Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens public-safety communications, oversight, and governance—boosting reliability and transparency for first responders—but does so by adding federal control, reporting requirements, and compliance costs that may slow decisions, raise expenses, and risk sensitive disclosures.
First responders (police, fire, EMS) and public-safety agencies will get more reliable, resilient, and faster-restored broadband communications through faster outage notifications, clearer restoration plans, emergency deployment authority, and authorization to use newer secure/resilient technologies.
State and local governments, Congress, and the public gain stronger transparency and accountability for FirstNet operations via faster contract access for congressional leaders, regular performance and outage reporting, and clearer reporting timelines for the contractor.
Public-safety stakeholders (state, local, Tribal) get stronger governance and leadership stability through required public-safety board representation, staggered terms, and a defined Associate Administrator role with merit-based appointment procedures and annual performance reviews.
Taxpayers, governments, and contractors face higher costs and administrative burdens from increased reporting, compliance, plan updates, and new personnel/oversight requirements, which could divert resources from operations or be passed on as higher fees.
State, local, and Tribal agencies and first responders may experience slower operational decisions, delayed procurements, and postponed upgrades because many FirstNet actions now require NTIA approvals, multi-step reviews, or longer oversight processes.
Utilities, contractors, and companies risk having sensitive or proprietary contract details released if rapid disclosure deadlines and reporting timetables force rushed redactions.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Increases NTIA oversight and transparency of FirstNet, tightens outage/reporting and BC/DR requirements, revises governance and audits, and sets a termination date of Sept 30, 2037.
Introduced February 5, 2026 by Neal Patrick Dunn · Last progress April 21, 2026
Automatically notifies the First Responder Network Authority and federal users when the nationwide public safety broadband network has an unscheduled outage, requires a contractor business continuity and disaster recovery plan, increases NTIA oversight of FirstNet actions, tightens transparency and audit/reporting requirements, revises governance and appointment rules, and sets an absolute statutory termination date of September 30, 2037. The bill also requires prompt contract disclosure to congressional committees on request and annual public reporting and briefings on cyberattacks, outages, and adoption rates.