Broadband Permitting Modernization Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3370 To streamline the broadband permitting process for broadband services, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Mr. CURTIS (for himself, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. UPTON, Mr. WITTMAN, and Mr. ARMSTRONG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To streamline the broadband permitting process for broadband services, 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 ‘‘Broadband Permitting 4 Modernization Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 6 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3370 IH Sec. 3. Enhancing Administrative Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act. Sec. 4. DIGITAL Applications Act. Sec. 5. Facilitating DIGITAL Applications Act. Sec. 6. Rural Broadband Permitting Efficiency Act of 2021. SEC. 3. ENHANCING ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEWS FOR 1 BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT ACT. 2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 3 ‘‘Enhancing Administrative Reviews for Broadband De- 4 ployment Act’’. 5 (b) ENABLING ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW.— 6 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 (A) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 8 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of 9 Congress’’ means— 10 (i) the Committee on Energy and 11 Commerce of the House of Representa- 12 tives; 13 (ii) the Committee on Natural Re- 14 sources of the House of Representatives; 15 (iii) the Committee on Commerce, 16 Science, and Transportation of the Senate; 17 and 18 (iv) the Committee on Environment 19 and Public Works of the Senate. 20 (B) COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY.—The 21 term ‘‘communications facility’’ includes— 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3370 IH (i) any infrastructure, including any 1 transmitting device, tower, or support 2 structure, and any equipment, switch, wir- 3 ing, cabling, power source, shelter, or cabi- 4 net, associated with the licensed or per- 5 mitted unlicensed wireless or wireline 6 transmission of any writing, sign, signal, 7 data, image, picture, or sound of any kind; 8 and 9 (ii) any antenna or apparatus that— 10 (I) is designed for the purpose of 11 emitting radio frequency; 12 (II) is designed to be operated, or 13 is operating, from a fixed location 14 pursuant to authorization by the 15 Commission or is using a duly author- 16 ized device that does not require an 17 individual license; and 18 (III) is added to a tower, build- 19 ing, or other structure. 20 (C) COMMUNICATIONS SITE.—The term 21 ‘‘communications site’’ means an area of cov- 22 ered land designated for communications uses. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3370 IH (D) COMMUNICATIONS USE.—The term 1 ‘‘communications use’’ means the placement 2 and operation of a communications facility. 3 (E) COMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZA- 4 TION.—The term ‘‘communications use author- 5 ization’’ means an easement, right-of-way, 6 lease, license, or other authorization to locate or 7 modify a communications facility on covered 8 land by the Department concerned for the pri- 9 mary purpose of authorizing the occupancy and 10 use of the covered land for communications use. 11 (F) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered 12 land’’ means— 13 (i) public land administered by the 14 Secretary of the Interior; and 15 (ii) National Forest System land. 16 (G) DEPARTMENT CONCERNED.—The 17 term ‘‘Department concerned’’ means the De- 18 partment of the Interior or the Department of 19 Agriculture. 20 (H) ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT.—The term 21 ‘‘organizational unit’’ means— 22 (i) with respect to public land admin- 23 istered by the Secretary of the Interior— 24 (I) a State office; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3370 IH (II) a district office; or 1 (III) a field office; and 2 (ii) within the Forest Service— 3 (I) a regional office; 4 (II) the headquarters; 5 (III) a management unit; or 6 (IV) a ranger district office. 7 (I) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term 8 ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 9 (i) the Secretary of the Interior, with 10 respect to public land; and 11 (ii) the Secretary of Agriculture, with 12 respect to National Forest System land. 13 (2) STUDY REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year 14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 15 retary concerned shall submit to the appropriate 16 committees of Congress a report that— 17 (A) provides an assessment on pro- 18 grammatic or administrative barriers to review- 19 ing communications use authorizations by the 20 Department concerned or organizational units 21 of the Department concerned; 22 (B) provides an assessment whether there 23 are rules or regulations of the Department con- 24 cerned that could be revised to improve the effi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3370 IH ciency of reviewing a communications use au- 1 thorization; 2 (C) describes the process for prioritizing 3 the review of a communications use authoriza- 4 tion; and 5 (D) provides a plan to ensure adequate 6 staffing throughout organizational units of the 7 Department concerned to review communica- 8 tions use authorizations in a timely manner. 9 SEC. 4. DIGITAL APPLICATIONS ACT. 10 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 11 ‘‘Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Trans- 12 actions And Legacy Applications Act’’ or the ‘‘DIGITAL 13 Applications Act’’. 14 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ONLINE PORTAL FOR 15 FORM 299.— 16 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 17 (A) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 18 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of 19 Congress’’ means— 20 (i) the Committee on Energy and 21 Commerce of the House of Representa- 22 tives; 23 (ii) the Committee on Natural Re- 24 sources of the House of Representatives; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3370 IH (iii) the Committee on Commerce, 1 Science, and Transportation of the Senate; 2 and 3 (iv) the Committee on Environment 4 and Public Works of the Senate. 5 (B) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term 6 ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Sec- 7 retary of Commerce for Communications and 8 Information. 9 (C) DEPARTMENT CONCERNED.—The term 10 ‘‘Department concerned’’ means the Depart- 11 ment of the Interior or the Department of Agri- 12 culture. 13 (D) FORM 299.—The term ‘‘Form 299’’ 14 means the form established under section 15 6409(b)(2)(A) of the Middle Class Tax Relief 16 and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 17 1455(b)(2)(A)) or any successor form. 18 (E) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term 19 ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 20 (i) the Secretary of the Interior, with 21 respect to land administered by such Sec- 22 retary; and 23 (ii) the Secretary of Agriculture, with 24 respect to National Forest System land. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3370 IH (2) ESTABLISHMENT OF ONLINE PORTAL.— 1 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 2 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 3 Secretary concerned shall establish an online 4 portal for the acceptance, processing, and dis- 5 posal of a Form 299. 6 (B) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 3 7 business days after the date on which the online 8 portal has been established pursuant to sub- 9 paragraph (A), the Secretary concerned shall 10 notify the Assistant Secretary of such establish- 11 ment. 12 (3) AVAILABILITY OF ONLINE PORTAL.—The 13 Assistant Secretary shall publish on the website of 14 the National Telecommunications and Information 15 Administration a link to each online portal estab- 16 lished pursuant to paragraph (1)(A). 17 SEC. 5. FACILITATING DIGITAL APPLICATIONS ACT. 18 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 19 ‘‘Facilitating the Deployment of Infrastructure with 20 Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications 21 Act’’ or the ‘‘Facilitating DIGITAL Applications Act’’. 22 (b) BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ONLINE 23 PORTAL FOR FORM 299.— 24 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3370 IH (A) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 1 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of 2 Congress’’ means— 3 (i) the Committee on Energy and 4 Commerce of the House of Representa- 5 tives; 6 (ii) the Committee on Natural Re- 7 sources of the House of Representatives; 8 (iii) the Committee on Commerce, 9 Science, and Transportation of the Senate; 10 and 11 (iv) the Committee on Environment 12 and Public Works of the Senate. 13 (B) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term 14 ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Sec- 15 retary of Commerce for Communications and 16 Information. 17 (C) COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY.—The 18 term ‘‘communications facility’’ includes— 19 (i) any infrastructure, including any 20 transmitting device, tower, or support 21 structure, and any equipment, switch, wir- 22 ing, cabling, power source, shelter, or cabi- 23 net, associated with the licensed or per- 24 mitted unlicensed wireless or wireline 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3370 IH transmission of any writing, sign, signal, 1 data, image, picture, and sound of any 2 kind; and 3 (ii) any antenna or apparatus that— 4 (I) is designed for the purpose of 5 emitting radio frequency; 6 (II) is designed to be operated, or 7 is operating, from a fixed location 8 pursuant to authorization by the 9 Commission or is using a duly author- 10 ized device that does not require an 11 individual license; and 12 (III) is added to a tower, build- 13 ing, or other structure. 14 (D) COMMUNICATIONS USE.—The term 15 ‘‘communications use’’ means the placement 16 and operation of a communications facility. 17 (E) COMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZA- 18 TION.—The term ‘‘communications use author- 19 ization’’ means an easement, right-of-way, 20 lease, license, or other authorization to locate or 21 modify a communications facility on covered 22 land by the Department concerned for the pri- 23 mary purpose of authorizing the occupancy and 24 use of the covered land for communications use. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3370 IH (F) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered 1 land’’ means— 2 (i) public land administered by the 3 Secretary of the Interior; and 4 (ii) National Forest System land. 5 (G) DEPARTMENT CONCERNED.—The 6 term ‘‘Department concerned’’ means the De- 7 partment of the Interior or the Department of 8 Agriculture. 9 (H) FORM 299.—The term ‘‘Form 299’’ 10 means the form established under section 11 6409(b)(2)(A) of the Middle Class Tax Relief 12 and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 13 1455(b)(2)(A)), or any successor form. 14 (I) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term 15 ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 16 (i) the Secretary of the Interior, with 17 respect to land administered by such Sec- 18 retary; and 19 (ii) the Secretary of Agriculture, with 20 respect to National Forest System land. 21 (2) BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTATION.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 23 after the date of enactment of this section, and 24 every 60 days thereafter until the notification 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3370 IH described in subparagraph (B), the Assistant 1 Secretary shall submit to the appropriate com- 2 mittees in Congress a report that— 3 (i) describes whether the Department 4 concerned has established an online portal 5 for the acceptance, processing, and dis- 6 posal of a Form 299; and 7 (ii) describes any barrier to the estab- 8 lishment of an online portal for the accept- 9 ance, processing, and disposal of a Form 10 299. 11 (B) NOTIFICATION DESCRIBED.—The Sec- 12 retary concerned shall notify the Assistant Sec- 13 retary not later than 3 business days after the 14 Department concerned has established an online 15 portal for the acceptance, processing, and dis- 16 posal of a Form 299. 17 SEC. 6. RURAL BROADBAND PERMITTING EFFICIENCY ACT 18 OF 2021. 19 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 20 ‘‘Rural Broadband Permitting Efficiency Act of 2021’’. 21 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 22 (1) BROADBAND PROJECT.—The term ‘‘broad- 23 band project’’ means an installation by a broadband 24 provider of wireless or broadband infrastructure, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jul 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3370.IH H3370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3370 IH cluding but not limited to, copper lines, fiber optic 1 lines, communications towers, buildings, or other im- 2 provements on Federal land. 3 (2) BROADBAND PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘broad- 4 band provider’’ means a provider of wireless or 5 broadband infrastructure that enables a user to 6 originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graph- 7 ics, and video telecommunications. 8 (3) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘‘Indian Lands’’ 9 means— 10 (A) any land owned by an Indian Tribe, lo- 11 cated within the boundaries of an Indian res- 12 ervation, pueblo, or rancheria; or 13 (B) any land located within the boundaries 14 of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria, 15 the title to which is held— 16 (i) in trust by the United States for 17 the benefit of an Indian Tribe or an indi- 18 vidual Indian; 19 (ii) by an Indian Tribe or an indi- 20 vidual Indian, subject to restriction [Text truncated for display. 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