STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1699 To streamline siting processes for small cell deployment. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 3, 2019 Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To streamline siting processes for small cell deployment. 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 ‘‘Streamlining The 4 Rapid Evolution And Modernization of Leading-edge In- 5 frastructure Necessary to Enhance Small Cell Deployment 6 Act’’ or the ‘‘STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment 7 Act’’. 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1699 IS SEC. 2. PRESERVATION OF LOCAL ZONING AUTHORITY. 1 Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 2 (47 U.S.C. 332(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (7) 3 and inserting the following: 4 ‘‘(7) PRESERVATION OF LOCAL ZONING AU- 5 THORITY.— 6 ‘‘(A) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—Except as 7 provided in this paragraph, nothing in this Act 8 shall limit or affect the authority of a State or 9 local government or instrumentality thereof over 10 decisions regarding the placement, construction, 11 and modification of personal wireless service fa- 12 cilities. 13 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS.— 14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro- 15 vided in subparagraph (C), the regulation 16 of the placement, construction, or modi- 17 fication of a personal wireless service facil- 18 ity by any State or local government or in- 19 strumentality thereof— 20 ‘‘(I) shall not unreasonably dis- 21 criminate among providers of func- 22 tionally equivalent services; and 23 ‘‘(II) shall not prohibit or have 24 the effect of prohibiting the provision 25 of personal wireless service. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1699 IS ‘‘(ii) TIMEFRAME.—A State or local 1 government or instrumentality thereof 2 shall act on any request for authorization 3 to place, construct, or modify a personal 4 wireless service facility within a reasonable 5 period of time after the request is duly 6 filed with the government or instrumen- 7 tality, taking into account the nature and 8 scope of the request. 9 ‘‘(iii) WRITTEN DECISION AND 10 RECORD.—Any decision by a State or local 11 government or instrumentality thereof to 12 deny a request to place, construct, or mod- 13 ify a personal wireless service facility shall 14 be— 15 ‘‘(I) in writing; and 16 ‘‘(II) supported by substantial 17 evidence contained in a written 18 record. 19 ‘‘(iv) ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF 20 RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSIONS.—No State 21 or local government or instrumentality 22 thereof may regulate the placement, con- 23 struction, or modification of personal wire- 24 less service facilities on the basis of the en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1699 IS vironmental effects of radio frequency 1 emissions to the extent that the facilities 2 comply with the Commission’s regulations 3 concerning such emissions. 4 ‘‘(v) JUDICIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE 5 REVIEW.— 6 ‘‘(I) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any 7 person adversely affected by any final 8 action or failure to act by a State or 9 local government or any instrumen- 10 tality thereof that is inconsistent with 11 this subparagraph may, within 30 12 days after the action or failure to act, 13 commence an action in any court of 14 competent jurisdiction, which shall 15 hear and decide the action on an ex- 16 pedited basis. 17 ‘‘(II) ADMINISTRATIVE RE- 18 VIEW.—Any person adversely affected 19 by an act or failure to act by a State 20 or local government or any instrumen- 21 tality thereof that is inconsistent with 22 clause (iv) may petition the Commis- 23 sion for relief. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1699 IS ‘‘(C) PLACEMENT, CONSTRUCTION, AND 1 MODIFICATION OF SMALL PERSONAL WIRELESS 2 SERVICE FACILITIES.— 3 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In addition to, 4 and not in derogation of any of, the limita- 5 tions under subparagraph (B), the regula- 6 tion of the placement, construction, or 7 modification of small personal wireless 8 service facilities by any State or local gov- 9 ernment or instrumentality thereof— 10 ‘‘(I) shall not unreasonably dis- 11 criminate among providers of the 12 same service using comparable equip- 13 ment, including by providing exclusive 14 or preferential use of facilities to a 15 particular provider or class of pro- 16 viders of personal wireless service; and 17 ‘‘(II) shall only permit a State or 18 local government to approve or deny a 19 permit or other permission to deploy a 20 small personal wireless service facility, 21 including access to a right-of-way or a 22 facility in a right-of-way owned or 23 managed by the State or local govern- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1699 IS ment, based on publicly available cri- 1 teria that are— 2 ‘‘(aa) reasonable; 3 ‘‘(bb) objective; and 4 ‘‘(cc) non-discriminatory. 5 ‘‘(ii) ENGINEERING STANDARDS; AES- 6 THETIC REQUIREMENTS.—A State or local 7 government or instrumentality thereof may 8 regulate the placement, construction, and 9 modification of small personal wireless 10 service facilities for reasons of objective 11 and reasonable— 12 ‘‘(I) structural engineering stand- 13 ards based on generally applicable 14 codes; 15 ‘‘(II) safety requirements; or 16 ‘‘(III) aesthetic or concealment 17 requirements. 18 ‘‘(iii) TIMEFRAMES.— 19 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A State or 20 local government or instrumentality 21 thereof shall act on a complete re- 22 quest for authorization to place, con- 23 struct, or modify a small personal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1699 IS wireless service facility not later 1 than— 2 ‘‘(aa)(AA) for collocation of 3 a small personal wireless service 4 facility, 60 days after the date on 5 which the complete request is 6 filed, except as provided in item 7 (bb); or 8 ‘‘(BB) for any other action 9 relating to a small personal wire- 10 less service facility, 90 days after 11 the date on which the complete 12 request is filed, except as pro- 13 vided in item (cc); 14 ‘‘(bb) for collocation of a 15 small personal wireless service fa- 16 cility, if the State or the area 17 under the jurisdiction of the local 18 government has a population of 19 fewer than 50,000 people— 20 ‘‘(AA) 90 days after the 21 date on which the complete 22 request is filed, if during the 23 30-day period ending on 24 that date of filing, the appli- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1699 IS cable wireless service pro- 1 vider filed fewer than 50 re- 2 quests for collocation of a 3 small personal wireless serv- 4 ice facility with the State or 5 local government or instru- 6 mentality thereof; or 7 ‘‘(BB) 120 days after 8 the date on which the com- 9 plete request is filed, if dur- 10 ing the 30-day period ending 11 on that date of filing, the 12 applicable wireless service 13 provider filed not fewer than 14 50 requests for collocation of 15 a small personal wireless 16 service facility with the 17 State or local government or 18 instrumentality thereof; or 19 ‘‘(cc) for any other action 20 relating to a small personal wire- 21 less service facility, if the State 22 or the area under the jurisdiction 23 of the local government has a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 1699 IS population of fewer than 50,000 1 people— 2 ‘‘(AA) 120 days after 3 the date on which the com- 4 plete request is filed, if dur- 5 ing the 30-day period ending 6 on that date of filing, the 7 applicable wireless service 8 provider filed fewer than 50 9 requests for any other action 10 relating to a small personal 11 wireless service facility with 12 the State or local govern- 13 ment or instrumentality 14 thereof; or 15 ‘‘(BB) 150 days after 16 the date on which the com- 17 plete request is filed, if dur- 18 ing the 30-day period ending 19 on that date of filing, the 20 applicable wireless service 21 provider filed not fewer than 22 50 requests for any other 23 action relating to a small 24 personal wireless service fa- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 1699 IS cility with the State or local 1 government or instrumen- 2 tality thereof. 3 ‘‘(II) APPLICABILITY.—The ap- 4 plicable timeframe under subclause (I) 5 shall apply collectively to all pro- 6 ceedings required by a State or local 7 government or instrumentality thereof 8 for the approval of the request. 9 ‘‘(III) NO TOLLING.—A time- 10 frame under subclause (I) may not be 11 tolled by any moratorium, whether ex- 12 press or de facto, imposed by a State 13 or local government on the consider- 14 ation of any request for authorization 15 to place, construct, or modify a small 16 personal wireless service facility. 17 ‘‘(IV) TEMPORARY WAIVER.— 18 The Commission may temporarily 19 waive the applicability of subclause (I) 20 for not longer than a single 30-day 21 period for any complete request upon 22 a demonstration by a State or local 23 government that the waiver would be 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 1699 IS consistent with the public interest, 1 convenience, and necessity. 2 ‘‘(iv) DEEMED GRANTED.—If a State 3 or local government or instrumentality 4 thereof has neither granted nor denied a 5 request within the applicable timeframe 6 under subclause (I) of clause (iii), includ- 7 ing any temporary waiver granted under 8 subclause (IV) of that clause, the request 9 shall be deemed granted on the date that 10 is 31 days after the date on which the gov- 11 ernment instrumentality receives a written 12 notice of the failure from the applicant. 13 ‘‘(v) FEES.—Notwithstanding any 14 other provision of law, a State or local gov- 15 ernment may charge a fee to consider an 16 application for the placement, construction, 17 or modification of a small personal wireless 18 facility, or to use a right-of-way or a facil- 19 ity in a right-of-way owned or managed by 20 the State or local government for the 21 placement, construction, or modification of 22 a small personal wireless facility, if the fee 23 is— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 1699 IS ‘‘(I) competitively neutral, tech- 1 nology neutral, and nondiscrim- 2 inatory; 3 ‘‘(II) publicly disclosed; and 4 ‘‘(III)(aa) except as provided in 5 item (bb), based on actual and direct 6 costs, such as costs for— 7 ‘‘(AA) review and processing 8 of applications; 9 ‘‘(BB) maintenance; 10 ‘‘(CC) emergency responses; 11 ‘‘(DD) repairs and replace- 12 ment of components and mate- 13 rials resulting from and affected 14 by the installation of small per- 15 sonal wireless facilities, improve- 16 ments, and equipment that facili- 17 tates the deployment and instal- 18 lation of such facilities; or 19 ‘‘(EE) inspections; or 20 ‘‘(bb) calculated in accordance 21 with section 224, in the case of a fee 22 charged for the placement, construc- 23 tion, or modification of a small per- 24 sonal wireless facility on a pole, in a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •S 1699 IS right-of-way, or on any other facility 1 that may be established under that 2 section. 3 ‘‘(vi) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 4 Nothing in this subparagraph shall be con- 5 strued to prevent any State or local gov- 6 ernment from imposing any additional lim- 7 itation or requirement relating to consider- 8 ation by the State or local government of 9 an application for the placement, construc- 10 tion, or modification of a small personal 11 wireless service facility. 12 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 13 paragraph— 14 ‘‘(i) the term ‘antenna’ means an ap- 15 paratus designed for the purpose of emit- 16 ting radiofrequency radiation, to be oper- 17 ated or operating from a fixed location for 18 the transmission of writing, signs, signals, 19 data, images, pictures, and sounds of all 20 kinds; 21 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘communications net- 22 work’ means a network used to provide a 23 communications service; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 14 •S 1699 IS ‘‘(iii) the term ‘communications serv- 1 ice’ means— 2 ‘‘(I) cable service, as defined in 3 section 602; 4 ‘‘(II) information service; 5 ‘‘(III) telecommunications serv- 6 ice; or 7 ‘‘(IV) personal wireless service; 8 ‘‘(iv) the term ‘complete request’ 9 means a request for which the applicant 10 has not received written notice from the 11 State or local government within 10 busi- 12 ness days of submission— 13 ‘‘(I) stating in writing that the 14 request is incomplete; and 15 ‘‘(II) identifying the information 16 causing the request to be incomplete; 17 ‘‘(v) the term ‘generally applicable 18 code’ includes a uniform building, fire, 19 electrical, plumbing, or mechanical code 20 adopted by a national code organization, or 21 a local amendment to such a code, to the 22 extent not inconsistent with this Act; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1699.IS S1699 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 15 •S 1699 IS ‘‘(vi) the term ‘network interface de- 1 vice’ means a telecommunications demarca- 2 tion device and cross-connect point that— 3 ‘‘(I) is adjacent or proximate 4 to— 5 ‘‘(aa) a small personal wire- 6 less service facility; or 7 ‘‘(bb) a structure supporting 8 a small personal wireless service 9 facility; and 10 ‘‘(II) demarc [Text truncated for display. 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