House Republicans Bow Broadband Process Streamlining Package

The House Commerce Republicans’ broadband bills include the Winning the International Race for Economic Leadership and Expanding Service to Support (Wireless) Leadership Act from House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta of Ohio. The Wireless Leadership Act would streamline wireless providers’ permitting processes by “preserving state and local zoning authority subject to reasonable limitations, like shot clocks and cost-based fees.”

The Barriers and Regulatory Obstacles Avoids Deployment of Broadband Access and Needs Deregulatory (Broadband) Leadership Act, from Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia, would similarly streamline permitting processes for ISPs. The Cable Access for Broadband and Local Economic (Cable) Leadership Act, from Rep. Billy Long of Missouri, would place “shot clocks on a cable franchising authority to act on a request for a new franchise to speed up deployment.” Long’s Communities Overregulating Networks Need Economic Competition Today (Connect) Act would limit “government-run” broadband networks.

The Streamlining Permitting to Enable Efficient Deployment of Broadband Infrastructure Act (HR-6488), already filed by Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois, would exempt broadband facilities from National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act reviews on federal property where a communications facility has already been approved. The Wireless Broadband Competition and Efficient Deployment Act, from Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio, would remove the requirement for NEPA and NHPA review of proposed collocations of wireless facilities.

The Wireless Resiliency and Flexible Investment Act, from Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, would expand eligible facilities requests to include facilities that would improve the resiliency of the communications network and provide a direct benefit to public safety. The Consumer Access to Broadband for Local Economies and (Cable) Competition Act, from Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas, would streamline the transfer of a franchise from a franchise authority to a cable operator. The Cable Transparency Act, from Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, would clarify and make more transparent the terms for a cable franchise. The Protecting Critical Infrastructure Act, from Rep. Larry Bucshon of Indiana, would establish a penalty of a two-year prison term for anyone who willfully or maliciously destroys a communications facility.

Siting Goals

Many parts of the package deal with federal land and with other communications infrastructure siting issues.

The Tribal Interest Maintained for Infrastructure Needing Greater (Timing) Certainty Act, from House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, 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, from Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan, would ensure deployment of a broadband project entirely within a brownfields site is a category excluded from NEPA and NHPA reviews. The Coastal Broadband Deployment Act, from Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida, would accelerate the deployment of broadband projects entirely within a floodplain.

The Standard Fees to Expedite Evaluation and Streamlining (Standard Fees) Act, from Rep. Greg Gianforte of Montana, would establish a common fee for processing applications to deploy communications facilities on federal property. The Broadband Deployment Streamlining Act, from Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana, would streamline the process to place or modify communications facilities on land under the control of the Department of Interior. The Enhancing Administrative Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act, from Rep. Bill Flores of Texas, would create a study on barriers within the bureaucracy to reviewing communications use authorization requests to deploy on federal land. The Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act, from Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, would direct NTIA to lead an interagency strike force to help prioritize reviews for communications use authorization requests to deploy on federal land.

The Federal Broadband Deployment in Unserved Areas Act, from Rep. John Curtis of Utah, would allow the Department of the Interior to view FCC broadband mapping data to show federal real property that can support communications facilities in unserved areas. The Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy (Digital) Applications Act, from Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, 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 (Facilitating Digital) Applications Act, from Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia, would require NTIA update Congress on whether the Agriculture and Interior departments established an online portal related to a common form application to deploy a communications facility on federal property.

The Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act, from Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, would require NTIA submit a plan to Congress related to processing communications use authorizations on federal property. The Connecting Communities Post Disasters Act, from Rep. Pete Olson of Texas, would accelerate replacing and improving communications facilities in presidentially declared disaster areas. Curtis’ Rural Broadband Permitting Efficiency Act would allow federal departments to delegate federal environmental compliance for broadband projects to state and tribal governments.

The Timely Replacement Under Secure and Trusted for Early and Dependable (Trusted) Broadband Networks Act, from Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, would accelerate the replacement of suspect telecom gear eligible for reimbursement under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. The Proportional Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act, from Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia, would speed deployment of eligible facilities requests that modify an existing wireless tower or base station that don't substantially change the physical dimensions of the tower or base station that involves the collocation, removal or replacement of transmission equipment. The Wildfire Wireless Resiliency Act, from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, would speed up post-fire telecom projects.

FCC GOP Reacts

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and other GOP commissioners praised the package

The GOP lawmakers were right to "focus on promoting new and upgraded infrastructure deployment, incentivizing competition and consumer choice, reforming infrastructure regulations across industries, and facilitating broadband deployment on federal lands," Pai tweeted. The "preemptive nature of many bills is absolutely necessary," said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. The "thoughtful reforms would bring families across the digital divide and further extend America’s leadership in 5G," said Commissioner Brendan Carr. Their ideas ... would make an immediate difference for rural communities."

The Competitive Carriers Association also praised the proposal.

NTIA reported the administration “made substantial progress” in meeting the goals it outlined last year when it established ABI (see 1902130067), but "there is still work to do.” The report cited Agriculture’s distribution of $744 million in funding via Rural Utilities Service’s ReConnect rural broadband funding program. The projects are “benefiting more than 430,000 rural residents in 34 states,” NTIA said. The agency noted its September completion of the first phase of its national broadband availability map pilot (see 1910180017). Interior launched its own mapping tool “to make site locations visible to service providers looking to locate equipment on Federal property, and added new data layers from the General Services Administration, the U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Postal Service,” NTIA said.