Public Lands Telecommunications Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2611 To support the establishment and improvement of communications sites on or adjacent to Federal lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture through the retention and use of rental fees associated with such sites, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 9, 2019 Mr. HUFFMAN (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To support the establishment and improvement of commu- nications sites on or adjacent to Federal lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture through the retention and use of rental fees associated with such sites, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2611.IH H2611 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2611 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Lands Tele- 2 communications Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) COMMUNICATIONS SITE.—The term ‘‘com- 6 munications site’’ means an area of Federal lands 7 designated for telecommunications uses. 8 (2) COMMUNICATIONS USE.—The term ‘‘com- 9 munications use’’ means the placement and oper- 10 ation of infrastructure for wireline or wireless tele- 11 communications, including cable television, tele- 12 vision, and radio communications, regardless of 13 whether such placement and operation is pursuant 14 to a license issued by the Federal Communications 15 Commission or on an unlicensed basis in accordance 16 with the regulations of the Commission. The term 17 includes ancillary activities, uses, or facilities directly 18 related to such placement and operation. 19 (3) COMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZATION.— 20 The term ‘‘communications use authorization’’ 21 means a right-of-way, permit, or lease granted, 22 issued, or executed by a Federal land management 23 agency for the primary purpose of authorizing the 24 occupancy and use of Federal lands for communica- 25 tions use. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2611.IH H2611 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2611 IH (4) FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCY.— 1 The term ‘‘Federal land management agency’’ 2 means the National Park Service, the United States 3 Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Man- 4 agement, and the Bureau of Reclamation. 5 (5) FEDERAL LANDS.—The term ‘‘Federal 6 lands’’ means lands under the jurisdiction and man- 7 agement of a Federal land management agency. 8 (6) RENTAL FEE.—The term ‘‘rental fee’’ 9 means the fee collected by a Federal land manage- 10 ment agency for the occupancy and use authorized 11 by a communications use authorization pursuant to 12 and consistent with authorizing law. 13 SEC. 3. COLLECTION AND RETENTION OF RENTAL FEES AS- 14 SOCIATED WITH COMMUNICATIONS USE AU- 15 THORIZATIONS ON FEDERAL LANDS AND 16 FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCY SUP- 17 PORT FOR COMMUNICATION SITE PRO- 18 GRAMS. 19 (a) SPECIAL ACCOUNT REQUIRED.—The Secretary of 20 the Treasury shall establish a special account in the 21 Treasury for each Federal land management agency for 22 the deposit of rental fees received by the Federal land 23 management agency for communications use authoriza- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2611.IH H2611 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2611 IH tions on Federal lands granted, issued, or executed by the 1 Federal land management agency. 2 (b) COMPETITIVELY NEUTRAL.—Notwithstanding 3 any other provision of law, any rental fees collected pursu- 4 ant to this Act shall be competitively neutral, technology 5 neutral, and nondiscriminatory with respect to other uses 6 of the communication site. 7 (c) RENTAL FEES.— 8 (1) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF RENTAL 9 FEES.—Rental fees shall not exceed the fee sched- 10 ules published by the Secretary of the Interior for 11 communication use rights-of-way. 12 (2) REVISION OF RENTAL FEE SCHEDULES FOR 13 COMMUNICATION SITES RIGHTS OF WAY.—Not later 14 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 15 Act, through a public process that includes consider- 16 ation of industry comments, the Secretary of the In- 17 terior shall revise the communication sites rights-of- 18 way rental fee schedule to reflect current commu- 19 nication technologies, including the physical foot- 20 print of such technologies. 21 (d) DEPOSIT AND RETENTION OF RENTAL FEES.— 22 Rental fees received by a Federal land management agen- 23 cy shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2611.IH H2611 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2611 IH (1) be deposited in the special account estab- 1 lished for that Federal land management agency; 2 and 3 (2) remain available for expenditure under sub- 4 section (e), to the extent and in such amounts as are 5 provided in advance in appropriation Acts. 6 (e) EXPENDITURE OF RETAINED FEES.—Amounts 7 deposited in the special account for a Federal land man- 8 agement agency shall be used solely for Federal land man- 9 agement agency activities related to communications sites, 10 including the following: 11 (1) Administering communications use author- 12 izations, including cooperative agreements under sec- 13 tion 4. 14 (2) Preparing needs assessments or other pro- 15 grammatic analyses necessary to establish commu- 16 nications sites and authorize communications uses 17 on or adjacent to Federal lands. 18 (3) Developing management plans for commu- 19 nications sites on or adjacent to Federal lands on a 20 competitively neutral, technology neutral, non- 21 discriminatory basis. 22 (4) Training for management of communica- 23 tions sites on or adjacent to Federal lands. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2611.IH H2611 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2611 IH (5) Obtaining, improving access to, or estab- 1 lishing communications sites on or adjacent to Fed- 2 eral lands. 3 (f) NO EFFECT ON OTHER FEE RETENTION AU- 4 THORITIES.—This Act shall not limit or otherwise affect 5 fee retention by a Federal land management agency under 6 any other authority. 7 SEC. 4. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT AUTHORITY. 8 The Secretary of the Interior may enter into coopera- 9 tive agreements to carry out the activities described in sec- 10 tion 3(e). 11 SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION OF COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT AU- 12 THORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRI- 13 CULTURE. 14 Section 8705(f) of the Agriculture Improvement Act 15 of 2018 (Public Law 115–334) is amended by adding at 16 the end the following: 17 ‘‘(6) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT AUTHORITY.— 18 The Secretary may enter into cooperative agree- 19 ments to carry out the activities described in sub- 20 paragraphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (4).’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2611.IH H2611 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS