WIRELESS Leadership Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3279 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 MAY 15, 2023 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 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3279 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 or 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 discriminate among 20 personal wireless service facilities or 21 providers of communications service, 22 including by providing exclusive or 23 preferential use of facilities to a par- 24 ticular provider or class of providers 25 of personal wireless service; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3279 IH ‘‘(II) shall not prohibit or have 1 the effect of prohibiting the provision, 2 improvement, or enhancement of per- 3 sonal wireless service. 4 ‘‘(ii) ENGINEERING STANDARDS; AES- 5 THETIC REQUIREMENTS.—It is not a viola- 6 tion of clause (i) for a State or local gov- 7 ernment or instrumentality thereof to es- 8 tablish for personal wireless service facili- 9 ties, or structures that support such facili- 10 ties, objective, reasonable, and nondiscrim- 11 inatory— 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 (unless such require- 18 ments prohibit or have the effect of 19 prohibiting the installation or modi- 20 fication of such facilities or struc- 21 tures). 22 ‘‘(iii) TIMEFRAMES.— 23 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Except in the 24 case of an eligible facilities request to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3279 IH which section 6409(a) of the Middle 1 Class Tax Relief and Job Creation 2 Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(a)) ap- 3 plies, a State or local government or 4 instrumentality thereof shall grant or 5 deny a complete request for authoriza- 6 tion to place, construct, or modify a 7 personal wireless service facility not 8 later than— 9 ‘‘(aa) in the case of a re- 10 quest for authorization to place, 11 construct, or modify a personal 12 wireless service facility that is 13 not a small personal wireless 14 service facility— 15 ‘‘(AA) if the request is 16 for authorization to place, 17 construct, or modify such fa- 18 cility using an existing 19 structure, including with re- 20 spect to an area that has 21 not previously been zoned 22 for personal wireless service 23 facilities (other than small 24 personal wireless service fa- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3279 IH cilities), 90 days after the 1 date on which the complete 2 request is received by the 3 government or instrumen- 4 tality; or 5 ‘‘(BB) if the request is 6 for any other action relating 7 to such facility, 150 days 8 after the date on which the 9 complete request is received 10 by the government or instru- 11 mentality; and 12 ‘‘(bb) in the case of a re- 13 quest for authorization to place, 14 construct, or modify a small per- 15 sonal wireless service facility— 16 ‘‘(AA) if the request is 17 for authorization to place, 18 construct, or modify such fa- 19 cility using an existing 20 structure, 60 days after the 21 date on which the complete 22 request is received by the 23 government or instrumen- 24 tality; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3279 IH ‘‘(BB) if the request is 1 for any other action relating 2 to such facility, 90 days 3 after the date on which the 4 complete request is received 5 by the government or instru- 6 mentality. 7 ‘‘(II) TREATMENT OF BATCHED 8 REQUESTS.—In the case of complete 9 requests described in subclause (I) 10 that are submitted as part of a single 11 batch and received by the government 12 or instrumentality on the same day, 13 the applicable timeframe under such 14 subclause for each request in the 15 batch shall be the longest timeframe 16 under such subclause that would be 17 applicable to any request in the batch 18 if such requests were submitted sepa- 19 rately. 20 ‘‘(III) APPLICABILITY.—The ap- 21 plicable timeframe under subclause (I) 22 shall apply collectively to all pro- 23 ceedings required by a State or local 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3279 IH government or instrumentality thereof 1 for the approval of the request. 2 ‘‘(IV) NO TOLLING.—A time- 3 frame under subclause (I) may not be 4 tolled by any moratorium, whether ex- 5 press or de facto, imposed by a State 6 or local government or instrumentality 7 thereof on the submission, acceptance, 8 or consideration of any request for au- 9 thorization to place, construct, or 10 modify a personal wireless service fa- 11 cility. 12 ‘‘(iv) DEEMED GRANTED.— 13 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—If a State or 14 local government or instrumentality 15 thereof fails to take final action to 16 grant or deny a complete request 17 within the applicable timeframe under 18 subclause (I) of clause (iii), the re- 19 quest shall be deemed granted on the 20 date on which the government or in- 21 strumentality receives a written notice 22 of the failure from the requesting 23 party. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3279 IH ‘‘(II) RULE OF CONSTRUC- 1 TION.—In the case of a request that 2 is deemed granted under subclause 3 (I), the placement, construction, or 4 modification requested in the request 5 shall be considered to be authorized, 6 without any further action by the gov- 7 ernment or instrumentality, beginning 8 on the date on which the request is 9 deemed granted under such subclause. 10 ‘‘(v) WRITTEN DECISION AND 11 RECORD.—Any decision by a State or local 12 government or instrumentality thereof to 13 deny a request for authorization to place, 14 construct, or modify a personal wireless 15 service facility shall be— 16 ‘‘(I) in writing; 17 ‘‘(II) supported by substantial 18 evidence contained in a written 19 record; and 20 ‘‘(III) publicly released, and pro- 21 vided to the requesting party, on the 22 same day such decision is made. 23 ‘‘(vi) ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF 24 RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSIONS.—No State 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3279 IH or local government or instrumentality 1 thereof may regulate the operation, place- 2 ment, construction, or modification of per- 3 sonal wireless service facilities on the basis 4 of the environmental effects of radio fre- 5 quency emissions to the extent that such 6 facilities or structures comply with the 7 Commission’s regulations concerning such 8 emissions. 9 ‘‘(vii) FEES.—To the extent permitted 10 by law, a State or local government or in- 11 strumentality thereof may charge a fee to 12 consider a request for authorization to 13 place, construct, or modify a personal wire- 14 less service facility or a fee for use of a 15 right-of-way or a facility in a right-of-way 16 owned or managed by the government or 17 instrumentality for the placement, con- 18 struction, or modification of a personal 19 wireless service facility, if the fee is— 20 ‘‘(I) competitively neutral, tech- 21 nology neutral, and nondiscrim- 22 inatory; 23 ‘‘(II) established in advance and 24 publicly disclosed; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3279 IH ‘‘(III) calculated— 1 ‘‘(aa) based on actual and 2 direct costs for— 3 ‘‘(AA) review and proc- 4 essing of requests; and 5 ‘‘(BB) repairs and re- 6 placement of components 7 and materials resulting from 8 and affected by the place- 9 ment, construction, or modi- 10 fication (including the in- 11 stallation or improvement) 12 of personal wireless service 13 facilities or repairs and re- 14 placement of equipment that 15 facilitates the placement, 16 construction, or modification 17 (including the installation or 18 improvement) of such facili- 19 ties; and 20 ‘‘(bb) using, for purposes of 21 item (aa), only costs that are ob- 22 jectively reasonable; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3279 IH ‘‘(IV) described to a requesting 1 party in a manner that distinguishes 2 between— 3 ‘‘(aa) nonrecurring fees and 4 recurring fees; and 5 ‘‘(bb) the use of facilities on 6 which personal wireless service 7 facilities are already located and 8 facilities on which there are no 9 personal wireless service facilities 10 as of the date on which the com- 11 plete request is received by the 12 government or instrumentality. 13 ‘‘(C) JUDICIAL OR ADMINISTRATIVE RE- 14 VIEW.— 15 ‘‘(i) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any person 16 adversely affected by any final action or 17 failure to act by a State or local govern- 18 ment or any instrumentality thereof that is 19 inconsistent with this paragraph may, 20 within 30 days after the action or failure 21 to act, commence an action in any court of 22 competent jurisdiction, which shall hear 23 and decide the action on an expedited 24 basis. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3279 IH ‘‘(ii) ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW.— 1 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Any person 2 adversely affected by any final action 3 or failure to act by a State or local 4 government or any instrumentality 5 thereof that is inconsistent with this 6 paragraph may petition the Commis- 7 sion to review such action or failure to 8 act. 9 ‘‘(II) TIMING.—Not later than 10 120 days after receiving a petition 11 under subclause (I), the Commission 12 shall grant or deny such petition. 13 ‘‘(D) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COM- 14 PLETE; RECEIVED.— 15 ‘‘(i) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED 16 COMPLETE.— 17 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—For the pur- 18 poses of this paragraph, a request to 19 a State or local government or instru- 20 mentality thereof shall be considered 21 complete if the requesting party— 22 ‘‘(aa) has taken the first 23 procedural step within the control 24 of the requesting party— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3279 IH ‘‘(AA) to submit such 1 request in accordance with 2 the procedures established 3 by the government or instru- 4 mentality for the review and 5 approval of such request; or 6 ‘‘(BB) in the case of a 7 government or instrumen- 8 tality that has not estab- 9 lished specific procedures for 10 the review and approval of 11 such request, to submit to 12 the government or instru- 13 mentality the type of filing 14 that is typically required to 15 initiate a standard review 16 for a similar facility or 17 structure; and 18 ‘‘(bb) has not received a 19 written notice from the govern- 20 ment or instrumentality within 21 10 days after the date on which 22 the request is received by the 23 government or instrumentality, if 24 the request is with respect to a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 3279 IH small personal wireless service fa- 1 cility, or 30 days after such date, 2 if the request is with respect to 3 any other personal wireless serv- 4 ice facility— 5 ‘‘(AA) stating that all 6 the information (including 7 any form or other docu- 8 ment) required by the gov- 9 ernment or instrumentality 10 to be submitted for the re- 11 quest to be considered com- 12 plete has not been sub- 13 mitted; 14 ‘‘(BB) identifying the 15 information required to be 16 submitted that was not sub- 17 mitted; and 18 ‘‘(CC) citing a specific 19 provision of a publicly avail- 20 able rule, regulation, or 21 standard of the government 22 or instrumentality that re- 23 quires the information iden- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 15 •HR 3279 IH tified under subitem (BB) to 1 be submitted. 2 ‘‘(II) DEFINITION.—In this 3 clause, the term ‘the date on which 4 the request is received by the govern- 5 ment or instrumentality’ means— 6 ‘‘(aa) in the case of a re- 7 quest submitted electronically, 8 the date on which the request is 9 transmitted; 10 ‘‘(bb) in the case of a re- 11 quest submitted in person, the 12 date on which the request is de- 13 livered to the individual or at the 14 location specified by the govern- 15 ment or instrumenta [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]