Congress extends emergency responder network through 2037 with stricter rules.
H.R. 7386 — First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act of 2026 · Filed by Neal Dunn (R-FL) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Feb 5, 2026 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill keeps FirstNet running. FirstNet is a network that lets police, firefighters, and paramedics talk to each other. The bill says FirstNet must get approval from another agency before making big moves. It adds more police and firefighters to the board. The company running the network must report outages within 30 minutes.
Who it affects
Police, firefighters, and paramedics use FirstNet to talk during emergencies. The company that runs the network must follow new rules. Congress will get reports about how the network works.
One thing to notice
The bill requires another agency to approve most FirstNet moves before they happen. This could slow things down. The bill also makes sure more police and firefighters help run the network.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Feb 5, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 5, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology”
- Feb 10, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Mar 25, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 51 - 0”
- Apr 20, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2967-2968)”
- Apr 20, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Allen moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
16 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 16 reports from Mar 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $3,757,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 5 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 95% of bills with any report.
Neal Dunn, who sponsored the bill, received $438,583 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Verizon Communications Inc and Various Subsidiaries — $3,050,000 in 1 report
- International Association of Fire Fighters — $196,000 in 1 report
- National Fraternal Order of Police — $100,000 in 1 report
- AT&T Services, Inc. — $80,000 in 1 report
- AT&T Services Inc — $60,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- FirstNet — A nationwide broadband network that police, firefighters, and paramedics use to talk.
- outages — Times when a network stops working.
- board — A group of people who make big choices for an organization.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (14,582 characters) on Jul 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 24, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-22.
- H.R. 7386 on Congress.gov
- Actions and status history
- Cosponsors (1)
- Bill text the analysis read
- Verizon Communications Inc and Various Subsidiaries — LDA filing, 2026 Q2
- International Association of Fire Fighters — LDA filing, 2026 Q2
- National Fraternal Order of Police — LDA filing, 2026 Q2
- Neal Dunn — FEC candidate receipts, 2026 cycle
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