RSSThe Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced an infrastructure bill May 15 that includes funding for the next-generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) transition.
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The Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (LIFT) America Act includes $12 billion in grants for the implementation of NG 9-1-1 services. According to the draft bill released by the committee, grant funds could be used for implementing NG 9-1-1, establishing and maintaining NG 9-1-1, performing public outreach and education on how best to use NG 9-1-1 and its capabilities and usefulness, and covering administrative costs associated with the planning and implementation of NG 9-1-1.
Under the proposed bill, the grant funds could cover up to 80 percent of the cost of any eligible project. The rest of the project would need to come from matching funds.
The $12 billion in grant funding would be appropriated from 2020 to 2024.
The bill would also appropriate $40 billion for the deployment of secure and high-speed broadband service to move toward a goal of making broadband available to 98 percent of the U.S. Additionally, the bill would create a program, with funding of $5 billion, that would offer secured loans, lines of credit or loan guarantees to finance broadband infrastructure buildout projects.
The committee will hold a hearing on the bill May 22.
Find the full text of the bill here.
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