WIRELESS Leadership Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7362 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes for personal wireless service facilities, including small personal wireless service facilities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 25, 2020 Mr. LATTA 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 personal wireless service facilities, including small personal wireless 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 ‘‘Winning the Inter- 4 national Race for Economic Leadership and Expanding 5 Service to Support Leadership Act’’ or the ‘‘WIRELESS 6 Leadership Act’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7362 IH 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.—The regulation of 15 the placement, construction, or modifica- 16 tion of a personal wireless service facility 17 by any State or local government or instru- 18 mentality thereof— 19 ‘‘(I) shall not unreasonably dis- 20 criminate among providers of the 21 same service using comparable equip- 22 ment, including by providing exclusive 23 or preferential use of facilities to a 24 particular provider or class of pro- 25 viders of personal wireless service; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7362 IH ‘‘(II) shall not prohibit or have 1 the effect of prohibiting the provision 2 of personal wireless service, including 3 by materially limiting or inhibiting the 4 ability of any provider or potential 5 provider of such service to compete in 6 a fair and balanced legal and regu- 7 latory environment, including by lim- 8 iting the ability of any such provider 9 or potential provider to— 10 ‘‘(aa) fill gaps in coverage of 11 personal wireless service; 12 ‘‘(bb) densify a personal 13 wireless service network; 14 ‘‘(cc) introduce new personal 15 wireless service; or 16 ‘‘(dd) otherwise improve per- 17 sonal wireless service capabilities. 18 ‘‘(ii) ENGINEERING STANDARDS; AES- 19 THETIC REQUIREMENTS.—It is not a viola- 20 tion of clause (i) for a State or local gov- 21 ernment or instrumentality thereof to es- 22 tablish for small personal wireless service 23 facilities objective, reasonable, and non- 24 discriminatory— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7362 IH ‘‘(I) structural engineering stand- 1 ards based on generally applicable 2 codes; 3 ‘‘(II) safety requirements; or 4 ‘‘(III) aesthetic or concealment 5 requirements. 6 ‘‘(iii) TIMEFRAMES.— 7 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A State or 8 local government or instrumentality 9 thereof shall grant or deny a complete 10 request for authorization to place, 11 construct, or modify a personal wire- 12 less service facility not later than— 13 ‘‘(aa) in the case of a per- 14 sonal wireless service facility that 15 is not a small personal wireless 16 service facility— 17 ‘‘(AA) if the request is 18 for authorization to place, 19 construct, or modify such fa- 20 cility on an eligible support 21 structure, including in an 22 area that has not previously 23 been zoned for personal 24 wireless service facilities 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7362 IH (other than small personal 1 wireless service facilities), 90 2 days after the date on which 3 the complete request is re- 4 ceived by the government or 5 instrumentality; or 6 ‘‘(BB) if the request is 7 for any other action relating 8 to such facility, 150 days 9 after the date on which the 10 complete request is received 11 by the government or instru- 12 mentality; and 13 ‘‘(bb) in the case of a small 14 personal wireless service facil- 15 ity— 16 ‘‘(AA) if the request is 17 for authorization to place, 18 construct, or modify such fa- 19 cility on an eligible support 20 structure, including in an 21 area that has not previously 22 been zoned for personal 23 wireless service facilities, 60 24 days after the date on which 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7362 IH the complete request is re- 1 ceived by the government or 2 instrumentality; or 3 ‘‘(BB) if the request is 4 for any other action relating 5 to such facility, 90 days 6 after the date on which the 7 complete request is received 8 by the government or instru- 9 mentality. 10 ‘‘(II) TREATMENT OF BATCHED 11 REQUESTS.—In the case of complete 12 requests described in subclause (I) 13 that are submitted as part of a single 14 batch and received by the government 15 or instrumentality on the same day, 16 the applicable timeframe under such 17 subclause for each request in the 18 batch shall be the longest timeframe 19 under such subclause that would be 20 applicable to any request in the batch 21 if such requests were submitted sepa- 22 rately. 23 ‘‘(III) APPLICABILITY.—The ap- 24 plicable timeframe under subclause (I) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7362 IH shall apply collectively to all pro- 1 ceedings required by a State or local 2 government or instrumentality thereof 3 for the approval of the request. 4 ‘‘(IV) NO TOLLING.—A time- 5 frame under subclause (I) may not be 6 tolled by any moratorium, whether ex- 7 press or de facto, imposed by a State 8 or local government or instrumentality 9 thereof on the consideration of any re- 10 quest for authorization to place, con- 11 struct, or modify a personal wireless 12 service facility. 13 ‘‘(V) TEMPORARY WAIVER.—The 14 Commission may temporarily waive 15 the applicability of subclause (I) for 16 not longer than a single 30-day period 17 for any complete request upon a dem- 18 onstration by a State or local govern- 19 ment or instrumentality thereof that 20 the waiver would be consistent with 21 the public interest, convenience, and 22 necessity. 23 ‘‘(iv) DEEMED GRANTED.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7362 IH ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—If a State or 1 local government or instrumentality 2 thereof has neither granted nor denied 3 a complete request within the applica- 4 ble timeframe under subclause (I) of 5 clause (iii), including any temporary 6 waiver granted under subclause (V) of 7 such clause, the request shall be 8 deemed granted on the date on which 9 the government or instrumentality re- 10 ceives a written notice of the failure 11 from the requesting party. 12 ‘‘(II) RULE OF CONSTRUC- 13 TION.—In the case of a request that 14 is deemed granted under subclause 15 (I), the placement, construction, or 16 modification requested in the request 17 shall be considered to be authorized, 18 without any further action by the gov- 19 ernment or instrumentality, beginning 20 on the date on which the request is 21 deemed granted under such subclause. 22 ‘‘(v) WRITTEN DECISION AND 23 RECORD.—Any decision by a State or local 24 government or instrumentality thereof to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7362 IH deny a request for authorization to place, 1 construct, or modify a personal wireless 2 service facility shall be— 3 ‘‘(I) in writing; and 4 ‘‘(II) supported by substantial 5 evidence contained in a written 6 record. 7 ‘‘(vi) ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF 8 RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSIONS.—No State 9 or local government or instrumentality 10 thereof may regulate the placement, con- 11 struction, or modification of personal wire- 12 less service facilities on the basis of the en- 13 vironmental effects of radio frequency 14 emissions to the extent that such facilities 15 comply with the Commission’s regulations 16 concerning such emissions. 17 ‘‘(vii) FEES.—Notwithstanding any 18 other provision of law, a State or local gov- 19 ernment or instrumentality thereof may 20 charge a fee to consider a request for au- 21 thorization to place, construct, or modify a 22 personal wireless service facility, or a fee 23 for use of a right-of-way or a facility in a 24 right-of-way owned or managed by the gov- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 7362 IH ernment or instrumentality for the place- 1 ment, construction, or modification of a 2 personal wireless service facility, if the fee 3 is— 4 ‘‘(I) competitively neutral, tech- 5 nology neutral, and nondiscrim- 6 inatory; 7 ‘‘(II) publicly disclosed; 8 ‘‘(III) calculated— 9 ‘‘(aa) based on actual and 10 direct costs, such as costs for— 11 ‘‘(AA) review and proc- 12 essing of requests; and 13 ‘‘(BB) repairs and re- 14 placement of components 15 and materials resulting from 16 and affected by the installa- 17 tion or improvement of per- 18 sonal wireless service facili- 19 ties, or repairs and replace- 20 ment of equipment that fa- 21 cilitates the installation or 22 improvement of such facili- 23 ties; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 7362 IH ‘‘(bb) using, for purposes of 1 item (aa), only costs that are ob- 2 jectively reasonable; and 3 ‘‘(IV) described to a requesting 4 party in a manner that distinguishes 5 between— 6 ‘‘(aa) nonrecurring fees and 7 recurring fees; and 8 ‘‘(bb) the use of facilities on 9 which personal wireless service 10 facilities are already located and 11 those on which there are no per- 12 sonal wireless service facilities as 13 of the date on which the complete 14 request is received by the govern- 15 ment or instrumentality. 16 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Except as 17 provided in subparagraph (B)(iv), nothing in 18 this paragraph shall be construed to prevent 19 any State or local government or instrumen- 20 tality thereof from imposing any additional limi- 21 tation or requirement relating to consideration 22 by the government or instrumentality of a re- 23 quest for authorization to place, construct, or 24 modify a personal wireless service facility. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 7362 IH ‘‘(D) APPLICABILITY.—This paragraph 1 shall apply to any request to a State or local 2 government or instrumentality thereof for au- 3 thorization to place, construct, or modify any 4 personal wireless service facility, including a re- 5 quest for authorization to place, construct, or 6 modify a personal wireless service facility on an 7 eligible support structure. 8 ‘‘(E) JUDICIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE RE- 9 VIEW.— 10 ‘‘(i) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any person 11 adversely affected by any final action or 12 failure to act by a State or local govern- 13 ment or any instrumentality thereof that is 14 inconsistent with this paragraph may, 15 within 30 days after the action or failure 16 to act, commence an action in any court of 17 competent jurisdiction, which shall hear 18 and decide the action on an expedited 19 basis. 20 ‘‘(ii) ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW.—Any 21 person adversely affected by an act or fail- 22 ure to act by a State or local government 23 or any instrumentality thereof that is in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 7362 IH consistent with subparagraph (B)(vi) may 1 petition the Commission for relief. 2 ‘‘(F) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COM- 3 PLETE; RECEIVED.— 4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 5 this paragraph, a request to a State or 6 local government or instrumentality thereof 7 shall be considered— 8 ‘‘(I) complete if— 9 ‘‘(aa) the requesting party 10 makes the request by submitting 11 to the government or instrumen- 12 tality the form required to be 13 used for making the request; 14 ‘‘(bb) the form submitted 15 contains all of the information 16 specified by the form as being re- 17 quired to be included in the form; 18 and 19 ‘‘(cc) the requesting party 20 has not received a written notice 21 from the government or instru- 22 mentality within 10 business 23 days after the date on which the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 7362 IH request is received by the govern- 1 ment or instrumentality— 2 ‘‘(AA) stating that the 3 form does not contain all of 4 the information required to 5 be included in the form; and 6 ‘‘(BB) identifying the 7 information required to be 8 included in the form that 9 was not included; and 10 ‘‘(II) received by the government 11 or instrumentality— 12 ‘‘(aa) in the case of a re- 13 quest submitted electronically, on 14 the date on which the form re- 15 quired to be used for making the 16 request is transmitted; 17 ‘‘(bb) in the case of a re- 18 quest submitted in person, on the 19 date on which the form required 20 to be used for making the re- 21 quest is delivered to the indi- 22 vidual or at the location specified 23 in the form for in-person submis- 24 sion; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7362.IH H7362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 15 •HR 7362 IH ‘‘(cc) in the case of a re- 1 quest submitted [Text truncated for display. 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