Senate Commerce Committee Chairmen Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) introduced the Interoperable Emergency Communications Act to provide the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) more guidance awarding $1 billion in interoperable emergency communications grants to police, firemen, and emergency medical personnel. This legislation does not interfere with the Sept. 30 deadline set by Congress for distribution of the $1 billion of interoperable communications grants. "This legislation will provide further guidance to the Department of Commerce, working in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, as it prepares to award $1 billion in much-needed funds before the end of the year," said Sen. Stevens. "This bill is a continuation of the important public-safety efforts that the committee advanced during the last Congress." The bill would also allow up to $100 million of the expedited $1 billion be used to establish technology reserves that would assist emergency response agencies in prepositioning communications equipment in states or regional facilities that can be quickly activated in the event of a major emergency or natural disaster.