Thune, Schatz Aim to Bow Senate 5G Broadband Bill After Thanksgiving Recess
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, intend to file their bill aimed at easing barriers to 5G and other broadband deployments soon after the Thanksgiving recess, Schatz confirmed to us. A post-Thanksgiving filing of the legislation was widely anticipated because Senate Commerce staff have been collecting feedback on the bill for weeks, several communications sector lobbyists said. Thune and Schatz circulated a draft of the bill in October (see 1710310057).
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The major point of contention remains bill language that would seek to pre-empt state, local and tribal laws seen as barriers to deployments, several telecom lobbyists said. That includes limits on local rules on telcos' utilization of poles and rights of way. The legislation includes a provision that would require state and local governments to sync their shot clocks for granting siting permits and limit the timeline to 90 days. It would “deem granted” siting applications when local governments miss the new shot clock deadlines. The National League of Cities and the League of California Cities are among the local government stakeholders who oppose the draft language.
“I'm definitely concerned” about the pre-emption language, said Christopher Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance director-Community Broadband Networks Initiative. Additional pre-emption of local authority over telecom infrastructure deployments, including limits on revenue collection, “makes me worry that we're going to see local taxpayers have to pay” for those investments. “There's already pressure” on Schatz from local government stakeholders in Hawaii and elsewhere “that this is too harmful for local governments, that there isn't enough of a compromise” for them to support the bill, Mitchell said. Local governments' opinions on the proposal could be important in garnering other Senate Democrats' support, a Democratic communications sector lobbyist said.
Municipalities' opposition to pre-emption isn't surprising, as evidenced by debate on the issue earlier this month at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing on 5G (see 1711160058), a telecom lobbyist said. “Putting up a 250-foot tower is a lot more intrusive than putting up some of this 5G equipment,” the lobbyist said. “But generally they want to make sure that they're compensated for access to those poles. Finding the right balance on payments is a big hurdle but I think it's a hurdle that industry and the municipalities can get through” via negotiations. Another lobbyist noted local governments' concerns with some aspects of the earlier versions of the Mobile Now Act spectrum bill that were eased in later versions. The Senate passed the latest version of the bill (S-19) in August (see 1708030060).
Some level of pre-emption is essential to the bill, but the final language is open for negotiation, Schatz said. “I think we can accommodate local communities and obviously we want people to have authorities when it comes to environmental preservation, zoning, historic preservation,” he said. “But if you're talking about making it easier to site” broadband deployments, “federal law is not federal law unless it pre-empts state law.”
Industry stakeholders also are seeking slight tweaks to the bill, though some may come in the form of amendments after its formal filing, a telecom lobbyist said. Some may push to include language of an amendment that Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., successfully placed in Mobile Now that would prioritize or streamline permits for construction in previously disturbed rights-of-way (see 1603030061). If the Thune/Schatz bill appears to be on track for quick Senate Commerce consideration “that's probably something we'll try to get introduced again,” the lobbyist said. “It's something that we've used to go around part of the permitting process to get back into the same trenches they were in 15-20 years ago.”