BROADBAND Leadership Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1051 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes for telecommunications service facilities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 15, 2021 Mr. GRIFFITH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes for telecommunications service facilities, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Barriers and Regu- 4 latory Obstacles Avoids Deployment of Broadband Access 5 and Needs Deregulatory Leadership Act’’ or the 6 ‘‘BROADBAND Leadership Act’’. 7 SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY. 8 Section 253 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 9 U.S.C. 253) is amended to read as follows: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 2 •HR 1051 IH ‘‘SEC. 253. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY. 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No State or local statute or reg- 2 ulation, or other State or local legal requirement, may pro- 3 hibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any 4 entity to provide or enhance any interstate or intrastate 5 telecommunications service. 6 ‘‘(b) PLACEMENT, CONSTRUCTION, OR MODIFICA- 7 TION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE FACILITIES.— 8 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON UNREASONABLE DIS- 9 CRIMINATION AMONG PROVIDERS OF FUNCTIONALLY 10 EQUIVALENT SERVICES.—The regulation of the 11 placement, construction, or modification of a tele- 12 communications service facility by any State or local 13 government or instrumentality thereof shall not un- 14 reasonably discriminate among providers of function- 15 ally equivalent services. 16 ‘‘(2) TIMEFRAME TO GRANT OR DENY RE- 17 QUESTS.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State or local gov- 19 ernment or instrumentality thereof shall grant 20 or deny a complete request for authorization to 21 place, construct, or modify a telecommuni- 22 cations service facility not later than— 23 ‘‘(i) if the request is for authorization 24 to place, construct, or modify such facility 25 in or on eligible support infrastructure, 90 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 3 •HR 1051 IH days after the date on which the complete 1 request is received by the government or 2 instrumentality; or 3 ‘‘(ii) for any other action relating to 4 such facility, 150 days after the date on 5 which the complete request is received by 6 the government or instrumentality. 7 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY.—The applicable 8 timeframe under subparagraph (A) shall apply 9 collectively to all proceedings required by a 10 State or local government or instrumentality 11 thereof for the approval of the request. 12 ‘‘(C) NO TOLLING.—A timeframe under 13 subparagraph (A) may not be tolled by any 14 moratorium, whether express or de facto, im- 15 posed by a State or local government or instru- 16 mentality thereof on the consideration of any 17 request for authorization to place, construct, or 18 modify a telecommunications service facility. 19 ‘‘(D) TEMPORARY WAIVER.—The Commis- 20 sion may temporarily waive the applicability of 21 subparagraph (A) for not longer than a single 22 30-day period for any complete request upon a 23 demonstration by a State or local government 24 or instrumentality thereof that the waiver would 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 4 •HR 1051 IH be consistent with the public interest, conven- 1 ience, and necessity. 2 ‘‘(3) DEEMED GRANTED.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a State or local 4 government or instrumentality thereof has nei- 5 ther granted nor denied a complete request 6 within the applicable timeframe under para- 7 graph (2), the request shall be deemed granted 8 on the date on which the government or instru- 9 mentality receives a written notice of the failure 10 from the requesting party. 11 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—In the 12 case of a request that is deemed granted under 13 subparagraph (A), the placement, construction, 14 or modification requested in such request shall 15 be considered to be authorized, without any fur- 16 ther action by the government or instrumen- 17 tality, beginning on the date on which such re- 18 quest is deemed granted under such subpara- 19 graph. 20 ‘‘(4) WRITTEN DECISION AND RECORD.—Any 21 decision by a State or local government or instru- 22 mentality thereof to deny a request to place, con- 23 struct, or modify a telecommunications service facil- 24 ity shall be— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 5 •HR 1051 IH ‘‘(A) in writing; and 1 ‘‘(B) supported by substantial evidence 2 contained in a written record. 3 ‘‘(5) FEES.— 4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 5 other provision of law, a State or local govern- 6 ment or instrumentality thereof may charge a 7 fee that meets the requirements under subpara- 8 graph (B)— 9 ‘‘(i) to consider a request for author- 10 ization to place, construct, or modify a 11 telecommunications service facility; or 12 ‘‘(ii) for use of a right-of-way or a fa- 13 cility in a right-of-way owned or managed 14 by the government or instrumentality for 15 the placement, construction, or modifica- 16 tion of a telecommunications service facil- 17 ity. 18 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—A fee charged 19 under subparagraph (A) shall be— 20 ‘‘(i) competitively neutral, technology 21 neutral, and nondiscriminatory; 22 ‘‘(ii) publicly disclosed; 23 ‘‘(iii) calculated— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 6 •HR 1051 IH ‘‘(I) based on actual and direct 1 costs, such as costs for— 2 ‘‘(aa) review and processing 3 of requests; and 4 ‘‘(bb) repairs and replace- 5 ment of— 6 ‘‘(AA) components and 7 materials resulting from and 8 affected by the installation 9 or improvement of tele- 10 communications service fa- 11 cilities; or 12 ‘‘(BB) equipment that 13 facilitates the installation or 14 improvement of such facili- 15 ties; and 16 ‘‘(II) using, for purposes of sub- 17 clause (I), only costs that are objec- 18 tively reasonable; and 19 ‘‘(iv) described to a requesting party 20 in a manner that distinguishes between— 21 ‘‘(I) nonrecurring fees and recur- 22 ring fees; and 23 ‘‘(II) the use of facilities on 24 which telecommunications service fa- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 7 •HR 1051 IH cilities are already located and those 1 on which there are no telecommuni- 2 cations service facilities as of the date 3 on which the complete request is re- 4 ceived by the government or instru- 5 mentality. 6 ‘‘(c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person adversely af- 8 fected by a final action or failure to act by a State 9 or local government or instrumentality thereof that 10 is inconsistent with this section may, not later than 11 30 days after the action or failure to act, commence 12 an action in any court of competent jurisdiction. 13 ‘‘(2) TIMING.—A court shall hear and decide an 14 action described in paragraph (1) on an expedited 15 basis. 16 ‘‘(d) PRESERVATION OF STATE REGULATORY AU- 17 THORITY.—Nothing in this section shall affect the ability 18 of a State to impose, on a competitively neutral and non- 19 discriminatory basis and consistent with section 254, re- 20 quirements necessary to preserve and advance universal 21 service, protect the public safety and welfare, ensure the 22 continued quality of telecommunications services, and 23 safeguard the rights of consumers. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 8 •HR 1051 IH ‘‘(e) PRESERVATION OF STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN- 1 MENT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section affects the 2 authority of a State or local government or instrumen- 3 tality thereof to manage the public rights-of-way or to re- 4 quire fair and reasonable compensation from telecommuni- 5 cations providers, on a competitively neutral and non- 6 discriminatory basis, for use of public rights-of-way on a 7 competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory basis, if the 8 compensation required meets the requirements of sub- 9 section (b)(5). 10 ‘‘(f) PREEMPTION.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If, after notice and an op- 12 portunity for public comment, the Commission deter- 13 mines that a State or local government or instru- 14 mentality thereof has permitted or imposed any stat- 15 ute, regulation, or legal requirement that violates or 16 is inconsistent with this section, the Commission 17 shall preempt the enforcement of such statute, regu- 18 lation, or legal requirement to the extent necessary 19 to correct such violation or inconsistency. 20 ‘‘(2) TIMING.—Not later than 60 days after re- 21 ceiving a petition for preemption of the enforcement 22 of a statute, regulation, or legal requirement as de- 23 scribed in paragraph (1), the Commission shall 24 grant or deny the petition. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 9 •HR 1051 IH ‘‘(g) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS.— 1 Nothing in this section shall affect the application of sec- 2 tion 332(c)(3) to commercial mobile service providers. 3 ‘‘(h) RURAL MARKETS.—It shall not be a violation 4 of this section for a State to require a telecommunications 5 carrier that seeks to provide telephone exchange service 6 or exchange access in a service area served by a rural tele- 7 phone company to meet the requirements in section 8 214(e)(1) for designation as an eligible telecommuni- 9 cations carrier for that area before being permitted to pro- 10 vide such service. This subsection shall not apply— 11 ‘‘(1) to a service area served by a rural tele- 12 phone company that has obtained an exemption, sus- 13 pension, or modification of section 251(c)(4) that ef- 14 fectively prevents a competitor from meeting the re- 15 quirements of section 214(e)(1); and 16 ‘‘(2) to a provider of commercial mobile serv- 17 ices. 18 ‘‘(i) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COMPLETE; RE- 19 CEIVED.— 20 ‘‘(1) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COM- 21 PLETE.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 23 this section, a request to a State or local gov- 24 ernment or instrumentality thereof shall be con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 10 •HR 1051 IH sidered complete if the requesting party has not 1 received a written notice from the government 2 or instrumentality within 10 business days after 3 the date on which the request is received by the 4 government or instrumentality— 5 ‘‘(i) stating that all the information 6 (including any form or other document) re- 7 quired by the government or instrumen- 8 tality to be submitted for the request to be 9 considered complete has not been sub- 10 mitted; and 11 ‘‘(ii) identifying the information re- 12 quired to be submitted that was not sub- 13 mitted. 14 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 15 term ‘received by the government or instrumen- 16 tality’ means— 17 ‘‘(i) in the case of a request submitted 18 electronically, on the date on which the re- 19 quest is transmitted; 20 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a request sub- 21 mitted in person, on the date on which the 22 request is delivered to the individual or at 23 the location specified by the government or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 11 •HR 1051 IH instrumentality for in-person submission; 1 and 2 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a request sub- 3 mitted in any other manner, on the date 4 determined under regulations promulgated 5 by the Commission for the manner in 6 which the request is submitted. 7 ‘‘(2) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CONSIDERED 8 RECEIVED.—For the purposes of this section, a com- 9 plete request shall be considered received on the date 10 on which the requesting party submits to the govern- 11 ment or instrumentality all information (including 12 any form or other document) required by the govern- 13 ment or instrumentality to be submitted for the re- 14 quest to be considered complete. 15 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE.— 17 The term ‘eligible support infrastructure’ means in- 18 frastructure that supports or houses a facility for 19 communication by wire (or is designed to and capa- 20 ble of supporting or housing such a facility) at the 21 time when a complete request to a State or local 22 government or instrumentality thereof for authoriza- 23 tion to place, construct, or modify a telecommuni- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051 12 •HR 1051 IH cations service facility in or on the infrastructure is 1 received by the government or instrumentality. 2 ‘‘(2) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE FACIL- 3 ITY.—The term ‘telecommunications service facility’ 4 means a facility for the provision of any interstate 5 or intrastate telecommunications service.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:13 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1051.IH H1051