Lawmakers are hoping to make some changes to how emergency responders can communicate before the 10th anniversary of September 11th. Wednesday, they got closer. The Senate Commerce Committee passed a bipartisan bill that would create a network for emergency responders and open up more spectrum for commercial carriers. Now, the bill heads to the floor for a vote. This bill would allocate some spectrum known as the D-block to public safety, let the FCC come up with standards for letting commercial carriers use the network when public safety folks aren’t, give the FCC the power to run auctions of spectrum broadcasters are sitting on, the money from which would go to help reduce the deficit.
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