[BCVHFA] HR 5441 New Law for Amateurs

[K8CM]

 From the ARRL website:

NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 4, 2006 -- A section of the Department of Homeland 
Security (DHS) 2007 Appropriations Act, HR 5441, formally includes 
Amateur Radio operators as a part of the emergency communications 
community. Congress approved the measure before adjourning for its 
pre-election break. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law today.

Amateur Radio is included within the legislation's Subtitle D, 
Section 671, known as the "21st Century Emergency Communications 
Act." Radio amateurs are among the entities with which a Regional 
Emergency Communications Coordination Working Group (RECC Working 
Group) must coordinate its activities. Included within the DHS's 
Office of Emergency Communications -- which the measure also creates 
-- RECC Working Groups attached to each regional DHS office will 
advise federal and state homeland security officials. House 
Subcommittee on Homeland Security Chairman Rep Harold Rogers (R-KY) 
sponsored HR 5441. The final version of the legislation incorporates 
language from both House and Senate bills and was hammered out in a 
conference committee.

An earlier version of the 21st Century Emergency Communications Act, 
HR 5852, sponsored by Rep David G. Reichert (R-WA), included Amateur 
Radio operators among the members of the RECC Working Groups.

In addition to Amateur Radio operators, RECC Working Groups also will 
coordinate with communications equipment manufacturers and vendors -- 
including broadband data service providers, local exchange carriers, 
local broadcast media, wireless carriers, satellite communications 
services, cable operators, hospitals, public utility services, 
emergency evacuation transit services, ambulance services, and 
representatives from other private sector entities and 
nongovernmental organizations.

According to the bill, the RECC Working Groups will assess the 
survivability, sustainability and interoperability of local emergency 
communication systems to meet the goals of the National Emergency 
Communications Report. That report would recommend how the US could 
"accelerate the deployment of interoperable emergency communications 
nationwide."

RECC Working Groups also will be tasked with ensuring a process to 
coordinate the establishment of "effective multi-jurisdictional, 
multi-agency emergency communications networks" that could be brought 
into play following acts of terrorism, natural disasters and other 
emergencies.

At the state and local level, RECC Working Groups will include state 
officials; local government officials; law enforcement; local fire 
departments; 911 centers; state emergency managers, homeland security 
directors or representatives of state administrative agencies; local 
emergency managers or homeland security directors, and other 
emergency response providers.

At the federal level, RECC Working Group members will include 
representatives of the DHS, the FCC and other federal departments and 
agencies responsible for coordinating interoperable emergency 
communication with or providing emergency support services to state, 
local and tribal governments.

In the wake of the bill's passage, the ARRL plans to follow up to 
determine how it can interact with the DHS and its Office of 
Emergency Communications.