A bill designed to give emergency communications officials a slice of the wireless spectrum for a “nationwide, interoperable wireless communications network” went a step further Wednesday.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, introduced the Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act last summer, and Wednesday, it moved from the committee room to the Senate floor.

“Today’s vote and the strong endorsement of the public safety network get us closer to our goal — making things safer for Americans and first responders,” Rockefeller said. “I am glad that we have cleared this bill out of the committee, and I intend to have conversations with leadership immediately about timing for a vote by the full Senate.”

Rockefeller said he hopes to have the bill signed by September, the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City.

“This bill will help prevent the kind of communications failures that occurred during rescue efforts at ground zero on 9/11,” Rockefeller said during an executive session of the commerce committee. “On that terrible September day, first responders perished because they could not communicate with each other.”

 The terrorist attacks were not enough to move the whole nation toward better communications; just four years later, Hurricane Katrina presented similar issues.

“Four years later during Hurricane Katrina, rescue workers across the nation faced the same dangerous problem,” Rockefeller said. “They had to resort to running handwritten notes to warn of changing conditions. This is a travesty. And it’s one we have an opportunity to start correcting today.”

The bill allocates 10 megahertz of spectrum, known as the D-block for the use of public safety officials. The bill lays the framework for a system of broadband wireless communications between emergency agencies and units.

The law is particularly important for the Mountain State, Rockefeller said.

“In West Virginia, communications efforts are hampered by the terrain and lack of broadband access,” Rockefeller said. “This bill would address these hurdles and make it easier for us to respond in the event of mine disasters, flooding emergencies and other crises our citizens face.”

Jimmy Gianato, director of the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford, and Major General James Hoyer, West Virginia Adjutant General, joined Rockefeller at conference committee Wednesday morning.

Such a network would allow for a new set of data to be wirelessly transmitted to emergency responders. Firefighters could receive floor plans for burning buildings, law enforcement could receive information while driving to a scene and EMS workers may be able to share diagnostic information with doctors on the way to the emergency room.

The FCC will also be granted new authority to aid in the cost of giving up that chunk of wireless spectrum. The bill directs the regulator to draft standards that would allow public safety officials to lease that capacity to non-public safety entities when not in use.

Auctions to allow existing spectrum license holders to voluntarily hand over their airwaves for a portion of the proceeds of the auction of the spectrum are also outlined in the bill. Funding from these “incentive auctions” will be used to build the wireless broadband public safety network.

The bill also directs what is estimated to be a more than $10 billion surplus to the U.S. Treasury for deficit reduction.

— E-mail: tkuykendall@register-herald.com