CABLE Expansion Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1061 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve cable franchising authority, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 15, 2021 Mrs. LESKO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve cable franchising authority, 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 ‘‘Connecting And Build- 4 ing Lines for Expedited Expansion Act’’ or the ‘‘CABLE 5 Expansion Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1061.IH H1061 2 •HR 1061 IH SEC. 2. REQUEST REGARDING PLACEMENT, CONSTRUC- 1 TION, OR MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN FACILI- 2 TIES. 3 Section 624 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 4 U.S.C. 544) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(j) REQUEST REGARDING PLACEMENT, CONSTRUC- 7 TION, OR MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN FACILITIES.— 8 ‘‘(1) NO AFFECT ON AUTHORITY OF FRAN- 9 CHISING AUTHORITY.—Except as provided in para- 10 graph (2), and notwithstanding any other provision 11 of this section, nothing in this title shall limit or af- 12 fect the authority of a franchising authority over de- 13 cisions regarding the placement, construction, and 14 modification of a covered facility within the jurisdic- 15 tion of such franchising authority. 16 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 17 ‘‘(A) ABILITY TO PROVIDE OR ENHANCE 18 CABLE SERVICE.—The regulation of the place- 19 ment, construction, or modification of a covered 20 facility by a franchising authority shall not pro- 21 hibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability 22 of a cable operator to provide cable service, or 23 enhance cable service provided, under a fran- 24 chise granted by such franchising authority. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1061.IH H1061 3 •HR 1061 IH ‘‘(B) TIMING OF DECISIONS ON REQUESTS 1 FOR AUTHORIZATIONS TO PLACE, CONSTRUCT, 2 OR MODIFY FACILITY.— 3 ‘‘(i) REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION 4 TO PLACE, CONSTRUCT, OR MODIFY FACIL- 5 ITY.— 6 ‘‘(I) TIMEFRAME.—A franchising 7 authority shall approve or deny a 8 complete request for authorization to 9 place, construct, or modify a covered 10 facility not later than— 11 ‘‘(aa) if the request is for 12 authorization to place, construct, 13 or modify a covered facility in or 14 on an eligible support infrastruc- 15 ture, 90 days after the date on 16 which the franchising authority 17 receives the request; and 18 ‘‘(bb) if the request is not 19 for authorization to place, con- 20 struct modify a covered facility in 21 or on an eligible support infra- 22 structure, 150 days after the 23 date on which franchising author- 24 ity receives the request. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1061.IH H1061 4 •HR 1061 IH ‘‘(II) APPLICABILITY.—Notwith- 1 standing any provision of this title, 2 the applicable timeframe under sub- 3 paragraph (A) shall apply collectively 4 to all proceedings required by a fran- 5 chising authority for the approval of 6 the request. 7 ‘‘(III) NO TOLLING.—A time- 8 frame under subparagraph (A) may 9 not be tolled by any moratorium, 10 whether express or de facto, imposed 11 by a franchising authority on the con- 12 sideration of any request for author- 13 ization to place, construct, or modify 14 a facility for the provision of cable 15 service. 16 ‘‘(IV) WRITTEN DECISION AND 17 RECORD.—Any decision by a fran- 18 chising authority to deny a complete 19 request for authorization to place, 20 construct, or modify a covered facility 21 shall be— 22 ‘‘(aa) in writing; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1061.IH H1061 5 •HR 1061 IH ‘‘(bb) supported by substan- 1 tial evidence contained in a writ- 2 ten record; and 3 ‘‘(cc) publicly released, con- 4 temporaneously with the decision. 5 ‘‘(C) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COM- 6 PLETE; RECEIVED.— 7 ‘‘(i) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED 8 COMPLETE.— 9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—For the pur- 10 poses of this subparagraph (B), a re- 11 quest to a franchising authority shall 12 be considered complete if the request- 13 ing party has not received a written 14 notice from the franchising authority 15 within 10 business days after the date 16 on which the request is received by 17 the franchising authority— 18 ‘‘(aa) stating that all the in- 19 formation (including any form or 20 other document) required by the 21 franchising authority to be sub- 22 mitted for the request to be con- 23 sidered complete has not been 24 submitted; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1061.IH H1061 6 •HR 1061 IH ‘‘(bb) identifying the infor- 1 mation required to be submitted 2 that was not submitted. 3 ‘‘(II) DEFINITION.—In this 4 clause, the term ‘received by the fran- 5 chising authority’ means— 6 ‘‘(aa) in the case of a re- 7 quest submitted electronically, on 8 the date on which the request is 9 transmitted; 10 ‘‘(bb) in the case of a re- 11 quest submitted in person, on the 12 date on which the request is de- 13 livered to the individual or at the 14 location specified by the fran- 15 chising authority for in-person 16 submission; and 17 ‘‘(cc) in the case of a re- 18 quest submitted in any other 19 manner, on the date determined 20 under regulations promulgated by 21 the Commission for the manner 22 in which the request is sub- 23 mitted. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1061.IH H1061 7 •HR 1061 IH ‘‘(ii) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CON- 1 SIDERED RECEIVED.—For the purposes of 2 subparagraph (B), a complete request shall 3 be considered received on the date on 4 which the requesting party submits to the 5 franchising authority all information (in- 6 cluding any form or other document) re- 7 quired by the franchising authority to be 8 submitted for the request to be considered 9 complete. 10 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 11 ‘‘(i) ELIGIBLE SUPPORT INFRASTRUC- 12 TURE.—The term ‘eligible support infra- 13 structure’ means infrastructure that sup- 14 ports or houses a facility for communica- 15 tion by wire (or is designed to and capable 16 of supporting or housing such facility) at 17 the time when a complete request to a 18 franchising authority for authorization to 19 place, construct, or modify a covered facil- 20 ity in or on the infrastructure is received 21 by the franchising authority. 22 ‘‘(ii) COVERED FACILITY.—The term 23 ‘covered facility’ means a facility— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1061.IH H1061 8 •HR 1061 IH ‘‘(I) for the provision of cable 1 service; and 2 ‘‘(II) that serves subscribers 3 using an easement or public right-of- 4 way.’’. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1061.IH H1061