[LeArc] Measure Makes Amateur Radio Part of Emergency Communications Community

[Duane Whittingham]

Measure Makes Amateur Radio Part of Emergency Communications Community


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.


-------------------------------------------------------
Amateur Radio Operator
Duane Whittingham - N9SSN
Skywarn, ARES, RACES, EMA & ESDA
Red Cross Volunteer and SATERN Member