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Pallone Discusses Importance of SANDy Act in Edison

May 31, 2016

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) discussed the importance of the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act – or the SANDy Act – at a cell phone tower in Edison, NJ. Last week, the SANDy Act passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 389-2 and was introduced in the Senate. Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced the legislation last year to help ensure the resiliency of the nation’s communications networks during emergencies.

In the lead up to the SANDy Act vote, Pallone and CTIA, who represents AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon, announced an agreement that providers will share information and advance wireless network resiliency before, during and after disasters and emergencies.

Today, Pallone announced that the Competitive Carriers Association, which represents small wireless carriers, is also joining the agreement.

“Sandy had a dramatic effect on all of us and one of the things we will never forget is how important communications are during an emergency,” said Pallone. “That’s true whether we are calling for help on our phones or getting critical lifesaving information from TV or the Internet. The SANDy Act ensures that we can all communicate, even when the worst occurs. We must do everything we can to be better prepared for the next time disaster strikes.”

During and after Sandy there was a major breakdown of communications networks, including cellular and home telephones, television, and internet services. This created a dangerous barrier to emergency response and recovery for residents and towns. The SANDy act would make sure all communication providers—radio, TV, Internet, and phone—can fix outages faster, even across state lines. It would also begin a process to provide 911 services over Wi-Fi hotspots during emergencies.

APCO International, the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the enhancement of public safety communications, has voiced its support for the legislation stating that “it contains a number of provisions that would be helpful to 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) facing future large-scale disasters, and would generally lead to improvements in emergency communications in such situations.”

Since he became the top Democrat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, Pallone has redoubled his efforts to make sure the breakdowns we experienced during Sandy never happen again. As part of his effort, Pallone held a Superstorm Sandy Field Forum with local officials, industry leaders and senior FirstNet representatives to take a critical look at lessons learned and progress made with public safety telecommunications since the hurricane. Pallone used those lessons to craft the bill and improve the resiliency of our communications systems.

Pallone spoke on the House floor urging passage of the bill last week and the video of his remarks can be found here.