I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1343
To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and
Information to submit to Congress a plan for the Assistant Secretary
to track the acceptance, processing, and disposal of certain Form 299s,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. P
FLUGER(for himself and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu-
nications and Information to submit to Congress a plan
for the Assistant Secretary to track the acceptance, proc-
essing, and disposal of certain Form 299s, and for other
purposes.
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 ‘‘Federal Broadband 4
Deployment Tracking Act’’. 5
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•HR 1343 IH
SEC. 2. PLAN FOR ASSISTANT SECRETARY TO TRACK THE 1
ACCEPTANCE, PROCESSING, AND DISPOSAL 2
OF CERTAIN FORM 299S. 3
(a) P
LAN.—Not later than 180 days after the date 4
of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary shall 5
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a plan 6
containing a description of— 7
(1) the process by which the Assistant Sec-8
retary proposes to— 9
(A) track the acceptance, processing, and 10
disposal of each Form 299 for communications 11
use authorization; 12
(B) provide applicants additional trans-13
parency with respect to the status of the appli-14
cable Form 299 for communications use au-15
thorization; and 16
(C) most expeditiously implement the plan; 17
and 18
(2) any potential barriers to implementing the 19
plan that are identified by the Assistant Secretary. 20
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -22
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-23
mittees’’ means— 24
(A) the Committee on Energy and Com-25
merce of the House of Representatives; and 26
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•HR 1343 IH
(B) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 1
and Transportation of the Senate. 2
(2) A
SSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-3
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 4
Commerce for Communications and Information. 5
(3) C
OMMUNICATIONS FACILITY .—The term 6
‘‘communications facility’’ has the meaning given the 7
term communications facility installation in section 8
6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 9
Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)). 10
(4) C
OMMUNICATIONS USE .—The term ‘‘com-11
munications use’’ means the placement and oper-12
ation of a communications facility. 13
(5) C
OMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZATION .— 14
The term ‘‘communications use authorization’’ 15
means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or 16
other authorization— 17
(A) provided by the Secretary of the Inte-18
rior or the Secretary of Agriculture; 19
(B) to locate or modify a communications 20
facility on covered land; and 21
(C) for the primary purpose of authorizing 22
the occupancy and use of such covered land for 23
communications use. 24
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•HR 1343 IH
(6) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 1
means— 2
(A) public lands; and 3
(B) National Forest System land. 4
(7) F
ORM 299.—The term ‘‘Form 299’’ means 5
the form established under section 6409(b)(2)(A) of 6
the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act 7
of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(2)(A)), or any successor 8
form. 9
(8) N
ATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM .—The term 10
‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 11
the term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range-12
land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 13
U.S.C. 1609(a)). 14
(9) P
UBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 15
means land under the management of— 16
(A) the Bureau of Land Management; 17
(B) the National Park Service; 18
(C) the United States Fish and Wildlife 19
Service; or 20
(D) the Bureau of Reclamation. 21
Æ
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