Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 120.djvu/1469

 120 STAT. 1438

PUBLIC LAW 109–295—OCT. 4, 2006 ‘‘(B) a catastrophic loss of local and regional communications services; ‘‘(4) a list of best practices relating to the ability to continue to communicate and to provide and maintain interoperable emergency communications in the event of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made disasters; and ‘‘(A) an evaluation of the feasibility and desirability of the Department developing, on its own or in conjunction with the Department of Defense, a mobile communications capability, modeled on the Army Signal Corps, that could be deployed to support emergency communications at the site of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other manmade disasters.

6 USC 574.

‘‘SEC. 1804. COORDINATION OF DEPARTMENT EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS GRANT PROGRAMS.

‘‘(a) COORDINATION OF GRANTS AND STANDARDS PROGRAMS.— The Secretary, acting through the Director for Emergency Communications, shall ensure that grant guidelines for the use of homeland security assistance administered by the Department relating to interoperable emergency communications are coordinated and consistent with the goals and recommendations in the National Emergency Communications Plan under section 1802. ‘‘(b) DENIAL OF ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Grants and Planning, and in consultation with the Director for Emergency Communications, may prohibit any State, local, or tribal government from using homeland security assistance administered by the Department to achieve, maintain, or enhance emergency communications capabilities, if— ‘‘(A) such government has not complied with the requirement to submit a Statewide Interoperable Communications Plan as required by section 7303(f) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 194(f)); ‘‘(B) such government has proposed to upgrade or purchase new equipment or systems that do not meet or exceed any applicable national voluntary consensus standards and has not provided a reasonable explanation of why such equipment or systems will serve the needs of the applicant better than equipment or systems that meet or exceed such standards; and ‘‘(C) as of the date that is 3 years after the date of the completion of the initial National Emergency Communications Plan under section 1802, national voluntary consensus standards for interoperable emergency communications capabilities have not been developed and promulgated. ‘‘(2) STANDARDS.—The Secretary, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other Federal departments and agencies with responsibility for standards, shall support the development, promulgation, and updating as necessary of national voluntary consensus standards for interoperable emergency communications.

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