CABLE Expansion Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3330 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve cable franchising authority, provide for faster deployment of cable and other services, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2023 Mrs. LESKO 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, provide for faster deployment of cable and other services, 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 ‘‘Connecting And Build- 4 ing Lines for Expedited Expansion Act’’ or the ‘‘CABLE 5 Expansion Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3330 IH SEC. 2. REQUEST REGARDING PLACEMENT, CONSTRUC- 1 TION, OR MODIFICATION OF CABLE EQUIP- 2 MENT. 3 Section 624 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 4 U.S.C. 544) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(j) REQUEST REGARDING PLACEMENT, CONSTRUC- 7 TION, OR MODIFICATION OF FACILITIES.— 8 ‘‘(1) NO EFFECT ON AUTHORITY OF CERTAIN 9 ENTITIES.—Except as provided in this subsection, 10 nothing in this title shall limit or affect the author- 11 ity of a covered entity over— 12 ‘‘(A) decisions regarding the placement, 13 construction, or modification of a covered 14 equipment within the jurisdiction of such cov- 15 ered entity; or 16 ‘‘(B) safety standards for the placement, 17 construction, or modification of such a covered 18 equipment. 19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 20 ‘‘(A) ABILITY TO PROVIDE OR ENHANCE 21 CABLE SERVICE.—With respect to the regula- 22 tion by a covered entity of the placement, con- 23 struction, or modification of a covered equip- 24 ment, the covered entity shall not prohibit or 25 have the effect of prohibiting the ability of a 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3330 IH cable operator to provide, improve, or enhance 1 the provision of service using a covered equip- 2 ment under a franchise granted by such covered 3 entity, or within the jurisdiction of such covered 4 entity, as so may be the case. 5 ‘‘(B) TIMING OF DECISIONS ON REQUESTS 6 FOR AUTHORIZATIONS TO PLACE, CONSTRUCT, 7 OR MODIFY FACILITY.— 8 ‘‘(i) TIMEFRAME.—A covered entity 9 shall approve or deny a complete request 10 for authorization to place, construct, or 11 modify a covered equipment not later 12 than— 13 ‘‘(I) if the request is for author- 14 ization to place, construct, or modify 15 a covered equipment in or on eligible 16 support infrastructure, 90 days after 17 the date on which the covered entity 18 receives the request; and 19 ‘‘(II) if the request is not for au- 20 thorization to place, construct, or 21 modify a covered equipment in or on 22 eligible support infrastructure, 150 23 days after the date on which the cov- 24 ered entity receives the request. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3330 IH ‘‘(ii) APPLICABILITY.—Notwith- 1 standing any provision of this title, the ap- 2 plicable timeframe under clause (i) shall 3 apply collectively to all proceedings re- 4 quired by a covered entity for the approval 5 of the request. 6 ‘‘(iii) NO TOLLING.—A timeframe 7 under clause (i) may not be tolled by any 8 moratorium, whether express or de facto, 9 imposed by the covered entity on the con- 10 sideration of any request for authorization 11 to place, construct, or modify a covered 12 equipment. 13 ‘‘(iv) WRITTEN DECISION AND 14 RECORD.—Any decision by a covered entity 15 to deny a complete request for authoriza- 16 tion to place, construct, or modify covered 17 equipment shall be— 18 ‘‘(I) in writing; 19 ‘‘(II) supported by substantial 20 evidence contained in a written 21 record; and 22 ‘‘(III) publicly released, and pro- 23 vided to the requesting party, on the 24 same day such decision is made. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3330 IH ‘‘(v) DEEMED GRANTED.—If a cov- 1 ered entity fails to grant or deny a com- 2 plete request by the applicable deadline 3 under subparagraph (A)(i), the request 4 shall be deemed granted and authorized on 5 the date on which the covered entity re- 6 ceives written notice of the failure from the 7 requesting party. 8 ‘‘(3) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COMPLETE; 9 RECEIVED.— 10 ‘‘(A) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COM- 11 PLETE.— 12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes 13 of this subsection, a request to a covered 14 entity shall be considered complete if the 15 requesting party— 16 ‘‘(I) has taken the first proce- 17 dural step within the control of the re- 18 questing party— 19 ‘‘(aa) that the covered entity 20 requires as part of the process 21 for reviewing such requests; or 22 ‘‘(bb) to submit the type of 23 filing that is typically required to 24 initiate a standard review for a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3330 IH similar request in a jurisdiction 1 that has not established specific 2 procedures for the relevant re- 3 view and approval of such a re- 4 quest; and 5 ‘‘(II) has not received a written 6 notice from the covered entity within 7 30 days after the date on which the 8 request is received by the covered en- 9 tity— 10 ‘‘(aa) stating that all the in- 11 formation (including any form or 12 other document) required by the 13 covered entity to be submitted for 14 the request to be considered com- 15 plete has not been submitted; 16 ‘‘(bb) identifying informa- 17 tion required to be submitted 18 that was not submitted; and 19 ‘‘(cc) that includes a citation 20 to a specific provision of a pub- 21 licly available rule, regulation, or 22 standard issued by the govern- 23 ment requiring that the informa- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3330 IH tion be submitted with such a re- 1 quest. 2 ‘‘(ii) DEFINITION.—In this subpara- 3 graph, the term ‘the date on which the re- 4 quest is received by the covered entity’ 5 means— 6 ‘‘(I) in the case of a request sub- 7 mitted electronically, the date on 8 which the request is transmitted; 9 ‘‘(II) in the case of a request 10 submitted in person, the date on 11 which the request is delivered to the 12 individual or at the location specified 13 by the covered entity or in-person sub- 14 mission; and 15 ‘‘(III) in the case of a request 16 submitted in any other manner, the 17 date determined under regulations 18 promulgated by the Commission for 19 the manner in which the request is 20 submitted. 21 ‘‘(B) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CONSID- 22 ERED RECEIVED.—For the purposes of this 23 subsection, a complete request shall be consid- 24 ered received— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3330 IH ‘‘(i) except as provided in clause (ii), 1 on the date on which the requesting party 2 submits to the covered entity all informa- 3 tion (including any form or other docu- 4 ment) required by the covered entity to be 5 submitted for the request to be considered 6 complete; or 7 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a request with re- 8 spect to which all such information is not 9 submitted and that is considered complete 10 under subparagraph (A)(i) because the re- 11 questing party has not received a written 12 notice from the covered entity within the 13 period described in such subparagraph, on 14 the day after the last day of such period. 15 ‘‘(4) FEES.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A covered entity may 17 charge a fee that meets the requirements under 18 subparagraph (B) to consider a request for au- 19 thorization to place, construct, or modify cov- 20 ered equipment. 21 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—A fee charged 22 under subparagraph (A) shall be— 23 ‘‘(i) competitively neutral, technology 24 neutral, and nondiscriminatory; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3330 IH ‘‘(ii) publicly disclosed in advance; 1 ‘‘(iii) calculated— 2 ‘‘(I) based on actual and direct 3 costs for— 4 ‘‘(aa) review and processing 5 of requests; and 6 ‘‘(bb) repairs and replace- 7 ment of— 8 ‘‘(AA) components and 9 materials resulting from and 10 affected by the placement, 11 construction, or modification 12 (including the installation or 13 improvement) of covered 14 equipment; or 15 ‘‘(BB) the modification 16 (including the improvement) 17 of eligible support infra- 18 structure, or repairs and re- 19 placement of equipment that 20 facilitates the placement, 21 construction, or modification 22 (including the installation or 23 improvement) of such facili- 24 ties or the modification (in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3330 IH cluding the improvement) of 1 such structures; and 2 ‘‘(II) using, for purposes of sub- 3 clause (I), only costs that are objec- 4 tively reasonable; and 5 ‘‘(III) described to a requesting 6 party in a manner that distinguishes 7 between nonrecurring fees and recur- 8 ring fees. 9 ‘‘(C) NO RELATION TO FRANCHISE 10 FEES.—A fee charged under this paragraph to 11 consider a request for authorization to place, 12 construct, or modify covered equipment may 13 not be considered a franchise fee under section 14 622. 15 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 16 ‘‘(A) COVERED EQUIPMENT.—The term 17 ‘covered equipment’ means equipment used in 18 or attached to a cable system. 19 ‘‘(B) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘cov- 20 ered entity’ means: 21 ‘‘(i) A State. 22 ‘‘(ii) A local government. 23 ‘‘(iii) An instrumentality of a State or 24 a local government. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3330 IH ‘‘(iv) A franchising authority. 1 ‘‘(C) ELIGIBLE SUPPORT INFRASTRUC- 2 TURE.—The term ‘eligible support infrastruc- 3 ture’ means infrastructure that supports or 4 houses a facility for communication by wire (or 5 is designed to and capable of supporting or 6 housing such facility) at the time when a com- 7 plete request to a covered entity for authoriza- 8 tion to place, construct, or modify covered 9 equipment in or on the infrastructure is re- 10 ceived by the covered entity.’’. 11 SEC. 3. ACTION ON PENDING REQUESTS. 12 (a) APPLICATION.—Paragraphs (2)(B) and (4) of 13 section 624(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 14 U.S.C. 544(j)), as added by section 2, shall apply to a— 15 (1) request received by a covered entity (as 16 such term is defined in section 624(j) of the Com- 17 munications Act of 1934)— 18 (A) before the date of the enactment of 19 this Act; and 20 (B) has not been approved or denied by 21 the covered entity on or before such date; and 22 (2) a request received by a covered entity on or 23 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3330 IH (b) DATE OF RECEIPT.—The date of receipt by a cov- 1 ered entity of a request described under subsection (a)(1) 2 shall be deemed to be the date of the enactment of this 3 Act. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3330.IH H3330 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS