House Passes FirstNet Reauthorization Bill
The Senate will now have to take up the issue.
WASHINGTON, April 20, 2026 – The House passed a bill Monday to reauthorize the First Responder Network Authority.
The FirstNet Authority oversees FirstNet, the nationwide first responder network owned and operated by AT&T under a contract with the Commerce Department. The FirstNet Authority will sunset in February 2027 unless Congress reauthorizes it, something that users and lawmakers broadly agree would be disruptive.
The First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act was passed Monday afternoon by voice vote. Like last month when it cleared the House Commerce Committee, there were no votes against the bill.
The bill, led by Reps. Jennifer McClellan, D-Va., and Neal Dunn, R-Fla., would reauthorize the FirstNet Authority through September 2037.
It would require the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to approve any action taken by the FirstNet Authority, a response to calls for additional oversight after multiple inspector general inquiries. Language added last month would spell out certain actions the FNA board could take without getting NTIA’s go-ahead first.
Several public interest groups have gotten on board with the legislation, which increases public safety organization membership on the board. Groups like the Fraternal Order of Police have held out, opposing extra NTIA oversight.
The bill would ensure FirstNet “remains responsive, effective, and worthy of the trust placed in it by first responders,” McClellan said Monday.
AT&T was pleased. As it has done throughout the House’s process, the company urged the Senate to begin work on the issue.
“Today’s bipartisan unanimous vote sends a strong signal about the value of FirstNet to first responders and the communities they serve across the country,” Mike Ferguson, the company’s executive vice president of federal legislative relations, said in a statement. “We now encourage the Senate to take up reauthorization as soon as possible so the President can sign a bill into law.”
Senators also appeared interested in more FirstNet oversight during a hearing in January.
The House also passed Monday the Mystic Alerts Act, which would direct the Federal Communications Commission to allow emergency alerts to be delivered over satellite.
AT&T agreed to provide an extra $2 billion for FirstNet last month, although the company’s contract hasn’t officially been changed yet. Half of that would come from AT&T reducing fees related to the network by $1 billion, which would then be invested back into the network, plus an additional $1 billion investment from the carrier.
FirstNet was created in 2017 with $6.5 billion in spectrum auction proceeds.
AT&T is supposed to pay the FirstNet Authority a total of $18 billion over the course of the 25-year contract. Much of that money will then be invested back into FirstNet.
Prior to last month’s agreement the company had already been touting a planned $8 billion in FirstNet investments.
