House Committee Pushes Through Bills to Improve NTIA Spectrum Management

WASHINGTON, June 16, 2022 – The House subcommittee on communications and technology advanced two bills for floor votes providing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration with resources to develop “innovative spectrum management technologies” at a subcommittee markup Wednesday.

Spectrum management is essential to minimize interference on radio spectrum and optimize the use of the finite resource.

The first, the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act, provides statutory authority to the ITS, an arm of the NTIA, authorizing the ITS to implement certain spectrum legislation on behalf of the NTIA. The institute will be required to establish an initiative to support the development of emergency communication and tracking technology.

One amendment clarified the role the ITS plays in supporting spectrum advancements and promoting effective use of spectrum.

The second bill – Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act, or the SMART Act – was introduced by Representative Brett Guthrie, R-KY, requiring “the assistance of the secretary of communications and information at NTIA to develop and implement framework to enhance the sharing of spectrum between federal entities and non-federal users as well as between multiple federal entities,” said Chairman Mike Doyle, D-PA.

The SMART act will establish a common platform for sharing spectrum use across federal agencies and other users. An amendment was passed to ensure that the coordination with spectrum would support a broad range of users in many industries.