I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3295 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes for telecommunications service facilities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2023 Mr. GRIFFITH 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 telecommunications 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 ‘‘Barriers and Regu- 4 latory Obstacles Avoids Deployment of Broadband Access 5 and Needs Deregulatory Leadership Act’’ or the 6 ‘‘BROADBAND Leadership Act’’. 7 SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY. 8 Section 253 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 9 U.S.C. 253) is amended to read as follows: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3295 IH ‘‘SEC. 253. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY. 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No State or local statute or reg- 2 ulation, or other State or local legal requirement, may pro- 3 hibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any 4 entity to provide or enhance the provision of any interstate 5 or intrastate telecommunications service. 6 ‘‘(b) PLACEMENT, CONSTRUCTION, OR MODIFICA- 7 TION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE FACILITIES.— 8 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION.—The 9 regulation of the placement, construction, or modi- 10 fication of a telecommunications service facility by a 11 State or local government or instrumentality thereof 12 may not discriminate— 13 ‘‘(A) among telecommunications service fa- 14 cilities— 15 ‘‘(i) based on the technology used to 16 provide services; or 17 ‘‘(ii) based on the services provided; 18 or 19 ‘‘(B) against telecommunications service 20 facilities, as compared to the regulation of the 21 placement, construction, or modification of 22 other facilities. 23 ‘‘(2) TIMEFRAME TO GRANT OR DENY RE- 24 QUESTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3295 IH ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State or local gov- 1 ernment or instrumentality thereof shall grant 2 or deny a complete request for authorization to 3 place, construct, or modify a telecommuni- 4 cations service facility not later than— 5 ‘‘(i) if the request is for authorization 6 to place, construct, or modify such facility 7 in or on eligible support infrastructure, 90 8 days after the date on which the complete 9 request is received by the government or 10 instrumentality; or 11 ‘‘(ii) for any other action relating to 12 such facility, 150 days after the date on 13 which the complete request is received by 14 the government or instrumentality. 15 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY.—The applicable 16 timeframe under subparagraph (A) shall apply 17 collectively to all proceedings, including permits 18 and authorizations, required by a State or local 19 government or instrumentality thereof for the 20 approval of the request. 21 ‘‘(C) NO TOLLING.—A timeframe under 22 subparagraph (A) may not be tolled by any 23 moratorium, whether express or de facto, im- 24 posed by a State or local government or instru- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3295 IH mentality thereof on the submission, accept- 1 ance, or consideration of requests for authoriza- 2 tion to place, construct, or modify a tele- 3 communications service facility. 4 ‘‘(3) DEEMED GRANTED.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a State or local 6 government or instrumentality thereof has nei- 7 ther granted nor denied a complete request 8 within the applicable timeframe under para- 9 graph (2), the request shall be deemed granted 10 on the date on which the government or instru- 11 mentality receives a written notice of the failure 12 to grant or deny from the requesting party. 13 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—In the 14 case of a request that is deemed granted under 15 subparagraph (A), the placement, construction, 16 or modification requested in such request shall 17 be considered to be authorized, without any fur- 18 ther action by the government or instrumen- 19 tality, beginning on the date on which such re- 20 quest is deemed granted under such subpara- 21 graph. 22 ‘‘(4) WRITTEN DECISION AND RECORD.—A de- 23 cision by a State or local government or instrumen- 24 tality thereof to deny a request to place, construct, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3295 IH or modify a telecommunications service facility shall 1 be— 2 ‘‘(A) in writing; 3 ‘‘(B) supported by substantial evidence 4 contained in a written record; and 5 ‘‘(C) publicly released, and provided to the 6 requesting party, on the same day such decision 7 is made. 8 ‘‘(5) FEES.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To the extent per- 10 mitted by law, a State or local government or 11 instrumentality thereof may charge a fee that 12 meets the requirements under subparagraph 13 (B)— 14 ‘‘(i) to consider a request for author- 15 ization to place, construct, or modify a 16 telecommunications service facility; or 17 ‘‘(ii) for use of a right-of-way or a fa- 18 cility in a right-of-way owned or managed 19 by the government or instrumentality for 20 the placement, construction, or modifica- 21 tion of a telecommunications service facil- 22 ity. 23 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—A fee charged 24 under subparagraph (A) shall be— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3295 IH ‘‘(i) competitively neutral, technology 1 neutral, and nondiscriminatory; 2 ‘‘(ii) established in advance and pub- 3 licly disclosed; 4 ‘‘(iii) calculated— 5 ‘‘(I) based on actual and direct 6 costs for— 7 ‘‘(aa) review and processing 8 of requests; and 9 ‘‘(bb) repairs and replace- 10 ment of— 11 ‘‘(AA) components and 12 materials resulting from and 13 affected by the placement, 14 construction, or modification 15 (including the installation or 16 improvement) of tele- 17 communications service fa- 18 cilities; or 19 ‘‘(BB) equipment that 20 facilitates the placement, 21 construction, or modification 22 (including the installation or 23 improvement) of such facili- 24 ties; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3295 IH ‘‘(II) using, for purposes of sub- 1 clause (I), only costs that are objec- 2 tively reasonable; and 3 ‘‘(iv) described to a requesting party 4 in a manner that distinguishes between— 5 ‘‘(I) nonrecurring fees and recur- 6 ring fees; and 7 ‘‘(II) the use of facilities on 8 which telecommunications service fa- 9 cilities or infrastructure for compat- 10 ible uses are already located and fa- 11 cilities on which there are no tele- 12 communications service facilities or 13 infrastructure for compatible uses as 14 of the date on which the complete re- 15 quest is received by the government or 16 instrumentality. 17 ‘‘(c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person adversely affected 19 by a State or local statute, regulation, or other legal 20 requirement, or by a final action or failure to act by 21 a State or local government or instrumentality there- 22 of, that is inconsistent with this section may com- 23 mence an action in any court of competent jurisdic- 24 tion. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3295 IH ‘‘(2) TIMING.— 1 ‘‘(A) EXPEDITED BASIS.—A court shall 2 hear and decide an action commenced under 3 paragraph (1) on an expedited basis. 4 ‘‘(B) FINAL ACTION OR FAILURE TO 5 ACT.—An action may only be commenced under 6 paragraph (1) on the basis of a final action or 7 failure to act by a State or local government or 8 instrumentality thereof, if commenced not later 9 than 30 days after such action or failure to act. 10 ‘‘(d) PRESERVATION OF STATE REGULATORY AU- 11 THORITY.—Nothing in this section shall affect the ability 12 of a State to impose, on a competitively neutral and non- 13 discriminatory basis and consistent with section 254, re- 14 quirements necessary to preserve and advance universal 15 service, protect the public safety and welfare, ensure the 16 continued quality of telecommunications services, and 17 safeguard the rights of consumers. 18 ‘‘(e) PRESERVATION OF STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN- 19 MENT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section affects the 20 authority of a State or local government or instrumen- 21 tality thereof to manage, on a competitively neutral and 22 nondiscriminatory basis, the public rights-of-way or to re- 23 quire, on a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory 24 basis, fair and reasonable compensation from tele- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3295 IH communications providers for use of public rights-of-way, 1 if the compensation required meets the requirements of 2 subsection (b)(5). 3 ‘‘(f) PREEMPTION.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If, after notice and an op- 5 portunity for public comment, the Commission deter- 6 mines that a State or local government or instru- 7 mentality thereof has permitted or imposed a stat- 8 ute, regulation, or legal requirement that violates or 9 is inconsistent with this section, the Commission 10 shall preempt the enforcement of such statute, regu- 11 lation, or legal requirement to the extent necessary 12 to correct such violation or inconsistency. 13 ‘‘(2) TIMING.—Not later than 120 days after 14 receiving a petition for preemption of the enforce- 15 ment of a statute, regulation, or legal requirement 16 as described in paragraph (1), the Commission shall 17 grant or deny the petition. 18 ‘‘(g) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS.— 19 Nothing in this section shall affect the application of sec- 20 tion 332(c)(3) to commercial mobile service providers. 21 ‘‘(h) RURAL MARKETS.—It shall not be a violation 22 of this section for a State to require a telecommunications 23 carrier that seeks to provide telephone exchange service 24 or exchange access in a service area served by a rural tele- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3295 IH phone company to meet the requirements in section 1 214(e)(1) for designation as an eligible telecommuni- 2 cations carrier for that area before being permitted to pro- 3 vide such service. This subsection shall not apply— 4 ‘‘(1) to a service area served by a rural tele- 5 phone company that has obtained an exemption, sus- 6 pension, or modification of section 251(c)(4) that ef- 7 fectively prevents a competitor from meeting the re- 8 quirements of section 214(e)(1); and 9 ‘‘(2) to a provider of commercial mobile serv- 10 ices. 11 ‘‘(i) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COMPLETE; RE- 12 CEIVED.— 13 ‘‘(1) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COM- 14 PLETE.— 15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 16 this section, a request to a State or local gov- 17 ernment or instrumentality thereof shall be con- 18 sidered complete if the requesting party— 19 ‘‘(i) has taken the first procedural 20 step within the control of the requesting 21 party— 22 ‘‘(I) to submit such request in 23 accordance with the procedures estab- 24 lished by the government or instru- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3295 IH mentality for the review and approval 1 of such request; or 2 ‘‘(II) in the case of a government 3 or instrumentality that has not estab- 4 lished specific procedures for the re- 5 view and approval of such request, to 6 submit to the government or instru- 7 mentality the type of filing that is 8 typically required to initiate a stand- 9 ard review for a similar facility or 10 structure; and 11 ‘‘(ii) has not received a written notice 12 from the government or instrumentality 13 within 30 days after the date on which the 14 request is received by the government or 15 instrumentality— 16 ‘‘(I) stating that all the informa- 17 tion (including any form or other doc- 18 ument) required by the government or 19 instrumentality to be submitted for 20 the request to be considered complete 21 has not been submitted; 22 ‘‘(II) identifying the information 23 required to be submitted that was not 24 submitted; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3295 IH ‘‘(III) citing a specific provision 1 of a publicly available rule, regulation, 2 or standard of the government or in- 3 strumentality that requires the infor- 4 mation identified under subclause (II) 5 to be submitted. 6 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 7 term ‘the date on which the request is received 8 by the government or instrumentality’ means— 9 ‘‘(i) in the case of a request submitted 10 electronically, the date on which the re- 11 quest is transmitted; 12 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a request sub- 13 mitted in person, the date on which the re- 14 quest is delivered to the individual or at 15 the location specified by the government or 16 instrumentality for in-person submission; 17 and 18 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a request sub- 19 mitted in any other manner, the date de- 20 termined under regulations promulgated by 21 the Commission for the manner in which 22 the request is submitted. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3295.IH H3295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3295 IH ‘‘(2) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CONSIDERED 1 RECEIVED.—For the purposes of this section, a com- 2 plete request shall be considered received— 3 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 4 (B), on the date on which the requesting party 5 submits to the government or instrumentality 6 all information (including any form or other 7 document) required by the government or in- 8 strumentality to be submitted for the request to 9 be considered complete; or 10 ‘‘(B) in the case of a request with respect 11 to which all such informatio [Text truncated for display. 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