Standard FEES Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3309 To amend the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 to establish a uniform fee schedule applicable to the processing of forms for the consideration of applications for the placement of communications facilities on certain buildings and other property owned by the Federal Government, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2023 Mr. PALMER (for himself and Mr. RYAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 to establish a uniform fee schedule applica- ble to the processing of forms for the consideration of applications for the placement of communications facili- ties on certain buildings and other property owned by the Federal Government, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3309.IH H3309 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3309 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Standard Fees to Ex- 2 pedite Evaluation and Streamlining Act’’ or the ‘‘Stand- 3 ard FEES Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIFORM FEE SCHEDULE AP- 5 PLICABLE TO THE PROCESSING OF CERTAIN 6 FORMS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6409 of the Middle Class 8 Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 9 1455) is amended— 10 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub- 11 section (e); and 12 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol- 13 lowing: 14 ‘‘(d) COMMON FEE SCHEDULE.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of Gen- 16 eral Services shall establish a uniform schedule of 17 fees applicable to the processing of the forms de- 18 scribed under subsections (b)(2) and (c)(3). 19 ‘‘(2) FEE GUIDELINES.—The schedule of fees 20 established under paragraph (1) shall be— 21 ‘‘(A) based on the direct costs incurred by 22 an agency in processing a form described under 23 subsection (b)(2) or (c)(3); and 24 ‘‘(B) competitively neutral with respect to 25 any fee established for the processing of a form 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3309.IH H3309 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3309 IH for a similar use of the building or other prop- 1 erty owned by the Federal Government. 2 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTIONS.—The Administrator of Gen- 3 eral Services may establish exceptions to the sched- 4 ule of fees established under paragraph (1)— 5 ‘‘(A) that are competitively neutral with 6 respect to the categories of individuals or enti- 7 ties to be granted the exception; 8 ‘‘(B) in consideration of the public benefit 9 of— 10 ‘‘(i) granting an easement, right-of- 11 way, or lease described under subsection 12 (b)(1); or 13 ‘‘(ii) entering into a contract for the 14 placement of a communications installation 15 facility under subsection (c)(1); and 16 ‘‘(C) in the interest of expanding the de- 17 ployment of broadband internet access service, 18 as defined in section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of 19 Federal Regulations (or any successor regula- 20 tion). 21 ‘‘(4) ADOPTION BY EXECUTIVE AGENCIES.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The head of each ex- 23 ecutive agency shall adopt by regulation— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3309.IH H3309 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3309 IH ‘‘(i) fees that correspond to the sched- 1 ule established by the Administrator under 2 paragraph (2); and 3 ‘‘(ii) any exceptions to such schedule 4 established by the Administrator under 5 paragraph (3). 6 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—The head of an exec- 7 utive agency may only grant an exception pur- 8 suant to subparagraph (A)(ii) on a case-by-case 9 basis. 10 ‘‘(5) USE OF FEES COLLECTED.—Any fee col- 11 lected by an executive agency under this section 12 shall only be available to the extent, and in such 13 amounts, as are provided in advance in appropria- 14 tion Acts, to the agency to cover the costs of proc- 15 essing the forms described under subsection (b)(2) 16 and (c)(3). 17 ‘‘(6) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER STATUTES.— 18 Any fee chargeable under this subsection shall 19 supercede any other fee applicable to the processing 20 of a form described under subsection (b)(2) or (c)(3) 21 that is chargeable under another statute.’’. 22 (b) DEADLINES.— 23 (1) FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR OF GENERAL 24 SERVICES.—Not later than 30 days after the date of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3309.IH H3309 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3309 IH the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of Gen- 1 eral Services shall establish the schedule of fees re- 2 quired by section 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax 3 Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 4 1455(d)), as added by subsection (a). 5 (2) FOR EXECUTIVE AGENCIES.—Not later 6 than 120 days after the Administrator of General 7 Services establishes the schedule of fees described 8 under paragraph (1), the head of an executive agen- 9 cy required to adopt the fees and exceptions required 10 by section 6409(d)(4) of the Middle Class Tax Relief 11 and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 12 1455(d)(4)), as added by subsection (a), shall estab- 13 lish such fees and exceptions. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3309.IH H3309 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB