FirstNet reauthorization effort hits Congress

Lawmakers in Congress have taken their first tentative steps towards reauthorizing authority for the nation’s dedicated public safety communications network ahead of its sunset in 2027.

Advocates had already started gathering momentum towards reauthorizing the First Responder Network Authority, the dedicated communications network known as FirstNet. The effort has already received support from public safety officials via a joint letter and prior congressional testimony, while the National Association of State Chief Information Officers included it as a federal advocacy priority for 2026.

And elected officials are now taking a look themselves ahead of the February 2027 reauthorization deadline, initially with a Senate subcommittee hearing held this week. A House subcommittee hearing is slated to follow next week to discuss a just-introduced discussion draft of reauthorization legislation. Lawmakers have already signaled their support.

“Today, with millions of connections operating across all 50 states and U.S. territories, FirstNet has become a communications lifeline for police officers, firefighters, EMS, and other first responders,” U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican who chairs the Telecommunications and Media Subcommittee, said in her opening statement. “Its unique features — like priority access during emergencies — are tools that first responders increasingly depend on. Reauthorizing the network before it sunsets next February means that Congress needs to get to work now.”

More than 29,500 agencies have subscribed to FirstNet, according to a fact sheet from AT&T, which won the contract in 2017 to build out the network as a public-private partnership. The idea of a dedicated communications network for public safety was first floated in 2004 by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, known as the 9-11 Commission.

Congress established the First Responder Network Authority, an independent government authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. The authority was given a 15-year sunset date, and while some have suggested that reauthorization should not include a future lapse, draft bills appear to have gone in a different direction.

The discussion draft released by the House would terminate the authority on Sept. 30, 2037, and would give NTIA approval of many actions the authority could take. The authority would also have an associate administrator appointed by the NTIA administrator to manage staff, liaise with the agency and have other duties. NTIA would also be required to submit annual reports to Congress on cybersecurity and adoption rates, and brief the two congressional committees with jurisdiction.

Those tenets of the reauthorizing legislation come after the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Inspector General found in 2024 that FirstNet did not adequately assess the performance of AT&T as its contractor to make sure it achieved the desired connection results. Fischer said those findings and others “raise questions about weaknesses in FirstNet’s oversight structure.”

“This is not a critique of the mission,” she added. “It’s a call to improve the function of the FirstNet Authority.”

House leaders agreed. In a joint statement accompanying their legislation and future hearing, Rep. Brett Guthrie, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican who chairs its Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, said reauthorization is “a critical opportunity to increase transparency and effectiveness, so the program can fully achieve the intended goals that were originally conceived of two decades ago.”

Scott Agnew, president of FirstNet and public safety mobility at AT&T, said in his opening statement for the Senate hearing that the company “welcomes the rigorous oversight and accountability that the FirstNet program receives,” and that it “take[s] very seriously” the recommendations released by the Commerce OIG as well as the Government Accountability Office.

“FirstNet stands alone in the industry in subjecting itself to such rigorous and public oversight,” Agnew said. “In addition, we conduct internal assessments and gather valuable input from public safety stakeholders. By receiving feedback from these diverse sources and being held to formal contract requirements, both the oversight and program governance combine to drive continuous enhancements to the program and ensures FirstNet meets the evolving needs of public safety.”

The new provisions on oversight have prompted opposition from some quarters, including former FirstNet board chairs Richard Carrizzo and Sue Swenson. And some have questioned AT&T’s dominance in the space, even as Fischer noted that it was “the only mobile carrier willing and able to make a bid that met those needs” expressed by public safety officials.

Cory Davis, vice president of the Verizon Frontline public safety network at Verizon, said that “no single network” should be responsible for communications for first responders.

“The national goal of ensuring reliable, secure, interoperable communications for first responders can best be achieved by promoting a multi-network ecosystem rather than moving this competitive marketplace towards a single provider,” he said in his written testimony. “Built on a solid foundation of competition, multiple networks provide improved reliability and resiliency that give first responders the confidence that their communications will work when and where needed.”

Agnew rejected any claims that AT&T’s contract with FirstNet is a monopoly, and said that it instead creates a “virtuous cycle” that allows the network to evolve with first responders’ needs.

“Public safety informs priorities for the next phase of enhancements; the FirstNet Board approves network upgrades; those upgrades are funded from ongoing sustainability payments; and AT&T executes the approved plans,” he said. “The result is a resilient, evolving, and fiscally self-sustaining network that demonstrates the enduring strength of this public–private partnership.”