House Committee GOP Members Tee Up Broadband Bills

House Commerce Committee GOP members released a list of legislative measures aimed at reducing barriers to broadband deployment. The “Boosting Broadband Connectivity Agenda,” focused on closing the digital divide across rural and urban America, consists of 28 bills — and every Republican on the panel is leading at least one of them.

House Commerce Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Republican Subcommittee Leader for Communications and Technology Bob Latta (R-OH) said the package aims to “turbocharge public and private investment” by promoting new and upgraded infrastructure deployments, boosting competition, and streamlining permitting processes. If passed, the measures would also facilitate broadband deployment on federal land, and close the digital divide in rural and urban areas, according to the lawmakers.  

The Democrats are the majority party in the House so the bills would need to have buy-in from them in order to have a chance to finish the legislative process and become law.  

Several measures of notable interest to telecom include one “exempting broadband facilities from burdensome environmental and historic preservation reviews on federal property where a communications facility has already been approved.” Another removes the “environmental or historic preservation reviews in order to add new or upgrade wireless.”

Others would make it easier to add backup power to existing cell sites or to wireline facilities.

Five bills promote new infrastructure deployment:

• The Winning the International Race for Economic Leadership and Expanding Service to Support Leadership (WIRELESS Leadership) Act, led by Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), would streamline permitting processes for wireless providers by preserving state and local zoning authority subject to reasonable limitations, like shot clocks and cost-based fees, to ensure providers receive an answer on their applications in a timely manner.
• The Barriers and Regulatory Obstacles Avoids Deployment of Broadband Access and Needs Deregulatory Leadership (BROADBAND Leadership) Act, led by Morgan Griffith (R-VA), streamlines permitting processes for telecommunications service providers by preserving state and local zoning authority subject to reasonable limitations, like shot clocks and cost-based fees, to ensure providers receive an answer on their application in a timely manner.
• The Cable Access for Broadband and Local Economic Leadership (CABLE Leadership) Act, led by Billy Long (R-MO), would place shot clocks on a cable franchising authority to act on a request for a new franchise to speed up deployment.
• The Connecting and Building Lines for Expedited Expansion (CABLE Expansion) Act, led by Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), would streamline permitting processes for cable operators by preserving franchising authority subject to reasonable limitations, like shot clocks, to ensure cable operators receive an answer on applications to upgrade or deploy new facilities in a timely manner.
• The Communities Overregulating Networks Need Economic Competition Today (CONNECT) Act, also led by Long (R-MO), would promote competition by limiting government-run broadband networks throughout the country and encouraging private investment.

Eight measures promote deployment, competition, and consumer choice through co-location and modifications to existing infrastructure:

• The Streamlining Permitting to Enable Efficient Deployment of Broadband Infrastructure (SPEED) Act, led by Greg Pence (R-IN), would reduce federal red tape by exempting broadband facilities from burdensome environmental and historic preservation reviews on federal property where a communications facility has already been approved.
• The Wireless Broadband Competition and Efficient Deployment Act, led by Bill Johnson (R-OH), would remove the requirement to prepare an environmental or historic preservation review in order to add new or upgrade wireless facilities on existing infrastructure.
• The Broadband Competition and Efficient Deployment Act, led by John Joyce (R-PA), would remove the requirement to prepare an environmental or historic preservation review in order to add new or upgrade wireline facilities.
• The Wireless Resiliency and Flexible Investment Act, led by Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), would expedite the approval process for modifications to existing wireless facilities to make it easier to improve the resiliency of communications network providing a direct benefit to public safety by making it easier to provide backup power or more reliable connection capabilities.
• The Broadband Resiliency and Flexible Investment Act, led by Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), would expedite the approval process for modifications to wireline facilities that do not substantially expand the existing footprint, including those that would improve the resiliency of the communication network and provide a direct benefit to public safety, such as backup power, and hardening the facilities, or providing more reliable connection capabilities.
• The Consumer Access to Broadband for Local Economies and Competition Act (CABLE Competition Act), led by Michael Burgess (R-TX), would streamline the transfer of a franchise from a franchise authority to a cable operator.
• The Cable Transparency Act, led by Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), would clarify and make more transparent the terms for a cable franchise.
• The Protecting Critical Infrastructure Act, led by Larry Bucshon (R-IN), would establish a penalty of a two-year prison term for anyone who willfully or maliciously destroys a communications facility.

Six concern removing unneeded or duplicative environmental and historical preservation barriers:

• The Reducing Antiquated Permitting for Infrastructure Deployment (RAPID) Act, led by Steve Scalise (R-LA), would provide clarity and certainty for providers to comply with historical regulations and speed up the deployment of wireless infrastructure.
• The Brownfields Broadband Deployment Act, led by Tim Walberg (R-MI), would remove the requirement to prepare an environmental or historic preservation review for the deployment of a broadband project entirely within a brownfields site, which is previously disturbed land;
• The Coastal Broadband Deployment Act, led by Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), would remove the requirement to prepare an environmental or historic preservation review for the deployment of broadband projects entirely within a floodplain.
• The Timely Replacement Under Secure and Trusted for Early and Dependable Broadband Networks Act (TRUSTED Broadband Networks Act), led by Brett Guthrie (R-KY), would remove the requirement to prepare an environmental or historic preservation review for projects to permanently remove and replace equipment in our networks that puts our national security at risk.
• The Proportional Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act, led by Buddy Carter (R-GA), would speed up the deployment of requests that modify an existing wireless tower or base station that do not substantially change the physical dimensions of the tower or base station that involves the addition, removal, or replacement of transmission equipment.
• The Wildfire Wireless Resiliency Act, led by Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), would speed up the deployment of projects to replace or improve communications facilities after a wildfire.

And nine promote broadband deployment on federal land:

• The Standard Fees to Expedite Evaluation and Streamlining Act (Standard FEES Act), led by Gary Palmer (R-AL), would establish a common fee for processing applications to deploy communications facilities on Federal property.
• The Enhancing Administrative Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act, led by Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), would require a study on barriers to reviewing requests within the agencies to deploy broadband infrastructure on federal land.
• The Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act, led by Jeff Duncan (R-SC), would direct NTIA to lead an interagency strike force to help prioritize reviews for requests to deploy broadband on federal land.
• The Federal Broadband Deployment in Unserved Areas Act, led by John Curtis (R-UT), would allow the Department of Interior to integrate FCC broadband mapping data into a platform that shows which federal property can support communications facilities in an unserved area.
• The Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications (DIGITAL Applications) Act, led by Fred Upton (R-MI), would establish an online portal to accept, process, and dispose of the common form application to deploy a communications facility on federal property.
• The Facilitating the Deployment of Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications (Facilitating DIGITAL Applications) Act, led by David McKinley (R-WV), would require the NTIA to update Congress on whether the Departments of Interior and Agriculture have established an online portal for the acceptance, processing, and disposal of the common form application to deploy a communications facility on federal property;
• The Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act, led by Richard Hudson (R-NC), would require NTIA to submit a plan to Congress on tracking the acceptance, processing, and disposal of requests for communications use authorizations on federal property.
• The Connecting Communities Post Disasters Act, led by Neal Dunn (R-FL), would accelerate replacing and improving communications facilities in presidentially-declared disaster areas;
• The Rural Broadband Permitting Efficiency Act of 2021, led by John Curtis (R-UT), would allow federal departments to delegate federal environmental compliance for broadband projects to states and Indian tribes.