rather than complicates, the emergency response system? >> thank you for your question.
▶ 2:57:40Ai is beginning to enter into the 901 space and the next generation 911 environment. When data are allowed to come into 911 centers, videos, etc. The use of ai as I would envision it would allow us to either have supporting tools that may hear or see something that the human ear or eye cannot see or hear, and so therefore it may provide more.
▶ 2:58:05Correct situational, uh, issues, enabling the field responders to know what they're going into when they respond to that emergency. I think there's also a variety of opportunities dealing with language, translations, transcripts, record maintenance, and the back room aspects of next generation 911 systems writ large. But you need that next generation 901 system to have that data flow into the 911 centers.
▶ 2:58:34So that is one of the fundamental aspects, I believe is critical, critical to the use of advanced technologies like ai in serving the best possible. 911 service to the public. >> thank you for that, Mr. chairman. I see my time is expired and I yield back. >> thank you. Now, recognize the gentlelady from california, miss barragan, for five minutes to ask your questions. >> thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 2:58:57Uh, first, sheriff, I want to take a moment to thank you for your statement and for your position in following the law in california and for your statement of how it's so important that when you protect the community, you protect everybody, regardless of immigration status. So I know you took some heat for that.
▶ 2:59:17Um, and I appreciate that you're looking through the lens of protecting everybody and that you do not ask about status or require proof of citizenship to file a report or to make a call. Uh, when somebody sees a crime, we want them to call 911. We want them to report it and to work with you. So I want to start by thanking you for that.
▶ 2:59:41Um, sheriff, I also want to ask you, do you think that there is a benefit to funding the corporation for public broadcasting? >> I think this is all hands approach. And have you heard in the testimony today, if these systems are redundant to each other, whether it's the am radio system, we never know. We don't have the benefit of knowing in any disaster what's actually going to happen. And the fact we would have redundancies with all those systems.
▶ 3:00:09I'm telling you, public safety, if we have to get the can string out, we're going to do it to protect the public. >> okay. But it's a simple question. Do you think there's a benefit at all to funding it? >> I do think there is a benefit to funding it, because it may be the only resource that we can communicate over should everything else go down. >> great. Yeah. I also noticed that you were a guest on the inland edition, which is pbs, uh, to talk about law enforcement for community members.
▶ 3:00:36I'm assuming there was a positive benefit to the community for you going on and doing that show. >> yeah. Particularly as it relates to the, um, economic engine in my county and how it works, and to be able to take law enforcement executives to understand that and know how to protect it. >> thank you. Um, because we know that when disaster strikes, every second counts. And right now our emergency communication systems are at risk of failing. And the next generation warning system is central to keeping communities safe.
▶ 3:01:01Sheriff, if you had $88 billion, would you spend some of that money to invest in next gen 911? >> absolutely. >> that that is what the answer I hope every republican would have had. But you know what? They didn't do it, uh, when they passed their so-called big beautiful bill, which is a big, ugly bill.
▶ 3:01:23Um, they, uh, really abandoned a bipartisan agreement to invest in programs like next gen 911, uh, as a result of of money raised from a spectrum auction. And that is why you're hearing so much about it today? Because there is an opportunity. There's $88 billion going to be raised from this auction. And house republicans are refusing to put money, um, from those proceeds into things like this, which, as we've heard today, is life saving.
▶ 3:01:53It's so critical and it's so necessary. Just like when every house republican voted against the american rescue plan, something else you and san bernardino county have benefited from. I've seen the valley communication center in san bernardino recently opened up in. You praised it as something that's going to help benefit public safety and response time. So, um, thank you for taking positions and making sure you're putting safety first.
▶ 3:02:16We know that the, um, rescissions that the corporation for public broadcasting have put in jeopardy the mission of these grant programs to help local broadcasters serve as lifelines during emergencies. Right now in louisiana, a station can't replace an aging transmitter, which has put emergency alerts at risk in a hurricane prone area. In montana, a rural station faces failing equipment and likely loss of service, leaving remote communications without reliable alerts.
▶ 3:02:46In central florida, station has been forced to postpone critical equipment upgrades and is down to a single engineer, jeopardizing emergency broadcasts in another hurricane prone region. Without nextgen, outdated equipment leaves communication communities blind to disaster, and this is unacceptable. Uh, Mr. right.
▶ 3:03:10With a c bp no longer administering administering the nextgen or the gw grants, what happens to rural and underserved communities if fema fails to ensure that program funding reaches local broadcasters? >> they suffer. >> what is that? They will not receive the alerting that they desperately need? >> and what does that mean for communities? >> uh, it degradate the culture within that community. It puts the citizens of that community in peril.
▶ 3:03:37And that's what the public broadcasters across the united states are trying to solve to through the various projects that we work on, like efron and beacon. But the funding support for the infrastructure is absolutely critical. >> great. Thank you.
▶ 3:03:51This is why I worked with congressman menendez and mclane delaney to lead a letter to fema, which we sent this morning, urgency, urging the agency to share a clear plan to maintain the funding, um, for local broadcasters and ensure continuity of service to rural, underserved communities. And with that, I thank all the witnesses. Thank you, Mr. chairman, I yield back. >> thank you. >> the gentleman. >> yields back. Chair now recognizes the gentleman from florida for five minutes.
▶ 3:04:25>> well, thank you, Mr. chairman. And thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today. Uh, Mr. right. It is good to see you. Go, gators. Um. I'm disappointed. No orange and blue tie doctor fonts. He's repping for you, though. It's blue. >> the doctor and I, you know, we coordinated today. >> for you. I appreciate that, even though I know we had a little bit of a rough weekend, and I heard our my colleague, representative castor, was giving us a bit of grief. But we're gators, so.
▶ 3:04:55>> we appreciate her sensitivity to the gator nation. >> that's right, that's right. Um, but I also want to acknowledge all our first responders in the room. Uh, thank you all so much for your service and for your family service. As the wife of a firefighter swat medic, I know firsthand what it is like, uh, and so deeply grateful for everything that you all do. Um, I'm also disappointed in some of the very divisive and partizan language that I just heard from my colleague on the other side of the aisle, emergency communications. It is not a republican or a democrat issue. It is an american issue.
▶ 3:05:27And so I'm just a little disappointed that it has to turn into a food fight. But we're here because we have a real issue that we have to solve. Um, we need to figure out a way to update our systems. And as a floridian, I've seen time and time again how vital our reliable communications are during a disaster and truly how scary it can be when they go down.
▶ 3:05:47So whether it's a hurricane knocking on our door, uh, that is taking out our power and cell sites or federal and local responders struggling to operate on the same systems, um, these gaps can really mean the difference between life or death. Certainly, as someone who represents a district that saw three major hurricanes in the span of 13 months, we know this firsthand. Uh, of course, florida faces unique challenges from protecting our seniors and rural communities to keeping millions of our visitors safe every year.
▶ 3:06:13This conversation on strengthening public safety communications, whether it's 911 systems, firstnet or other tools, it is critical. So having worked those storms, I can say confidently that we need to take an above all approach when it comes to building out the systems, updating them and building in redundancies. I'm so excited for today's conversation because it is something that is long overdue. We need a system that is resilient, interoperable and secure when it comes to the issues and communications that matter most.
▶ 3:06:45So I'm going to start with you, sheriff. Uh, one of the promises that next gen 911, uh, has is the ability to transmit text, images, video and location data directly to first responders in the field. I can't tell you how many times my husband has been, uh, on one system. And he's a city. You know, he works for the city, but then the county's operating on a different system. And maybe there's a mutual aid call coming in from a neighboring county. Some are on slurs, some are on a different, uh, different bandwidth.
▶ 3:07:14It's it's tough. And I can tell you firsthand some of the challenges that we've seen with firstnet in our rural communities. So what steps can congress take to ensure nationwide interoperability amongst all of the different networks that are first responders operate on, so that they can move seamlessly amongst jurisdictions? Um, especially during large scale disasters? >> well, your example with your husband is very pertinent to this when you're talking about even between fire sheriff's departments and police departments.
▶ 3:07:43So interoperability by having that common platform being firstnet or broadband just for public safety is first and foremost a lot of the modern technologies, both in our handheld radios as well as when we use our cell phones to talk to each other, have the ability to automatically recognize jurisdictional boundaries, and then make those connections. Some of it can be done in our dispatch centers. There's technology that allows two disparate radio systems to be plugged in, and now they can turn around and communicate with each other.
▶ 3:08:12I think ensuring simple, straightforward technologies like that and providing really the governance and policy language from the federal level across the board, will allow us to standardize, to make sure that we continue to move in the direction you're describing. I love. >> that, I love that, especially since these are very expensive systems. You know, you've got people investing millions and millions of dollars to upgrade their system, only to find that they can't communicate just even a few counties over. So that's really important. Um, and then my next question is going to be on firstnet.
▶ 3:08:41So the firstnet authority recently held a workshop in our district to solicit feedback on the priorities from our first responders. In the most recent storm, the minute I got out of my home county, alachua county, heading west towards the hurricane where it had hit the hardest, um, my husband immediately lost coverage. Um, I don't have firstnet. Um, and I didn't have coverage. So this is something that I brought to their attention.
▶ 3:09:04Now, I understand that these individuals are best positioned to help guide infrastructure needs in our communities, but how has your experience been in getting the infrastructure placed where you need it in an emergency situation, as it relates to firstnet. >> in terms of the portability of like firstnet, mobile towers and things like that, it's good they respond. However, what you're talking about is a physical tower itself and going down, and that's what your husband experienced, right? Number one, construction standards, making these things resilient.
▶ 3:09:31Also calling it is what it is critical infrastructure across the united states, securing it, maintaining it and monitoring it. >> and I know I'm over my time, but at some point I would like to get on the record, uh, some commentary on redundancies and moving away from singular prime towers. I think that that is a disaster in the making. So I'll follow up with all of you. But thank you again for each of you being here today. Appreciate you. And go gators. >> going from from florida. Uh yields back.
▶ 3:10:00The chair now recognizes the gentleman from california. Uh Mr. >> thank you. >> Mr. chairman. And. >> uh. >> I'd like to thank the committee. >> chairman for holding this hearing on what I consider to be a critically important topic. Uh, sheriff dicus, welcome back to washington, D.C. uh, san bernardino county is, uh, the largest part of my district. And, uh, you've been a great leader for our county and, uh, our law enforcement agencies.
▶ 3:10:29So thanks for your continued presence and your voice here. Uh, I wanted to ask you about one of the major challenges that we always have in districts like mine, where 78% of the land is federally managed. And that creates real challenges when we need to quickly deploy temporary communications infrastructure in response to an emergency, or when we're trying to deploy more permanent communications infrastructure to prepare for emergencies.
▶ 3:10:55So can you talk about any obstacles that you faced in, uh, trying to get deployable equipment on federally managed land or trying to build permanent infrastructure on federally managed land. >> governance and real estate to the biggest things when we're talking about communications and expanding across. But in a lot of instances, maybe the us forest service or the bureau of land management may have repeaters to use on their own radio systems.
▶ 3:11:21Common sense would be sharing those towers and and really that infrastructure to be able to continue with, whether it's a firstnet system or a county operated 800mhz system, we have experienced barriers and it's usually bureaucracy are those barriers. If we can actually put the people who are in charge of those systems and understand that we need to back each other up. And I know you're familiar with this, but in our barstow area, it's a 5000 square mile beat for one deputy. Their backup is a blm ranger or a chp officer on the freeway.
▶ 3:11:51And we all have to be able to interoperate. But it's bureaucracy. We need to fix that. We need to make it straight through. And there's some common sense approaches. Communication is communication. Right. >> well, that's that's why we're all here having this discussion. Uh, I also was very interested in your testimony about the need to establish cybersecurity standards. And I know that the san bernardino county sheriff's department had a cybersecurity incident several years ago.
▶ 3:12:16Can you talk a little bit about that incident, the way it affected your capabilities, and how cybersecurity standards like the ones you're advocating for would have helped. >> that that ransomware attack probably was in my entire career, and I've been doing this for almost 35 years now, affected the brand of the san bernardino county sheriff's department and the way we deliver customer service, which we take great pride in doing it. We also had to rely on a number of our other agencies that weren't affected by this.
▶ 3:12:44And you have to understand, let me see if I can put everybody as quickly as possible into the driver's seat of what the sheriff has. You have an insurance company that comes in that becomes the quarterback of this. But yet, as the sheriff, you're going after the threat actors who did this to you. You want to you want to go out and make arrests and do those types of things internationally. That's an impossible issue for a sheriff.
▶ 3:13:06But then you call in your three letter agencies that come in and support you on that, but yet you also have the responsibility to get back the data on behalf of your constituents, both the victims, the suspects and your employees. It puts you in this untenable situation. In order to prevent that, we need to have the best standards, dodd type standards to secure our information. There's a lot of basics in how you operate this, but as threat actors become more sophisticated, we need to be on the cutting edge of that to protect ourselves. >> thank you, sheriff dicus. It's great to see you again.
▶ 3:13:36Uh, doctor fontus, uh, I found your testimony very compelling on the need for next generation 911. And I think everyone here on the dais would completely agree that this is something that we have to get across the finish line. As part of your testimony, you were discussing the need to stop continually coming up with cost estimates and actually move into implementation.
▶ 3:13:58Uh, but from our point of view, part of the problem is that the latest cost estimate, and I think you cited in your testimony, is adjusted for inflation, $15 billion. So my question is, you know, as a technologist myself, these call centers, they already have computers, they already have communications. From my standpoint, next gen 911 is just software.
▶ 3:14:20It's software on the consumer side, maybe with a cell phone operators and software on the call center side, how on earth is it cost $15 billion? I mean, where does that money go? If it's just software that we're talking about? >> oh thank you. I appreciate your question. I would contend that it isn't just software. Many of our 911 centers don't even have broadband capabilities. So there's that connectivity issue that has to take place.
▶ 3:14:46There also has to be the technology in the centers to enable the utilization of data and information coming in. And a lot of these centers don't have that type of technology that would enable what I call information rich or data rich 911 calls. So if it were just a computer solution, we'd been there a long time ago. It's far more than that.
▶ 3:15:09It's planning, it's coordination, it's state level, it's backroom, uh, management of information and data and files and records and the list goes on. Um, you know, hopefully you'll have an opportunity to, if you haven't already been to go to a 911 center and see what it is that's going on there, and to ask them how this project that they're engaged in is different than the legacy 911 systems we have today?
▶ 3:15:40>> sure, I have done that, and I have asked that. And the centers that I went had broadband and had computers. So, uh, you know, as a software guy myself, this seems like a software problem. It sure seems like we should be able to solve it for, uh, less than $15 billion. But I welcome the continued discussion. I see we're out of time. >> welcome. >> I yield back. >> the gentleman yields. >> the chair recognizes. >> the. >> gentleman from new. >> jersey, Mr. cain, for his five minutes of questioning. >> thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 3:16:07Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today as we hold this hearing on public safety communications, we are only two days away from the 24th anniversary of the september 11th attacks. And when those planes hit those towers, the communications emergency and otherwise went down immediately. New jersey, also, uniquely, is subject to many national weather phenomena.
▶ 3:16:37Whether it was superstorm sandy or hurricane irene, ida and so many others that have hit new jersey's since 2001. So we, uh, are uniquely aware citizens that we need to make sure that all of our communications are secure, redundant, and whether they be, um, broadband, uh, whether they be am radio, whether they be any whether whatever the next generation of telecommunications it is, we need to make sure that the
▶ 3:17:08Communications between the people who are going into harm's way to protect our fellow citizens or the communication or the families at home who are being impacted, the small businesses as well, we need to make sure that they have, uh, information quickly and accurate information as well.
▶ 3:17:24And as we're looking about how we reevaluate and update these emergency communications and public safety communications, uh, we need to make sure that the authorities are dynamic and responsive, and we need to make sure that the needs of the first responders are central to these, uh, these missions. And one, the primary concerns I hear from first responders in my district is about the importance of interoperability.
▶ 3:17:49And having been a volunteer firefighter and an emt myself, I suspect if you pulled the firefighters, police officers and emergency medical professionals, uh, as well, that they would want to make sure that there's a product that's reliable, that fits the budget and is compatible with the equipment that they may already have.
▶ 3:18:11So, sheriff dicus, as we continue to improve our public safety communications, what can we do to make sure that we're keeping our primary focus on the needs of first responders who are already having to do more with less? >> so we're talking about basic communication, and I like how you started with what happened on september 11th. Out of a lot of those studies, those local, state and federal were not communicating. So that's talking on a face to face basis, of course. And now we're talking about that interoperability question you asked.
▶ 3:18:41So whether we're talking about a legacy system, an 800mhz system, there are technologies that, as my colleague doctor has said, ip based that allow those systems to communicate with each other, more importantly, automatically so that the first responder doesn't have to change to a repeater or something along those lines. And those technologies exist. Being able to fund those.
▶ 3:19:00Firstnet, having that common, uh, picture in terms of broadband, um, those are critical to allow the folks to do their job really seamlessly without having to think twice about how to make those connections themselves. >> thank you. Thank you for that answer, Mr. newton. Uh, during the attacks on september 11th, uh, communication networks were either knocked out completely or they were they were quickly overloaded, resulting in complete communications breakdown.
▶ 3:19:28How have priority and preemption increased your ability to respond to large scale emergencies and maintain situational awareness among first responders. >> specifically with the features of priority and preemption and priority means that that we will continue to have access to these this advanced data, the the streams of video and the information that we need to make good decisions as where as well as preemption or ruthless preemption, whereas the short
▶ 3:19:59Of it being a911 call, our call is more important than whatever else is going on there. Uh, and that's what it allows us to do. It allows us to make those links. It allows me to call for help and say, I need these resources to come help me manage this incident. >> thank you. And, sheriff dicus, in your testimony, you mentioned land mobile radio. Can you discuss how your department uses land mobile radio?
▶ 3:20:25And do you believe that mobile provider services will replace land mobile radio? >> so as of right now, and this is always a technological argument in public safety circles, you need both because you can't depend on one or the other, at least at this point. Someday, as firstnet and things advance, we may be able to rely on them. But right now, in a county the size of san bernardino and what many sheriffs deal with with these large counties, it is a better position to have both. Okay.
▶ 3:20:55>> thank you all for your time, your insights, and for making the time to be here today I yield back. >> gentleman yields. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, Mr. mullin, for his five minutes of questioning. Thank you, Mr. chair. First, I want to thank all of our witnesses for your testimony today and for what you do to keep our communities safe. Last week, I introduced bipartisan legislation.
▶ 3:21:19>> the resilient emergency alert communications and training act, or react act, and I appreciate the support of my colleague, Mr. weber of texas, by the way, of his co-sponsorship, to make it bipartisan. This bill would provide technical and financial assistance to state, local and tribal authorities to conduct end to end testing and community based exercises of warning systems. It's a simple idea.
▶ 3:21:43We want the federal government to support our local emergency managers so that they're ready to alert the public when disaster strikes. Um, Mr. newton, you've had firsthand experience leading communities through disasters. In your experience responding to these disasters, what are the biggest barriers to sending clear, effective alerts quickly, and what kind of preparation do local communities need to overcome those challenges? I know that's a broad question there, but if you could address that.
▶ 3:22:13>> thank you. Uh, I think the first is the obstacle of the cost is the obstacle of the software. What platform are you going to use to actually activate the system? Typically, those are not a one time cost. It's more of a subscription so that that's the first obstacle. I think. Um, the other challenge we have is we focus so much on the technology that allows us to do the alerting that we don't take the time to to really focus in on.
▶ 3:22:41There's a person that actually has to ingest information, make a decision, uh, maybe determine do they have the authorities to make certain decisions and then act on those decisions? I think one of the challenges I've done this for a long time, uh, but yet that's one of the more stressful things in my job, is to actually set off an alert and craft a message that it's both relevant and meaningful and actionable.
▶ 3:23:08Um, and so at this point, there's actually a resource out of university of albany, uh, the, uh, dashboard that helps you craft effective messaging. And so I think that's the challenge. And then I think, in line with what you were suggesting, the we've got to practice. You've got to train, we've got to practice, and you got to keep practicing. >> I appreciate that answer very much. Uh, Mr. newton, my next question is to Mr. wright.
▶ 3:23:40Uh, you've led the development of emergency alerting systems, including beacon. As I understand it, this tool and other third party commercial emergency alerting systems often rely on alerting infrastructure, whether it's ipos, eas or via or public broadcasting transmitters and towers. So, Mr. wright, I'm wondering why so many communities use third party alert and warning systems. Could you describe what gaps remain in public alerting tools and how we can close those gaps?
▶ 3:24:10>> thank you for your question, congressman. It was actually music to my ears to hear that you're using the warn room resources, uh, to help your agency learn how to craft more effective alerts at the university of florida and through the public broadcasting infrastructure. Our job is to take those alerts that are coming directly from the agencies at the county, state and federal levels and then transmit those out to the public as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
▶ 3:24:39That's our role in the overall alerting ecosphere. We have developed an extraordinary partnership with the florida division of emergency management at the state level, but then also at the local level with county level emergency managers to ensure that they know that they have a trusted partner in the alerting process and that they can depend on their local public broadcaster to get their information out exactly as they have crafted it. That's really the value of beacon.
▶ 3:25:07One of them is that it's taking your exact messaging, and then the ai is translating that exactly as it's put into the system, and then it's broadcast out on the beacon system 24 over seven. It's truly the first alerting device or channel anywhere in the world, and it's already proven to be very effective. >> thank you for that. And, uh, as I close, I just want to underscore the point you made earlier in the hearing.
▶ 3:25:35Uh, earlier this year, I co-led a bipartisan appropriations request to support fema's next generation warning systems program. Uh, but the majority and the trump administration just rescinded funding for the corporation of public for public broadcasting. And as a direct result, it can no longer administer those grants. That decision means emergency alerts won't get to those who need them most. This is the opposite, in my opinion, of what we need to be doing. So, uh, thank you all again for your testimony for being here.
▶ 3:26:04And with that, I yield back. >> the gentleman yields. I now yield myself five minutes for questioning. First of all, thanks to the panel for being here today. Accessibility to emergency response services is critical in rural communities, where connection can sometimes be disrupted and sometimes outright unavailable.
▶ 3:26:23Improved coordination of emergency responders is essential as public safety communication services are further developed to address the needs of these rural communities. There are more than 2100 agencies in pennsylvania, and that represents thousands of first net connections.
▶ 3:26:44This underscores the need for congress to reauthorize firstnet authority, the district that I am honored to represent includes 12 rural counties in pennsylvania from the battlefields of gettysburg in adams county to close to the flight 93 memorial in somerset county.
▶ 3:27:05My district has geographical barriers that create problems for first responders trying to communicate in times of crisis, as well as constituents trying to access emergency response services by making a911 call. Sheriff dicus, you mentioned in your testimony that you and members of your association serve vast rural territories.
▶ 3:27:31Can you elaborate on communication challenges that these law enforcement officers and first responders face in these rural communities. >> in these rural communities, and I'm talking in excess of like a 3.5 hour drive time. There are not infrastructure things in the ground. What we're talking about fiber, we're talking about, in some cases, cell towers. That's how remote these places are. So to be able to communicate, you develop or you rely on your legacy system, which is the 800mhz system.
▶ 3:28:00In the past they've since advanced, but in the past, the law enforcement officer would actually know the boundaries of that radio system to be able to switch to and from repeaters. And I'm glad to report to you today. Now, that occurs automatically, but that ends up being the only reliable communication source. Having something like firstnet expanded would now allow for that redundancy and the use of the computer, not just the handheld radio. >> sheriff. >> how can.
▶ 3:28:26>> congress ensure that rural communities and yours being very similar to mine, how can we ensure that first responders have access to the most cutting edge communications technology and infrastructure that is possible? Previously in this hearing, you stated that urban communities often have more access to the funds than rural communities have. Would you please explain further? >> a lot of the formulas that are related to funding across the board, whether you're talking about homeland security grant funding, they're related usually to population.
▶ 3:28:55And of course, the rural areas are going to suffer just as a result of their population. I think we need to take into account critical infrastructure across the board and really standardize communication for all. It's important to everybody to be able to have to make a 911 call. >> thank you. Just two months ago in pennsylvania, we experienced significant statewide 911 disruptions.
▶ 3:29:16Some callers who dialed 911 in an emergency situation experienced that their calls were not delivered to 911 operators, according to pennsylvania's emergency management agency. The cause of the outages within the next gen 911 system was a defect in the operating system.
▶ 3:29:38A wireless emergency alert issued to the public notified individuals to call their local 911 center directly, or to call the non-emergency line in a true emergency. Locating these numbers can waste precious time. This. This intermittent outage lasted for several hours. Doctor faunce, can you speak on the safeguards in place to address an outage in the next gen 911 system, like the one that recently occurred in pennsylvania?
▶ 3:30:09>> thank you. I think it's important to recognize the next generation 911 has built into its purposes the idea of resiliency. So if a center were to go down, the ability to move 911 communications to other centers to be able to respond to the emergency with the data in the that's available to that community that went down, will better serve the public and provide the continuance of 911 service.
▶ 3:30:38>> I think you've outlined what's so important, what has been so important to this hearing. It's the continuance, the ability to have that overlap, to serve 911 emergencies. As we worked to address connectivity for constituents and for first responders across the country. It's important that we prioritize bringing this connection to rural communities. It is equally as important that we build a functional system that works to provide emergency response services without failure.
▶ 3:31:07Americans need the reliable connection, and they can depend on in times of medical need and in times of disaster. And this includes the first responders that we count on each and every hour of each and every day. Thank you all for being present today. I yield back. Seeing that there are no further members wishing to be recognized, I would like to thank our witnesses for being here today.
▶ 3:31:35I ask unanimous consent to insert in the record the documents included on the staff hearing documents list. Without objection. This will be the order. I remind members that they have ten business days to submit questions for the record, and I ask the witnesses to respond to these questions promptly. Members should submit their questions by close of business on tuesday, september 23rd. And without objection, the subcommittee is adjourned.