Mine Communications Technology Innovation Act

A bill to require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish an initiative to promote the research, development, and demonstration of miner tracking and communications systems and to promote the establishment of standards and other measurement services regarding underground communications to protect miners in the United States.

10/30/2007--Introduced.
Mine Communications Technology Innovation Act - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish a program of research, development, and demonstration that includes the establishment of best practices, adaptation of existing technology, and efforts to accelerate the development of next generation technology and tracking systems for mine communications. Requires the Director to coordinate with federal agencies and industry to evaluate areas of research and development and best practices that will be most promising in protecting miner safety.
Authorizes the Director, in establishing the program, to focus on the following communications and tracking system characteristics:
(1) systems that are likely to work in emergency situations;
(2) systems that work in coal mines, with special attention paid to deep underground coal mines;
(3) systems that provide coverage throughout all areas of the mine;
(4) hybrid systems that use both wireless and infrastructure-based systems;
(5) functionality for two-way and voice communications;
(6) systems that serve emergency and routine communications needs;
(7) the ability to work with existing legacy systems and to be quickly integrated; and
(8) propagation environment characterization, performance metrics, and independently derived validation tests to verify performance for standards development.
Requires the Director to:
(1) work with industry and federal agencies to develop consensus industry standards for communications in underground mines; and
(2) develop and provide measurement services needed to support implementation of such standards, which should address the appropriate use of frequency bands and power levels, matters related to interoperability, and technology to prevent interference.


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Sponsor

• Sen. Jim Webb [D, VA]

Committees

• Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Amendments

This bill has no amendments.

Amendments to S.2263

Number	Status	Purpose

Bill Status

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Introduced		Voted on by Senate		Voted on by House		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
October 30, 2007

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All Bill Actions

• Oct 30, 2007: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
• Introduced on Oct 30, 2007.

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Related Bills:

• H.R.3877

Related Issue Areas:

• Coal
• Wireless communication
• Telecommunication
• Technology
• 13 more
• Technological innovations
• Standards
• Science policy
• Research grants
• Research and development
• Mine safety
• Energy
• Emergency management
• Emergency communication systems
• Coal mines and mining
• Business
• Budgets
• Labor

Data from the Congressional Research Service

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In the News

October 31, 2007 Senator Jim Webb Introdcues Mine Safety Bill

The Mine Communications Technology Innovation Act (S.2263) requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to study and pursue new ...

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Source: WSLS.com, VA

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Blog Coverage

March 03, 2008 The Week Ahead: The Week of March 3

The Senate convenes at 2 pm and will debate a motion to proceed to S. 2263, expanding the Consumer Product Safety Commission's authority -- a bill with many well-intended but jobs-killing provisions. Committee hearings for the week, ...

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Source: shopfloor.org: The Manufacturers Blog

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November 03, 2007 Webb Introduces Mine Safety Bill

The Mine Communications Technology Innovation Act (S.2263) requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to study and pursue new technologies to overcome limitations of current communications equipment used in mines ...

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Source: Scott County Democrats

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October 29, 2007 Introduced Bill: S.2263

A bill to require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish an initiative to promote the research, development, and demonstration of miner tracking and communications systems and to promote the ...

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Source: Open Congress : Sen. Jim Webb [D, VA]

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