SBC Seeking “Boots on the Ground” State Liaisons for California and Texas
Government Affairs Work Group Shares 2023 Goals, Tracks and Monitors Key Legislation

Welcome to the new year 2023, things are starting to heat up legislatively, with some FCC activity on the Federal level, bills starting to circulate in advance of State sessions and even some upcoming spring elections at the municipal level. We continue to monitor and track items of interest in Florida (SB-1190), California, Texas, New Jersey, Michigan. We’ve also set goals for the year.

Our goals for 2023 include the following:

• Work with fire service, police, EMS, emergency services and public safety key stakeholders and legislators to inform and educate on in-building emergency responder communications.
  
• Work with key stakeholders to gain a written response on Florida’s SB-1190’s vague corridor language.
  
• When necessary, draft letters or position statements, FCC Comments or Reply Comments, and other communications as may be appropriate relating to legislation, rules and regulations for consideration by the SBC’s Board of Directors, supporting recommendations by the WG.
  
• Develop work group liaisons for several key states, (Florida, Texas, California to start, others to be added as necessary). These liaisons shall be tasked with monitoring and reporting activities each month to the work group. They will also be responsible with attending public hearings and testifying on behalf of SBC and/or networking to attract and secure personnel to testify.

As listed above in the final bullet, the Government Affairs work group is actively looking for State Liaisons or State sub-work group leaders to be our “person with boots on the ground” in certain markets. We started this effort with Florida and now are seeking to replicate it in California and Texas. This will assist our effort to become more active and be on the offensive with educating and informing not just AHJ’s but lawmakers and influencers. If anyone is interested, please contact Jim Loftus ([email protected]).

Thank you to all who continue to participate in the work group. We appreciate your contributions!