1-1 SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 602 1-2 WHEREAS, The Senate of the State of Texas recognizes that 1-3 public safety continues to be a major concern to the American 1-4 public and to local governments and that broadcast spectrum is 1-5 critical to counties and cities to ensure and protect public 1-6 safety communications; and 1-7 WHEREAS, Broadcast spectrum is a finite resource that is 1-8 vital to the communication abilities of police, fire, emergency 1-9 rescue, and disaster agencies in the event of a natural disaster, 1-10 a crime, a fire or bombing, or any other serious incident that 1-11 jeopardizes the property and lives of our citizens; and 1-12 WHEREAS, The allocation of broadcast spectrum is fundamental 1-13 to the timely communication of emergency response agencies when 1-14 lives are at stake, and changes in allocations could force 1-15 counties and cities to spend millions of dollars for the purchase 1-16 of equipment compatible with different bands of the spectrum; and 1-17 WHEREAS, The Public Safety Wireless Advisory Commission was 1-18 established by Congress in 1993 to design a plan for public safety 1-19 telecommunication needs through the year 2010; the commission has 1-20 discovered that states and local governments have less than 50 1-21 percent of the spectrum currently necessary to effectively protect 1-22 lives and property and far less than will be required to handle 1-23 public safety needs between now and the year 2010; and 2-1 WHEREAS, The President and Congress are proposing to auction 2-2 broadcast spectrum to fund numerous programs, in spite of the 2-3 current broadcast spectrum needs of cities and counties and the 2-4 fact that those needs will only increase; now, therefore, be it 2-5 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 2-6 75th Legislature, hereby urge the President, Congress, and the 2-7 Federal Communications Commission to immediately reserve 25 2-8 megahertz of broadcast channels 60 to 69 for exclusive use of 2-9 state and local government public safety agencies and encourage 2-10 the Federal Communications Commission to implement recommendations 2-11 from the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Commission and create a 2-12 long-term plan to meet public safety needs affecting cities between 2-13 now and the year 2010. 2-14 Nelson 2-15 ______________________________________ 2-16 President of the Senate 2-17 I hereby certify that the above 2-18 Resolution was adopted by the Senate 2-19 on April 29, 1997. 2-20 ______________________________________ 2-21 Secretary of the Senate 2-22 ______________________________________ 2-23 Member, Texas Senate