The bill adds a new Title to the NTIA Organization Act directing the Assistant Secretary to coordinate Next Generation 9‑1‑1 (NG9‑1‑1) deployment, run a competitive grant program for States, Tribes, and regional entities, and establish both a Next Generation 9‑1‑1 Cybersecurity Center and a Public Safety NG9‑1‑1 Advisory Board. The grant program covers deployment, maintenance, cybersecurity, training (with percentage caps), public outreach, and limited planning/admin costs, and conditions awards on specific certifications about interoperability, sustainable funding, and cybersecurity.
This bill matters to state and local emergency communications centers, Tribal governments, public-safety agencies, vendors that supply NG9‑1‑1 products and services, and federal agencies engaged in public-safety interoperability and cybersecurity. It pairs federal coordination and guidance with clear certification and return-of-funds penalties, shifting responsibility for sustainable operations and standards-based procurement onto recipients while creating a federal hub for threat sharing and technical assistance.
At a Glance
What It Does
Directs the NTIA Assistant Secretary to create a management plan, run a grants program for NG9‑1‑1 deployment and cybersecurity, establish a Next Generation 9‑1‑1 Cybersecurity Center, and create a 16-member public-safety advisory board. Grants may fund deployment, maintenance, training (capped), outreach, planning (capped), and cybersecurity measures, and applicants must certify plans for interoperability and sustainable funding.
Who It Affects
State governments, Tribal nations, regional public authorities, and local emergency communications centers (public safety answering points); vendors and contractors bidding on NG9‑1‑1 procurements; the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NTIA as coordinating federal actors. The First Responder Network Authority is explicitly excluded as an allowable recipient of grant funds.
Why It Matters
The bill accelerates transition to IP-based 9‑1‑1 with federal money and technical coordination while embedding requirements intended to ensure interoperability, cybersecurity, and sustainable local funding. For compliance officers and procurement leads, the bill tightens rules on allowable uses, documentation, and procurement processes tied to federally supported rollouts.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill assigns the Assistant Secretary at NTIA the lead role in coordinating NG9‑1‑1 across federal, State, Tribal, and local levels. That office must collect and share best practices, provide technical assistance, review and approve grant applications, and report annually to Congress while working with the NHTSA Administrator as needed.
The Assistant Secretary also develops an internal management plan describing program structure and funding profiles and must publish that plan and any modifications for congressional and public review.
Grant money can be spent on core NG9‑1‑1 activities—deploying and maintaining IP-based call/data routing and processing systems, cybersecurity protections for emergency communications centers, outreach to educate the public on NG9‑1‑1 capabilities, and limited training and planning costs. The bill caps training and planning/admin expense reimbursements as percentages of each award (distinct ceilings for Tribes and non‑Tribes), requires documented, reasonable costs, and forbids using awards for FirstNet activities or paying entities barred for national-security reasons.Applicants must certify coordination with local emergency communications centers and name a single State point of contact (for States), submit an implementation plan that mandates commonly accepted standards, interoperability, reliability measures, cyber defenses, governance arrangements, and a public‑education plan.
Grant recipients must also certify they will establish a sustainable funding mechanism and effective cybersecurity resources within three years. False certifications trigger ineligibility, return of funds, and barring from future awards; failure by jurisdictions to comply requires returning grant funds.To centralize cyber defense and information sharing, NTIA must create a Next Generation 9‑1‑1 Cybersecurity Center in consultation with NHTSA and CISA.
The bill also forms a 16-member Public Safety NG9‑1‑1 Advisory Board composed of law enforcement, fire and rescue, EMS, and 9‑1‑1 professionals to advise on deployment priorities, rural/urban needs, procurement flexibility, efficiencies like virtualization, and integration of existing cyber resources. Funding is authorized for fiscal years 2026–2030 (sums as necessary), with an administrative cap on appropriated amounts.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Training and planning/admin expense caps: training reimbursement is limited to 3% of each grant for non‑Tribes and 5% for Tribes; documented planning/admin costs are capped at 1% for non‑Tribes and 2% for Tribes.
Grantees must certify they will have a sustainable funding mechanism and effective cybersecurity resources for NG9‑1‑1 within three years of receiving funds.
Grant funds may not be used to support activities of the First Responder Network Authority, nor paid to entities barred from federal contracting for national security reasons.
The bill requires NTIA to establish a Next Generation 9‑1‑1 Cybersecurity Center to coordinate threat information, analysis, and mitigation guidance with States, regions, and CISA.
A 16‑member Public Safety NG9‑1‑1 Advisory Board (4 each from law enforcement, fire/rescue, EMS, and 9‑1‑1 professionals) must be appointed and deliver initial recommendations within 120 days after the board is fully constituted.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
Designates the legislation as the 'Next Generation 9‑1‑1 Act.' This is purely nominal but frames subsequent sections under that program name for appropriations, reporting, and oversight references.
Assistant Secretary duties and annual reporting
Assigns core program responsibilities to NTIA’s Assistant Secretary, including coordinating with State points of contact, collecting and publishing best practices, advising applicants, providing technical assistance, approving grants, and overseeing grant fund usage. It also mandates annual reports to Congress until grant funds are exhausted. Practically, NTIA becomes the compliance and oversight authority for federally supported NG9‑1‑1 projects and will therefore set standards for applications and audits.
Management plan: development, publication, and updates
Requires NTIA to produce a management plan describing organizational structure and funding profiles, submit it to House and Senate committees within 180 days, publish it on NTIA’s website, and provide it to NHTSA for posting. Modifications to the plan must be submitted and published within 90 days. That creates a near‑term timetable for program governance and forces transparency about year‑by‑year funding expectations and how NTIA intends to administer grants.
Grant program mechanics, eligible uses, applications, and certifications
Sets the grantable activities (deployment, maintenance, cybersecurity, public outreach, training with percentage caps, and limited planning/admin costs with tighter caps) and requires applications to include certifications and a detailed State or Tribal implementation plan. The plan must address interoperability via commonly accepted standards, reliability, multimedia processing, cybersecurity tools and information‑sharing strategies, open competitive procurement, stakeholder input, governance, efficiencies (including virtualization), and authentication/credentialing approaches. The provision creates an enforceable certification regime—grant denial or clawback follows false or broken certifications, and applications are ineligible if certain 9‑1‑1 fee uses occurred in the prior 180 days. The section also bans grant usage for FirstNet activities and for entities barred for national security reasons, shaping permissible contracting and program scope.
Next Generation 9‑1‑1 Cybersecurity Center
Directs NTIA, in consultation with NHTSA and CISA, to establish a Cybersecurity Center to coordinate cybersecurity information sharing, threat analysis, and guidance for detection and prevention of intrusions affecting NG9‑1‑1. This creates a federal focal point intended to standardize threat intelligence and response strategies across jurisdictions and to provide operational cyber guidance to emergency communications centers.
Public Safety Next Generation 9‑1‑1 Advisory Board
Creates a 16‑member advisory board with equal representation from law enforcement, fire/rescue, EMS, and 9‑1‑1 professionals, requiring national‑level and rank‑and‑file representation and geographic diversity. The Board must deliver initial recommendations within 120 days after full appointment on deployment strategies, rural/urban flexibility, procurement and technology evolution, efficiencies such as virtualization, and integrating cybersecurity resources. The board is advisory only, terminates when grant funds are exhausted, and supplements NTIA’s stakeholder engagement.
Authorization and administrative cap
Authorizes appropriations 'as may be necessary' to carry out sections 159–161 for FY2026–FY2030, with amounts available until expended. It limits administrative spending to 4% of any amounts appropriated under the authorization, which constrains overhead but leaves total program funding unspecified and dependent on later appropriations decisions.
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Explore Infrastructure in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- State and Tribal governments: access to federal grants to accelerate NG9‑1‑1 deployment, technical assistance from NTIA, and funding flexibility that includes cybersecurity and outreach.
- Local emergency communications centers (public safety answering points): expected improvements in multimedia processing, interoperability, and cyber defenses from funded deployments and shared guidance.
- Vendors and systems integrators that comply with open, consensus standards: opportunities for competition through open RFP requirements and multi‑state procurement vehicles.
- Public‑safety cyber teams and CISA partners: a formalized NG9‑1‑1 Cybersecurity Center creates a national channel for threat intelligence and mitigation best practices.
- Tribal communities: higher percentage caps for training and planning/admin reimbursements acknowledge capacity differences and make smaller‑scale readiness investments more feasible.
Who Bears the Cost
- NTIA/Assistant Secretary and NHTSA: must build program management capacity, produce and update plans, manage grants, and run the Cybersecurity Center—work that requires staffing and operational resources.
- State and local governments receiving grants: must develop and implement comprehensive implementation plans, designate points of contact, and establish sustainable funding and cybersecurity resources within three years, shifting some long‑term operating costs to local budgets.
- Contractors and vendors: must meet 'commonly accepted standards' and open procurement requirements, potentially requiring redevelopment of proprietary interfaces and new cross‑certification capabilities.
- Applicants that make false certifications or whose jurisdictions violate certification conditions: risk losing awards, repaying funds, and permanent disqualification from future grants.
- Procurement offices and program managers at the regional and state level: higher administrative and governance burdens to document stakeholder input, run competitive procurements, and demonstrate interoperability and cybersecurity compliance.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between federal coordination to achieve nationwide, standards‑based NG9‑1‑1 interoperability and the bill’s reliance on State/Tribal/local commitments to finance and operate sustainable, secure systems: federal grants and guidance aim to catalyze an interoperable future, but the operational and fiscal responsibility ultimately shifts to subnational actors—creating a trade‑off between nationwide uniformity and local financial autonomy and capacity.
The bill centralizes coordination and creates enforceable certification gates tied to federal grant dollars, but it leaves key implementation choices and total funding levels to later agency rulemaking and the appropriations process. 'Such sums as necessary' for FY2026–FY2030 provides flexible authorization but creates uncertainty for jurisdictions that must commit to sustainable funding mechanisms within three years without a guaranteed, defined federal funding trajectory. That timing mismatch risks jammed local budgets if appropriations fall short of demand.
The emphasis on 'commonly accepted standards' and open competitive procurement advances interoperability and market competition, but it also risks transitional costs for jurisdictions that rely on proprietary legacy systems. The certification and clawback mechanics (including an across‑the‑board return-of-funds requirement if any State or taxing jurisdiction in a recipient’s area fails to comply) create a blunt enforcement tool that could penalize localities for unrelated fiscal or political decisions, raising legal and administrative complexity.
Finally, establishing a Cybersecurity Center and prescribing cyber requirements improves coordination but concentrates sensitive information flows and raises questions about data governance, privacy of 9‑1‑1 communications, and the balance between centralized threat intelligence and locally controlled operational response.
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