Facilitating DIGITAL Applications Act

IB Union Calendar No. 746 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 3283 [Report No. 118–545, Parts I and II] To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to report to Congress on any barriers to establishing online portals to accept, process, and dispose of certain Form 299s, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2023 Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS (for herself and Mrs. DINGELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned JUNE 7, 2024 Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce DECEMBER 18, 2024 Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] DECEMBER 18, 2024 Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 15, 2023] VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3283 RH A BILL To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu- nications and Information to report to Congress on any barriers to establishing online portals to accept, process, and dispose of certain Form 299s, and for other pur- poses. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3283 RH 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 ‘‘Facilitating the De- 4 ployment of Infrastructure with Greater Internet Trans- 5 actions And Legacy Applications Act’’ or the ‘‘Facilitating 6 DIGITAL Applications Act’’. 7 SEC. 2. REPORT ON BARRIERS TO ESTABLISHING ONLINE 8 PORTALS TO ACCEPT, PROCESS, AND DIS- 9 POSE OF CERTAIN FORM 299s. 10 (a) REPORT.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 12 the date of the enactment of this section, and every 13 60 days thereafter until the Secretaries concerned 14 each notify the Assistant Secretary under paragraph 15 (2), the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the ap- 16 propriate congressional committees a report that de- 17 scribes— 18 (A) whether the Secretaries concerned have 19 established, with respect to the relevant covered 20 department, an online portal for the acceptance, 21 processing, and disposal of a Form 299 for 22 communications use authorization; and 23 (B) any barrier to the establishment of any 24 such portal. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3283 RH (2) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 3 business 1 days after the date on which the online portal has 2 been established by a Secretary pursuant to para- 3 graph (1), that Secretary shall notify the Assistant 4 Secretary of the establishment of such portal. 5 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 8 mittees’’ means— 9 (A) the Committee on Energy and Com- 10 merce of the House of Representatives; 11 (B) the Committee on Natural Resources 12 of the House of Representatives; 13 (C) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 14 and Transportation of the Senate; and 15 (D) the Committee on Environment and 16 Public Works of the Senate. 17 (2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 18 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 19 Commerce for Communications and Information. 20 (3) COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY.—The term 21 ‘‘communications facility’’ has the meaning given the 22 term ‘‘communications facility installation’’ in sec- 23 tion 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 24 Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3283 RH (4) COMMUNICATIONS USE.—The term ‘‘com- 1 munications use’’ means the placement and oper- 2 ation of a communications facility. 3 (5) COMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZATION.— 4 The term ‘‘communications use authorization’’ 5 means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or 6 other authorization— 7 (A) provided by the Secretary of the Inte- 8 rior or the Secretary of Agriculture; 9 (B) to locate or modify a communications 10 facility on covered land; and 11 (C) for the primary purpose of authorizing 12 the occupancy and use of such covered land for 13 communications use. 14 (6) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 15 means— 16 (A) public lands; and 17 (B) National Forest System land. 18 (7) FORM 299.—The term ‘‘Form 299’’ means 19 the form established under section 6409(b)(2)(A) of 20 the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act 21 of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(2)(A)), or any successor 22 form. 23 (8) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.—The term 24 ‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3283 RH that term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range- 1 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 2 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 3 (9) RELEVANT COVERED DEPARTMENT.—The 4 term ‘‘relevant covered department’’ means— 5 (A) with respect to the Secretary of the In- 6 terior, the Department of the Interior; and 7 (B) with respect to the Secretary of Agri- 8 culture, the Department of Agriculture. 9 (10) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term 10 ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 11 (A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 12 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 13 through the Chief of the Forest Service. 14 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 15 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Facilitating the Deploy- 16 ment of Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions 17 And Legacy Applications Act’’ or the ‘‘Facilitating DIG- 18 ITAL Applications Act’’. 19 SEC. 2. REPORT ON BARRIERS TO ESTABLISHING ONLINE 20 PORTALS TO ACCEPT, PROCESS, AND DIS- 21 POSE OF CERTAIN FORM 299s. 22 (a) REPORT.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 24 the date of the enactment of this section, and every 60 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3283 RH days thereafter until the Secretaries concerned each 1 notify the Assistant Secretary under paragraph (2), 2 the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the appro- 3 priate congressional committees a report that de- 4 scribes— 5 (A) whether the Secretaries concerned have 6 established, with respect to the relevant covered 7 department, an online portal for the acceptance, 8 processing, and disposal of a Form 299 for com- 9 munications use authorization; 10 (B) any barrier to the establishment of any 11 such portal; and 12 (C) whether the online portal described in 13 subparagraph (A) is consistent with— 14 (i) the priorities identified in section 15 110 of the National Environmental Policy 16 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336d); and 17 (ii) the results of the study required 18 under that section with respect to any per- 19 mit that requires review under that Act. 20 (2) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 3 business 21 days after the date on which the online portal has 22 been established by a Secretary pursuant to para- 23 graph (1), that Secretary shall notify the Assistant 24 Secretary of the establishment of such portal. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3283 RH (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit- 3 tees’’ means— 4 (A) the Committee on Energy and Com- 5 merce of the House of Representatives; 6 (B) the Committee on Natural Resources of 7 the House of Representatives; 8 (C) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 9 and Transportation of the Senate; and 10 (D) the Committee on Environment and 11 Public Works of the Senate. 12 (2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 13 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of Com- 14 merce for Communications and Information. 15 (3) COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY.—The term 16 ‘‘communications facility’’ has the meaning given the 17 term ‘‘communications facility installation’’ in sec- 18 tion 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 19 Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)). 20 (4) COMMUNICATIONS USE.—The term ‘‘commu- 21 nications use’’ means the placement and operation of 22 a communications facility. 23 (5) COMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZATION.— 24 The term ‘‘communications use authorization’’ means 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3283 RH an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or other au- 1 thorization— 2 (A) provided by the Secretary of the Inte- 3 rior or the Secretary of Agriculture; 4 (B) to locate or modify a communications 5 facility on covered land; and 6 (C) for the primary purpose of authorizing 7 the occupancy and use of such covered land for 8 communications use. 9 (6) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 10 means— 11 (A) public lands; and 12 (B) National Forest System land. 13 (7) FORM 299.—The term ‘‘Form 299’’ means 14 the form established under section 6409(b)(2)(A) of 15 the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 16 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(2)(A)), or any successor 17 form. 18 (8) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘Na- 19 tional Forest System’’ has the meaning given that 20 term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland 21 Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 22 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 23 (9) RELEVANT COVERED DEPARTMENT.—The 24 term ‘‘relevant covered department’’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3283 RH (A) with respect to the Secretary of the Inte- 1 rior, the Department of the Interior; and 2 (B) with respect to the Secretary of Agri- 3 culture, the Department of Agriculture. 4 (10) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec- 5 retary concerned’’ means— 6 (A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 7 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 8 through the Chief of the Forest Service. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB Union Calendar No. 746 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 3283 [Report No. 118–545, Parts I and II] A BILL To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to report to Congress on any barriers to establishing online portals to accept, process, and dispose of certain Form 299s, and for other purposes. DECEMBER 18, 2024 Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment DECEMBER 18, 2024 Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 21, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H3283.RH H3283 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB