First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act of 2026

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Union Calendar No. H. R. 7386

119 CONGRESS TH 2 ESSION [Report No. 119-] To amend the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 to reauthorize the First Responder Network Authority, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

F 5, 2026 EBRUARY Mr. Dof Florida (for himself and Ms. M C ) introduced the DUNN C SLELLAN following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A --, 2026 PRIL Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 5, 2026]

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A BILL

To amend the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 to reauthorize the First Responder Network Authority, and for other purposes.

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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3

.--This Act may be cited as the 4(a) STHORTCITLE ''First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act 5 of 2026''. 6 .--The table of contents for 7(b) TABLE OFONTENTS this Act is as follows: 8

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Reauthorization of First Responder Network Authority. Sec. 3. Authority of NTIA over First Responder Network Authority. Sec. 4. Board of First Responder Network Authority. Sec. 5. Associate Administrator. Sec. 6. Components of nationwide public safety broadband network. Sec. 7. Flexibility in establishing fee amounts. Sec. 8. Reports to Congress on First Responder Network Authority. Sec. 9. Business continuity and disaster recovery plan. Sec. 10. Outage notifications. Sec. 11. Submission to Congress of FirstNet contract. Sec. 12. Definitions.

SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF FIRST RESPONDER NET-9 WORK AUTHORITY. 10

Section 6206 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 11 Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1426) is amended-- 12 (1) in subsection (f), by striking ''the date that 13 is 15 years after the date of enactment of this title'' 14 and inserting ''September 30, 2037''; and 15 (2) in subsection (g)-- 16 (A) by striking ''Not later than 10 years 17 after the date of the enactment of this Act'' and 18 inserting ''Not later than 7 years after the date 19

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of the enactment of the First Responder Network 1 Authority Reauthorization Act of 2026''; 2 (B) by striking ''15-year sunset'' and insert-3 ing ''termination''; and 4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 ''Such report shall also contain recommendations 6 for Congress and the NTIA regarding prepara-7 tions for the expiration of any contract between 8 the First Responder Network Authority and the 9 FirstNet contractor with respect to building, op-10 erating, or maintaining the nationwide public 11 safety broadband network.''. 12

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF NTIA OVER FIRST RESPONDER NET-13 WORK AUTHORITY. 14

.--Subtitle B of title VI of the Middle 15(a) IGNENERAL Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 16 1421 et seq.) is amended-- 17 (1) in section 6204(a), by striking ''as an inde-18 pendent authority''; 19 (2) in section 6206-- 20 (A) by redesignating subsections (d), (e), (f), 21 and (g) as subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h), re-22 spectively; 23 (B) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-24 lowing: 25

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NTIA.-- 1''(d) AACTIONSUBJECT TOPPROVAL OF .--Any action taken by the 2''(1) IN GENERAL First Responder Network Authority shall be subject to 3 the approval of the NTIA. 4 .-- 5''(2) MSANNER OF APPROVAL .--Except as pro-6''(A) PRIOR APPROVAL vided in subparagraph (B), the First Responder 7 Network Authority may not take an action un-8 less the NTIA has provided prior approval for 9 such action. 10 11''(B) ACTIONS FOR WHICH PRIOR APPROVAL .--The First Responder Network 12NOT REQUIRED Authority may take any of the following actions 13 without prior approval by the NTIA: 14 ''(i) Deploying emergency response ca-15 pabilities and resources to emergencies and 16 disasters. 17 ''(ii) Setting strategic priorities and 18 conducting planning activities with respect 19 to the nationwide public safety broadband 20 network. 21 ''(iii) Maintaining and updating the 22 First Responder Network Authority Stra-23 tegic Plan and Roadmap or a similar docu-24 ment with respect to the growth, evolution, 25

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and advancement of the nationwide public 1 safety broadband network. 2 ''(iv) Establishing performance expec-3 tations and investment priorities with re-4 spect to the nationwide public safety 5 broadband network. 6 ''(v) Developing and adopting the an-7 nual budget of the First Responder Network 8 Authority and outlining all network rein-9 vestment decisions and task orders with re-10 spect to the nationwide public safety 11 broadband network. 12 ''(vi) Making written recommendations 13 to the NTIA for action upon network rein-14 vestment decisions and task orders with re-15 spect to the nationwide public safety 16 broadband network. 17 ''(vii) Managing the device and appli-18 cation ecosystem with respect to the nation-19 wide public safety broadband network. 20 ''(viii) Receiving reports from the Pub-21 lic Safety Advisory Committee or other ad-22 visory committees established by the First 23 Responder Network Authority. 24

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''(ix) Communicating with and con-1 ducting outreach to public safety entities 2 and public safety professionals. 3 ''(x) Reporting to and briefing Con-4 gress, in accordance with this subtitle. 5 ''(xi) Such other actions as the NTIA 6 may specify. 7 .--Nothing in 8''(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION this paragraph may be construed to alter the re-9 quirement of subsection (c) of section 6208 that 10 fees may only be assessed under such section if 11 approved by the NTIA.''; and 12 (C) in subsection (h) (as so redesignated), 13 by striking ''subsection (f)'' and inserting ''sub-14 section (g)''; and 15 (3) in section 6208(d)-- 16 (A) by striking ''The First Responder Net-17 work Authority'' and inserting the following: 18 .--The First Responder Net-19''(1) IN GENERAL work Authority''; and 20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 21 22''(2) NTIA ACTION ON NETWORK REINVESTMENT .--Not later than 60 23DECISIONS AND TASK ORDERS days after the date on which the NTIA receives a 24 written recommendation from the First Responder 25

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Network Authority for action upon a network rein-1 vestment decision or task order with respect to the na-2 tionwide public safety broadband network, the NTIA 3 shall take action upon such network reinvestment de-4 cision or task order.''. 5 .--Section 6205(b)(2) of 6(b) C ONFORMING MENDMENT the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 7 (47 U.S.C. 1425(b)(2)) is amended by striking ''If'' and in-8 serting ''Subject to section 6206(d), if''. 9 .--The amendments made by this 10(c) A APPLICABILITY section shall apply with respect to-- 11 (1) except as provided in paragraph (2) of this 12 subsection, actions taken by the First Responder Net-13 work Authority on or after the date of the enactment 14 of this Act; and 15 (2) in the case of paragraph (2) of section 16 6208(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Cre-17 ation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1428(d)), as added by 18 this section, written recommendations received by the 19 National Telecommunications and Information Ad-20 ministration on or after the date of the enactment of 21 this Act. 22

H.L.C. SEC. 4. BOARD OF FIRST RESPONDER NETWORK AUTHOR-1 ITY. 2

.--Section 3(a) PTUBLICSAFETYPROFESSIONALS 6204(b)(2)(A) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Cre-4 ation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1424(b)(2)(A)) is amended 5 by amending clause (iv) to read as follows: 6 ''(iv) ensure that, on and after the date 7 that is 3 years after the date of the enact-8 ment of the First Responder Network Au-9 thority Reauthorization Act of 2026, the 10 Board includes not fewer than 5 individuals 11 serving as State, local, or Tribal public 12 safety professionals in the fields of fire re-13 sponse services, emergency medical services, 14 emergency management services, law en-15 forcement, or 9-1-1 services.''. 16 .-- 17(b) STAGGEREDERMS .--Section 6204(c)(2) of the Mid-18(1) IN GENERAL dle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 19 (47 U.S.C. 1424(c)(2)) is amended-- 20 (A) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking ''3 21 years'' and inserting ''not more than 3 years''; 22 and 23 (B) by amending subparagraph (D) to read 24 as follows: 25

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.--In making ap-1''(D) STAGGERED TERMS pointments under subsection (b)(1)(D), the Sec-2 retary of Commerce shall ensure that the terms 3 of office of individuals so appointed are stag-4 gered, as the Secretary considers appropriate to 5 reduce the likelihood that the terms of office of 6 more than 4 such individuals will expire at the 7 same time.''. 8 .--The amendments made by 9(2) APPLICABILITY this subsection shall apply with respect to appoint-10 ments made on or after the date of the enactment of 11 this Act. 12

SEC. 5. ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR. 13

.--Section 6204 of the Middle Class 14(a) INENERAL Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1424) 15 is amended by adding at the end the following: 16 .-- 17''(h) AGSSOCIATEADMINISTRATOR .--The First Responder Net-18''(1) IN GENERAL work Authority shall have an Associate Adminis-19 trator, who shall be a career appointee (as defined in 20 section 3132(a) of title 5, United States Code) in the 21 Senior Executive Service and who shall be appointed 22 by the Assistant Secretary from among 3 individuals 23 nominated by the Board. The Assistant Secretary 24 shall make such appointment under the merit proce-25

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dures applicable to appointing such career appointees 1 under subchapter II of chapter 31 of such title 5. 2 .--The Associate Administrator 3 ''(2) D OUTIES shall do the following: 4 ''(A) Subject to the direction of the Board 5 and approval by the Assistant Secretary under 6 section 6206(d), manage the staff and operations 7 of the First Responder Network Authority in 8 order to ensure that the duties and responsibil-9 ities of the First Responder Network Authority 10 are carried out. 11 ''(B) Serve as a liaison between the Board 12 and the Assistant Secretary, including with re-13 spect to ensuring compliance by the First Re-14 sponder Network Authority with section 6206(d). 15 .--The 16 ''(3) A NNUAL PERFORMANCE REVIEWS NTIA, in consultation with the Chair of the Board 17 and any committee of the Board relating to govern-18 ance and risk, shall conduct an annual performance 19 review of the Associate Administrator.''. 20 .--The individual serv-21(b) C ONTINUATION IN FFICE ing as the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer 22 of the First Responder Network Authority on the day before 23 the date of the enactment of this Act may serve as the Asso-24 ciate Administrator under subsection (h) of section 6204 of 25

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the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 1 (47 U.S.C. 1424), as added by subsection (a), on and after 2 such date of enactment without the need for appointment 3 under such subsection (h). 4

SEC. 6. COMPONENTS OF NATIONWIDE PUBLIC SAFETY 5 BROADBAND NETWORK. 6

Section 6202(b) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and 7 Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1422(b)) is amended, 8 in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ''and 9 initially consists of'' and inserting ''and consists of such 10 technologies and services as necessary to enable secure, 11 interoperable, resilient, and prioritized broadband commu-12 nications for public safety entities, including''. 13

SEC. 7. FLEXIBILITY IN ESTABLISHING FEE AMOUNTS. 14

Section 6208(b) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and 15 Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1428(b)) is amended-- 16 (1) by inserting ''(or other period specified by 17 the First Responder Network Authority)'' after ''for 18 each fiscal year''; and 19 (2) by striking ''the fiscal year involved'' and in-20 serting ''such fiscal year (or other period)''. 21

SEC. 8. REPORTS TO CONGRESS ON FIRST RESPONDER 22 NETWORK AUTHORITY. 23

24(a) AMBIFDDITIONALATTERS TOENCLUDED INIRST .--Sec-25RNAARESPONDERETWORKUTHORITYUDITEPORT

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tion 6209(b)(2) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Cre-1 ation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1429(b)(2)) is amended-- 2 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ''; and'' 3 and inserting a semicolon; 4 (2) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period 5 at the end and inserting ''; and''; and 6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 7 ''(D) an evaluation of the performance of 8 the FirstNet contractor under the contract in 9 building, operating, and maintaining the na-10 tionwide public safety broadband network.''. 11 .--Subtitle B of 12 (b) A RNNUAL NEPORTS TO CONGRESS title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation 13 Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.), as amended by the 14 preceding provisions of this Act, is further amended by add-15 ing at the end the following: 16

''SEC. 6214. ANNUAL REPORTS ON FIRST RESPONDER NET-17 WORK AUTHORITY. 18

.--The NTIA 19''(a) RMEPORT ONETWORKATTERS shall submit to Congress an annual report that includes in-20 formation on cyberattacks, cyber defense efforts, and un-21 scheduled service outages of all causes with respect to the 22 nationwide public safety broadband network. Each such an-23 nual report-- 24

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''(1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 1 may contain a classified annex; and 2 ''(2) at the request of the Board, shall include a 3 statement from the Board with respect to such infor-4 mation. 5 .--The NTIA shall 6''(b) RBEPORT ON ADOPTION RATES submit to Congress an annual report on adoption rates, by 7 profession and geographic area, with respect to the nation-8 wide public safety broadband network that, at the request 9 of the Board, shall include a statement from the Board with 10 respect to such adoption rates.''. 11 .--Subtitle B of title VI of the 12(c) ANNUAL RIEFING Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 13 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.), as amended by the preceding provi-14 sions of this Act, is further amended by adding at the end 15 the following: 16

''SEC. 6215. ANNUAL BRIEFINGS ON FIRST RESPONDER NET-17 WORK AUTHORITY. 18

''Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 19 of this section, and annually thereafter, the NTIA shall pro-20 vide to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 21 House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 22 Science, and Transportation of the Senate a briefing on ac-23 tivities with respect to the First Responder Network Author-24 ity that, at the request of the Board, shall include the par-25

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ticipation of the Chair of the Board (or a designee there-1 of).''. 2

SEC. 9. BUSINESS CONTINUITY AND DISASTER RECOVERY 3 PLAN. 4

Subtitle B of title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief 5 and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.), as 6 amended by the preceding provisions of this Act, is further 7 amended by adding at the end the following: 8

''SEC. 6216. BUSINESS CONTINUITY AND DISASTER RECOV-9 ERY PLAN. 10

.--Not later than 180 days after the 11''(a) INENERAL date of the enactment of this section, and every 5 years 12 thereafter, the FirstNet contractor shall submit to the NTIA 13 for approval, and to the Board for review, a business con-14 tinuity and disaster recovery plan to ensure rapid restora-15 tion of the nationwide public safety broadband network fol-16 lowing an outage resulting from a natural disaster or other 17 emergency. 18 -19''(b) TGIMING OFAPPROVAL OR REQUEST FOR RESUB .--Not later than 180 days after the date on which 20MISSION the NTIA receives a plan submitted under this section, the 21 NTIA, in consultation with the Board, shall-- 22 ''(1) approve such plan; or 23 ''(2) provide to the FirstNet contractor a written 24 notice of-- 25

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''(A) the reasoning for not approving such 1 plan; and 2 ''(B) the timeframe and process, as deter-3 mined by the NTIA, for resubmitting such plan 4 for approval.''. 5

SEC. 10. OUTAGE NOTIFICATIONS. 6

Subtitle B of title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief 7 and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.), as 8 amended by the preceding provisions of this Act, is further 9 amended by adding at the end the following: 10

''SEC. 6217. OUTAGE NOTIFICATIONS. 11

''In the case of any unscheduled service outage with 12 respect to the nationwide public safety broadband net-13 work-- 14 ''(1) as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 15 minutes, after the FirstNet contractor has confirmed 16 such outage, the FirstNet contractor shall notify the 17 First Responder Network Authority of such outage; 18 and 19 ''(2) the FirstNet contractor shall provide to the 20 departments and agencies that use such network a 21 network status tool that provides timely information 22 on such outage.''. 23

H.L.C. SEC. 11. SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS OF FIRSTNET CON-1 TRACT. 2

Subtitle B of title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief 3 and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.), as 4 amended by the preceding provisions of this Act, is further 5 amended by adding at the end the following: 6

''SEC. 6218. SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS OF FIRSTNET CON-7 TRACT. 8

''Not later than 7 days after receiving a request, in 9 writing, from the Chair and Ranking Member of the Com-10 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Represent-11 atives, or from the Chair and Ranking Member of the Com-12 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 13 Senate, the Assistant Secretary shall submit to such Com-14 mittee any contract between the First Responder Network 15 Authority and the FirstNet contractor with respect to build-16 ing, operating, or maintaining the nationwide public safety 17 broadband network.''. 18

SEC. 12. DEFINITIONS. 19

Section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 20 Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401) is amended-- 21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (15) through 22 (33) as paragraphs (16) through (34), respectively; 23 and 24 (2) by inserting after paragraph (14) the fol-25 lowing: 26

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.--The term 1''(15) FIRSTNET CONTRACTOR 'FirstNet contractor' means the entity that, under 2 contract with the First Responder Network Authority, 3 builds, operates, and maintains the nationwide public 4 safety broadband network.''. 5