Enhancing Administrative Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3294 To direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a plan for providing the staffing necessary to ensure timely review of communications use authorizations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2023 Mr. ARMSTRONG (for himself and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a plan for providing the staffing necessary to ensure timely review of communications use authorizations, 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 ‘‘Enhancing Adminis- 4 trative Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3294 IH SEC. 2. ENSURING TIMELY REVIEW OF COMMUNICATIONS 1 USE AUTHORIZATIONS. 2 (a) STUDY AND REPORT.— 3 (1) STUDY.—The Secretaries concerned shall 4 each conduct, with respect to the relevant covered 5 department, a study to determine— 6 (A) if there are programmatic or adminis- 7 trative barriers to the timely review of requests 8 for communications use authorizations; 9 (B) if there are revisions to rules or regu- 10 lations that could be implemented to improve 11 efficiency with respect to reviewing requests for 12 communications use authorizations; and 13 (C) if there are processes for prioritizing 14 the review of requests for communications use 15 authorizations. 16 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretaries 18 concerned shall jointly submit to the appropriate 19 congressional committees a report that— 20 (A) describes the results of the studies 21 conducted under paragraph (1), including any 22 barriers, revisions, or processes identified under 23 subparagraphs (A) through (C) of such para- 24 graph; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3294 IH (B) includes a plan for providing, with re- 1 spect to the organizational units of the relevant 2 covered departments, the staffing necessary to 3 ensure timely review of communications use au- 4 thorizations. 5 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 8 mittees’’ means— 9 (A) the Committee on Energy and Com- 10 merce of the House of Representatives; 11 (B) the Committee on Natural Resources 12 of the House of Representatives; 13 (C) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 14 and Transportation of the Senate; and 15 (D) the Committee on Environment and 16 Public Works of the Senate. 17 (2) COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY.—The term 18 ‘‘communications facility’’ has the meaning given the 19 term ‘‘communications facility installation’’ in sec- 20 tion 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 21 Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)). 22 (3) COMMUNICATIONS USE.—The term ‘‘com- 23 munications use’’ means the placement and oper- 24 ation of a communications facility. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3294 IH (4) COMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZATION.— 1 The term ‘‘communications use authorization’’ 2 means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or 3 other authorization— 4 (A) provided by the Secretary of the Inte- 5 rior or the Secretary of Agriculture; 6 (B) to locate or modify a communications 7 facility on covered land; and 8 (C) for the primary purpose of authorizing 9 the occupancy and use of such covered land for 10 communications use. 11 (5) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 12 means— 13 (A) public lands; and 14 (B) National Forest System land. 15 (6) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.—The term 16 ‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 17 that term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range- 18 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 19 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 20 (7) ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT.—The term ‘‘orga- 21 nizational unit’’ means— 22 (A) with respect to the Department of the 23 Interior— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3294 IH (i) a State office of the Bureau of 1 Land Management; 2 (ii) a regional office of the Bureau of 3 Land Management; 4 (iii) a district office of the Bureau of 5 Land Management; or 6 (iv) a field office of the Bureau of 7 Land Management; and 8 (B) with respect to the Department of Ag- 9 riculture— 10 (i) a regional office of the Forest 11 Service; 12 (ii) a management unit of the Forest 13 Service; or 14 (iii) a ranger district office of the For- 15 est Service. 16 (8) PUBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 17 has the meaning given that term in section 103 of 18 the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 19 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 20 (9) RELEVANT COVERED DEPARTMENT.—The 21 term ‘‘relevant covered department’’ means— 22 (A) with respect to the Secretary of the In- 23 terior, the Department of the Interior; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3294 IH (B) with respect to the Secretary of Agri- 1 culture, the Department of Agriculture. 2 (10) SECRETARIES CONCERNED.—The term 3 ‘‘Secretaries concerned’’ means— 4 (A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 5 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 6 through the Chief of the Forest Service. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 May 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS