Rep. Greg Walden, chair of the Subcommittee on Communications of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has announced that the subcommittee will hold a mark-up of spectrum legislation on Thursday, December 1.  The bill, named the Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum (JOBS) Act of 2011, will include spectrum to be auctioned for commercial wireless services, as well as the creation of a Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) in the 700 MHz band.

The bill, a revised version of the draft released last July, will be made available at least 48 hours prior to the mark-up, in accordance with committee rules."Spectrum legislation is a longstanding priority for both parties and a key element of our pro-jobs strategy," Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said in a statement. Specific details of the bill were not released but Walden promised that it would "create thousands of jobs, establish an interoperable public safety network, and reduce the deficit."

UTC staff has continued to work with committee staff to underscore the benefits of utility/public safety partnerships in building and operating the PSBN.  Those benefits include leveraging existing infrastructure, capital resources that utilities will be investing to meet their communications needs and better coordination of public safety and utilities during emergency response.  We have received assurances that current prohibitions on utility use of the public safety spectrum and network have been eliminated and that State or regional utility/public safety partnership agreements, including terms related to traffic management, will be given federal recognition.

Republicans on the committee support the auctioning of the D-block, but it has been rumored that Democrats will be allowed to offer an amendment to allocate that 10 MHz to public safety to be voted on by the committee. 

Subcommittee action comes on the heels of the failure of the Super Committee to produce a deficit reduction package which many believed would also include spectrum provisions.  Full committee consideration is expected before the end of the year.