American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023

IB Union Calendar No. 192 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3557 [Report No. 118–240, Part I] To streamline Federal, State, and local permitting and regulatory reviews to expedite the deployment of communications facilities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 22, 2023 Mr. CARTER of Georgia (for himself, Mr. MORAN, and Mr. DUNN of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Re- sources, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned OCTOBER 2, 2023 Additional sponsors: Mr. WALBERG, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. PENCE, Mr. WEBER of Texas, and Ms. TENNEY OCTOBER 2, 2023 Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3557 RH OCTOBER 2, 2023 Committees on Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure dis- charged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 22, 2023] A BILL To streamline Federal, State, and local permitting and regu- latory reviews to expedite the deployment of communica- tions facilities, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3557 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—STATE AND LOCAL SITING PROCESSES Sec. 101. Preservation of local zoning authority. Sec. 102. Removal of barriers to entry. Sec. 103. Requests for modification of certain existing wireless and telecommuni- cations service facilities. TITLE II—CABLE Sec. 201. Request for new franchise. Sec. 202. Request regarding placement, construction, or modification of cable equipment. Sec. 203. Cable franchise term and termination. Sec. 204. Sales of cable systems. TITLE III—ENVIRONMENTAL AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION REVIEWS Sec. 301. Application of NEPA and NHPA to certain communications projects. Sec. 302. Presumption with respect to certain complete FCC forms. Sec. 303. Rule of construction. Sec. 304. Definitions. TITLE IV—OTHER MATTERS Sec. 401. Timely consideration of applications for Federal easements, rights-of- way, and leases. Sec. 402. Streamlining of certain fees relating to broadband infrastructure de- ployed using grant funds under BEAD Program. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6213 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3557 RH TITLE I—STATE AND LOCAL 1 SITING PROCESSES 2 SEC. 101. PRESERVATION OF LOCAL ZONING AUTHORITY. 3 Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 4 U.S.C. 332(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (7) and 5 inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(7) PRESERVATION OF LOCAL ZONING AUTHOR- 7 ITY.— 8 ‘‘(A) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—Except as 9 provided in this paragraph, nothing in this Act 10 shall limit or affect the authority of a State or 11 local government or instrumentality thereof over 12 decisions regarding the placement, construction, 13 or modification of personal wireless service fa- 14 cilities. 15 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS.— 16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The regulation of 17 the placement, construction, or modification 18 of a personal wireless service facility by any 19 State or local government or instrumen- 20 tality thereof— 21 ‘‘(I) shall not discriminate among 22 personal wireless service facilities or 23 providers of communications service, 24 including by providing exclusive or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3557 RH preferential use of facilities to a par- 1 ticular provider or class of providers of 2 personal wireless service; and 3 ‘‘(II) shall not prohibit or have 4 the effect of prohibiting the provision, 5 improvement, or enhancement of per- 6 sonal wireless service. 7 ‘‘(ii) ENGINEERING STANDARDS; AES- 8 THETIC REQUIREMENTS.—It is not a viola- 9 tion of clause (i) for a State or local govern- 10 ment or instrumentality thereof to establish 11 for personal wireless service facilities, or 12 structures that support such facilities, objec- 13 tive, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory— 14 ‘‘(I) structural engineering stand- 15 ards based on generally applicable 16 codes; 17 ‘‘(II) safety requirements (subject 18 to clause (vi)); or 19 ‘‘(III) aesthetic or concealment re- 20 quirements (unless such requirements 21 prohibit or have the effect of prohib- 22 iting the installation or modification 23 of such facilities or structures). 24 ‘‘(iii) TIMEFRAMES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3557 RH ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A State or 1 local government or instrumentality 2 thereof shall grant or deny a request 3 for authorization to place, construct, or 4 modify a personal wireless service fa- 5 cility not later than— 6 ‘‘(aa) in the case of a request 7 for authorization to place, con- 8 struct, or modify a personal wire- 9 less service facility that is not a 10 small personal wireless service fa- 11 cility— 12 ‘‘(AA) if the request is 13 for authorization to place, 14 construct, or modify such fa- 15 cility using an existing 16 structure, including with re- 17 spect to an area that has not 18 previously been zoned for 19 personal wireless service fa- 20 cilities (other than small per- 21 sonal wireless service facili- 22 ties), 90 days after the date 23 on which the request is sub- 24 mitted by the requesting 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3557 RH party to the government or 1 instrumentality; or 2 ‘‘(BB) if the request is 3 for any other action relating 4 to such facility, 150 days 5 after the date on which the 6 request is submitted by the 7 requesting party to the gov- 8 ernment or instrumentality; 9 and 10 ‘‘(bb) in the case of a request 11 for authorization to place, con- 12 struct, or modify a small personal 13 wireless service facility— 14 ‘‘(AA) if the request is 15 for authorization to place, 16 construct, or modify such fa- 17 cility using an existing 18 structure, including with re- 19 spect to an area that has not 20 previously been zoned for 21 personal wireless service fa- 22 cilities, 60 days after the 23 date on which the request is 24 submitted by the requesting 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3557 RH party to the government or 1 instrumentality; or 2 ‘‘(BB) if the request is 3 for any other action relating 4 to such facility, 90 days after 5 the date on which the request 6 is submitted by the request- 7 ing party to the government 8 or instrumentality. 9 ‘‘(II) TREATMENT OF BATCHED 10 REQUESTS.—In the case of requests de- 11 scribed in subclause (I) that are sub- 12 mitted as part of a single batch by the 13 requesting party to the government or 14 instrumentality on the same day, the 15 applicable timeframe under such sub- 16 clause for each request in the batch 17 shall be the longest timeframe under 18 such subclause that would be applicable 19 to any request in the batch if such re- 20 quests were submitted separately. 21 ‘‘(III) APPLICABILITY.—The ap- 22 plicable timeframe under subclause (I) 23 shall apply collectively to all pro- 24 ceedings required by a State or local 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3557 RH government or instrumentality thereof 1 for the approval of the request. 2 ‘‘(IV) NO MORITORIA.—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 mod- 10 ify a personal wireless service facility. 11 ‘‘(V) TOLLING DUE TO INCOM- 12 PLETENESS.— 13 ‘‘(aa) INITIAL REQUEST IN- 14 COMPLETE.— 15 ‘‘(AA) SMALL PERSONAL 16 WIRELESS SERVICE FACILI- 17 TIES.—If, not later than 10 18 days after the date on which 19 a requesting party submits to 20 a State or local government 21 or instrumentality thereof a 22 request for authorization to 23 place, construct, or modify a 24 small personal wireless serv- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3557 RH ice facility, the government 1 or instrumentality provides 2 to the requesting party a 3 written notice described in 4 item (cc) with respect to the 5 request, the timeframe de- 6 scribed in subclause (I) is 7 tolled with respect to the re- 8 quest and shall restart at 9 zero on the date on which the 10 requesting party submits to 11 the government or instru- 12 mentality a supplemental 13 submission in response to the 14 notice. 15 ‘‘(BB) OTHER PER- 16 SONAL WIRELESS SERVICE 17 FACILITIES.—If, not later 18 than 30 days after the date 19 on which a requesting party 20 submits to a State or local 21 government or instrumen- 22 tality thereof a request for 23 authorization to place, con- 24 struct, or modify a personal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 3557 RH wireless service facility that 1 is not a small personal wire- 2 less service facility, the gov- 3 ernment or instrumentality 4 provides to the requesting 5 party a written notice de- 6 scribed in item (cc) with re- 7 spect to the request, the time- 8 frame described in subclause 9 (I) is tolled with respect to 10 the request until the date on 11 which the requesting party 12 submits to the government or 13 instrumentality a supple- 14 mental submission in re- 15 sponse to the notice. 16 ‘‘(bb) SUPPLEMENTAL SUB- 17 MISSION INCOMPLETE.—If, not 18 later than 10 days after the date 19 on which a requesting party sub- 20 mits to a State or local govern- 21 ment or instrumentality thereof a 22 supplemental submission in re- 23 sponse to a written notice de- 24 scribed in item (cc), the govern- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 3557 RH ment or instrumentality provides 1 to the requesting party a written 2 notice described in item (cc) with 3 respect to the supplemental sub- 4 mission, the timeframe under sub- 5 clause (I) is further tolled until 6 the date on which the requesting 7 party submits to the government 8 or instrumentality a subsequent 9 supplemental submission in re- 10 sponse to the notice. 11 ‘‘(cc) WRITTEN NOTICE DE- 12 SCRIBED.—The written notice de- 13 scribed in this item is, with re- 14 spect to a request described in 15 subclause (I) or a supplemental 16 submission described in item (aa) 17 or (bb) submitted to a State or 18 local government or instrumen- 19 tality thereof by a requesting 20 party, a written notice from the 21 government or instrumentality to 22 the requesting party— 23 ‘‘(AA) stating that all of 24 the information (including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13 •HR 3557 RH any form or other document) 1 required by the government 2 or instrumentality to be sub- 3 mitted for the request to be 4 considered complete has not 5 been submitted; 6 ‘‘(BB) identifying the 7 information described in 8 subitem (AA) that was not 9 submitted; and 10 ‘‘(CC) including a cita- 11 tion to a specific provision of 12 a publicly available rule, reg- 13 ulation, or standard issued 14 by the government or instru- 15 mentality requiring that 16 such information be sub- 17 mitted with such a request. 18 ‘‘(dd) LIMITATION ON SUBSE- 19 QUENT WRITTEN NOTICE.—If a 20 written notice provided by a State 21 or local government or instrumen- 22 tality thereof to a requesting 23 party under item (bb) with re- 24 spect to a supplemental submis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14 •HR 3557 RH sion identifies as not having been 1 submitted any information that 2 was not identified as not having 3 been submitted in the prior writ- 4 ten notice under this subclause in 5 response to which the supple- 6 mental submission was submitted, 7 the subsequent written notice shall 8 be treated as not having been pro- 9 vided to the requesting party. 10 ‘‘(VI) TOLLING BY MUTUAL 11 AGREEMENT.—The timeframe under 12 subclause (I) may be tolled by mutual 13 agreement between the State or local 14 government or instrumentality thereof 15 and the requesting party. 16 ‘‘(iv) DEEMED GRANTED.— 17 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—If a State or 18 local government or instrumentality 19 thereof fails to take final action to 20 grant or deny a request within the ap- 21 plicable timeframe under subclause (I) 22 of clause (iii), the request shall be 23 deemed granted on the date on which 24 the government or instrumentality re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3557.RH H3557 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 15 •HR 3557 RH ceives a written notice of the failure 1 from the requesting party. 2 ‘‘(II) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 3 In the case of a request that is deemed 4 granted under subclause (I), the place- 5 ment, construction, or modification re- 6 quested in t [Text truncated for display. 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