RAPID Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3323 To provide that the deployment of a small personal wireless service facility is not subject to requirements to prepare certain environmental or histor- ical preservation reviews, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2023 Mr. HUDSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, 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 committee concerned A BILL To provide that the deployment of a small personal wireless service facility is not subject to requirements to prepare certain environmental or historical preservation reviews, 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 ‘‘Reducing Antiquated 4 Permitting for Infrastructure Deployment Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘RAPID Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3323.IH H3323 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3323 IH SEC. 2. EXEMPTIONS FOR SMALL PERSONAL WIRELESS 1 SERVICE FACILITIES. 2 (a) NEPA EXEMPTION.—A Federal authorization 3 with respect to a project to deploy a small personal wire- 4 less service facility may not be considered a major Federal 5 action under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environ- 6 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 7 (b) NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT EX- 8 EMPTION.—A project to deploy a small personal wireless 9 service facility may not be considered an undertaking 10 under section 300320 of title 54, United States Code. 11 SEC. 3. PRESUMPTION WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN COM- 12 PLETE FCC FORMS. 13 (a) PRESUMPTION.—If an Indian Tribe is shown to 14 have received a complete FCC Form 620 or FCC Form 15 621 (or any successor form), or can be reasonably ex- 16 pected to have received a complete FCC Form 620 or FCC 17 Form 621 (or any successor form), and has not acted on 18 a request contained in such complete form by the date that 19 is 45 days after the date of such receipt or reasonably 20 expected receipt— 21 (1) the Commission and a court of competent 22 jurisdiction (as the case may be) shall presume the 23 applicant with respect to such complete form has 24 made a good faith effort to provide the information 25 reasonably necessary for such Indian Tribe to ascer- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3323.IH H3323 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3323 IH tain whether historic properties of religious or cul- 1 tural significance to such Indian Tribe may be af- 2 fected by the undertaking related to such complete 3 form; and 4 (2) such Indian Tribe shall be presumed to 5 have disclaimed interest in such undertaking. 6 (b) OVERCOMING PRESUMPTION.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—An Indian Tribe may over- 8 come a presumption under subsection (a) upon mak- 9 ing, to the Commission or a court of competent ju- 10 risdiction, a favorable demonstration with respect to 11 1 or more of the factors described in paragraph (2). 12 (2) FACTORS CONSIDERED.—In making a de- 13 termination regarding a presumption under sub- 14 section (a), the Commission or court of competent 15 jurisdiction shall give substantial weight to— 16 (A) whether the applicant with respect to 17 the relevant complete form failed to make a 18 reasonable attempt to follow up with the appli- 19 cable Indian Tribe not earlier than 30 days, 20 and not later than 50 days, after the applicant 21 submitted a complete FCC Form 620 or FCC 22 Form 621 (as the case may be) to such Indian 23 Tribe; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3323.IH H3323 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3323 IH (B) whether the rules of the Commission, 1 or FCC Form 620 or FCC Form 621, are 2 found to be in violation of a Nationwide Pro- 3 grammatic Agreement of the Commission. 4 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 5 In this Act: 6 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 7 means the Federal Communications Commission. 8 (2) FEDERAL AUTHORIZATION.—The term 9 ‘‘Federal authorization’’— 10 (A) means any authorization required 11 under Federal law with respect to a project; 12 and 13 (B) includes any permits, special use au- 14 thorizations, certifications, opinions, or other 15 approvals as may be required under Federal law 16 with respect to a project. 17 (3) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 18 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 19 section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian 20 Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5130). 21 (4) PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE.—The term 22 ‘‘personal wireless service’’— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3323.IH H3323 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3323 IH (A) means any service described in section 1 332(c)(7)(C)(i) of the Communications Act of 2 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7)(C)(i)); and 3 (B) includes commercial mobile data serv- 4 ice (as defined in section 6001 of the Middle 5 Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 6 (47 U.S.C. 1401)). 7 (5) PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY.— 8 The term ‘‘personal wireless service facility’’ means 9 a facility for the provision of personal wireless serv- 10 ice. 11 (6) SMALL PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FA- 12 CILITY.—The term ‘‘small personal wireless service 13 facility’’— 14 (A) means a personal wireless service facil- 15 ity with respect to which each antenna is not 16 more than 3 cubic feet in volume; and 17 (B) does not include a wireline backhaul 18 facility. 19 (7) WIRELINE BACKHAUL FACILITY.—The term 20 ‘‘wireline backhaul facility’’ means an above-ground 21 or underground wireline facility used to transport 22 communications service or other electronic commu- 23 nications from a small personal wireless service facil- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3323.IH H3323 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3323 IH ity or its adjacent network interface device to a com- 1 munications network. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3323.IH H3323 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS