CABLE Leadership Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7364 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve cable franchising authority, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 25, 2020 Mr. LONG 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 ‘‘Cable Access for 4 Broadband and Local Economic Leadership Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘CABLE Leadership Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7364.IH H7364 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7364 IH SEC. 2. PRESERVATION OF CABLE FRANCHISING AUTHOR- 1 ITY. 2 Section 621 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 3 U.S.C. 541) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘(g) TIMING OF DECISIONS ON REQUESTS FOR 6 FRANCHISES AND OTHER AUTHORIZATIONS.— 7 ‘‘(1) REQUEST FOR NEW FRANCHISE.—Not 8 later than 120 days after the date on which a fran- 9 chising authority receives a complete request for the 10 grant of a franchise (other than a renewal thereof), 11 the franchising authority shall approve or deny such 12 request. 13 ‘‘(2) NONEMERGENCY REQUESTS.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 15 days after a franchising authority receives a 16 complete nonemergency request, as determined 17 by the Commission, from a cable operator for 18 authorization to modify or upgrade a cable sys- 19 tem or facilities for the cable system, the fran- 20 chising authority shall grant or deny such re- 21 quest. 22 ‘‘(B) DENIAL OF NONEMERGENCY RE- 23 QUEST.—Any decision by a franchising author- 24 ity to deny a nonemergency request described 25 under subparagraph (A) shall be— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7364.IH H7364 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7364 IH ‘‘(i) in writing; 1 ‘‘(ii) supported by substantial evidence 2 contained in a written record; and 3 ‘‘(iii) publicly released, contempora- 4 neously with the decision. 5 ‘‘(3) DEEMED GRANTS.— 6 ‘‘(A) DEEMED GRANT OF NEW FRAN- 7 CHISE.—If the franchising authority does not 8 grant or deny a request under paragraph (1) by 9 the day after the date on which the time period 10 ends under such paragraph, such request shall 11 be deemed granted on such day. 12 ‘‘(B) DEEMED GRANT OF NONEMERGENCY 13 REQUEST.—If franchising authority does not 14 grant or deny such request by the day after the 15 date on which the time period ends under such 16 paragraph or denies such request, but fails to 17 comply with paragraph (2)(B) with respect to 18 the denial, such request shall be deemed grant- 19 ed on such day. 20 ‘‘(4) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COMPLETE; 21 RECEIVED.—For the purposes of this subsection, a 22 request under this subsection shall be considered— 23 ‘‘(A) complete if— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7364.IH H7364 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7364 IH ‘‘(i) the cable operator makes the re- 1 quest by submitting to the franchising au- 2 thority the form required to be used for 3 making the request; 4 ‘‘(ii) the form submitted contains all 5 of the information specified by the form as 6 being required to be included in form; and 7 ‘‘(iii) the cable operator has not re- 8 ceived a written notice from the fran- 9 chising authority within 10 business days 10 after the date on which the request is re- 11 ceived by the franchising authority— 12 ‘‘(I) stating that the form does 13 not contain all of the information re- 14 quired to be included in the form; and 15 ‘‘(II) identifying the information 16 required to be included in the form 17 that was not included; and 18 ‘‘(B) received by the franchising author- 19 ity— 20 ‘‘(i) in the case of a request submitted 21 electronically, on the date on which the 22 form required to be used for making the 23 request is transmitted; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7364.IH H7364 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7364 IH ‘‘(ii) in the case of a request sub- 1 mitted in person, on the date on which the 2 form required to be used for making the 3 request is delivered to the individual or at 4 the location specified in the form for in- 5 person submission; and 6 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a request sub- 7 mitted in any other manner, on the date 8 determined by the franchising authority for 9 the manner in which the request is made.’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Jul 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7364.IH H7364 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS