DoD Stands Strong Behind Spectrum Relocation Bill
ANNAPOLIS -- The Dept. of Defense stands fully behind spectrum relocation trust fund relocation legislation (HR 1320) that has stalled in the Senate after sailing through the House more than a year ago, a top DoD spectrum official said Thurs. Meanwhile, officials from the FCC, NTIA and the wireless industry expressed strong support during the 4th Annual DoD Spectrum Management Conference here for passing the legislation when the Senate returns for a lame duck session.
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“DoD remains unwavering in its support of HR-1320. We stand by the administration and industry in this regard,” said Spanky Kirsch, DoD senior analyst for spectrum management: “This was a negotiated position. We stand by this position. We believe that this is a win-win situation for industry. It’s a win-win situation for us.” Kirsch noted that the team that negotiated the agreement - - led by Steven Price, former deputy asst. secy.-spectrum -- is no longer in place: “The environment has changed. We will never get to this position again for months in the 109th Congress… This needs to happen now.”
NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher said he hasn’t given up on the legislation: “I remain optimistic. This is a piece of legislation that enjoys very broad support and should be passed in the lame duck sessions… The core of the bill itself enjoys very, very broad support.”
“We're waiting for the Senate to act,” said Howard Waltzman, majority counsel to the House Commerce Committee: “We had a great bill in concert with the administration. We think it represents a great balance… We were excited at how quickly we got it through the House. We've been very frustrated at how long it has been boxed up in the Senate.” Waltzman said that when Congress comes back for a brief session, it remains to be seen how much will be accomplished. “We don’t know how long we'll be in session. We don’t know which items will be considered.” Waltzman told us: “As Spanky said, if this bill doesn’t happen this year the dynamics will have to be different in the next Congress.” He added that there has been “consistent dialogue” on the legislation between the House and the Senate over the last year.
The spectrum legislation has been held up in the Senate, mostly because of objections by Sen. Stevens (R- Alaska), who’s insisting the legislation be changed to shift money to E911 and provide money to create a national alert system. Top DoD officials have been briefed on the progress of the legislation. NTIA Deputy Dir. John Kneur has been actively lobbying the Senate to move the legislation, as has the CTIA.
CTIA Vp Diane Cornell said the legislation has the association’s full support. “The whole idea of having a spectrum relocation fund makes a lot of sense not only for this block but essentially for other military applications for other govt. applications and, frankly, for other commercial applications as well as other safety applications,” she said: “If you can set up a paradigm where a fund is set up that moves incumbents from where they are now, gives them another spectrum block…that’s more efficient, better quality than what they have now… that sounds like a win-win to me.”
“I'm flabbergasted at how simple and brilliant of concept this is and how much trouble it’s having getting adopted,” said FCC Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta.