WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today applauded the announcement of nearly $1 billion in interoperable public safety communications grants by the Department of Commerce.  The funds would be used to help state and local first responders communicate during a crisis or disaster.  The $968 million in Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) grants will be made available to all fifty states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and four United States territories.  The grant program will be implemented by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The NTIA will work with the Department of Homeland Security and public safety agencies to improve interoperable communications problems in every state across the country.



“Congress has increasingly heard from public safety officials that the police, firefighters and emergency medical response personnel throughout the country need help achieving interoperability in today’s communications world,” said Senator Stevens.  “These funds will play a vital role in improving emergency services in Alaska and across America.”



Senator Stevens worked with Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) to champion the creation of this public safety grant program with funds from the upcoming broadcast spectrum auction as part of the digital television transition. Funding for the grant program was allocated as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.  The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill, S.385, earlier this year to reinforce the September 30, 2007 deadline set for awarding the nearly $1 billion of interoperable communications grants. The September 30, 2007 deadline was mandated by Congress in Section 4 of the Call Home Act (P.L. 109-459), which was enacted on December 22, 2006.

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