STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR

Re:	Amendment of Part 90 of the Commission’s Rules, WP Docket No. 07-100

For nearly two decades, the FCC has designated this 50 MHz swath of spectrum for public safety use.  And yet after all this time, by our count, only about two percent of eligible public safety entities have become licensees.  There are many causes for this underinvestment; availability and cost of equipment, scale, and an inefficient sharing regime are just a few.  

The status quo isn’t working.  So today we set out to fix these problems for the benefit of states and public safety officials alike.  We do so by empowering local leaders—not those of us sitting here in Washington—to determine the highest and best use of this spectrum based on those elected officials’ own assessments of local needs.  They can keep using this spectrum for public safety (and do so more efficiently due to the new rules we put in place), or they can lease these airwaves and use the revenue to fund public safety or other mission critical initiatives.  They have the choice, and I trust them to make the right call for their communities. 

The men and women who protect us, who put out fires, race to us in ambulances, and answer our emergency calls, have taken the brunt of this pandemic more than most.  They don’t get to socially distance.  Their help is needed more right now, yet they are given less.  If there ever were a time for our agency to give public safety a hand, to get rid of some old rules, to open a path for funding, now would be that time.  So we take that step today and empower our country’s local leaders to determine how best to use this spectrum.

I thank the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau for their work on this item.  It has my support.