I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1588
To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and
Information to report to Congress on any barriers to establishing online
portals to accept, process, and dispose of certain Form 299s, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Mrs. M
ILLER-MEEKS(for herself and Mrs. DINGELL) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in
addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Energy and Commerce,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu-
nications and Information to report to Congress on any
barriers to establishing online portals to accept, process,
and dispose of certain Form 299s, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Facilitating the De-4
ployment of Infrastructure with Greater Internet Trans-5
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•HR 1588 IH
actions And Legacy Applications Act’’ or the ‘‘Facilitating 1
DIGITAL Applications Act’’. 2
SEC. 2. REPORT ON BARRIERS TO ESTABLISHING ONLINE 3
PORTALS TO ACCEPT, PROCESS, AND DIS-4
POSE OF CERTAIN FORM 299s. 5
(a) R
EPORT.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 7
the date of the enactment of this section, and every 8
60 days thereafter until the Secretaries concerned 9
each notify the Assistant Secretary under paragraph 10
(2), the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the ap-11
propriate congressional committees a report that de-12
scribes— 13
(A) whether the Secretaries concerned have 14
established, with respect to the relevant covered 15
department, an online portal for the acceptance, 16
processing, and disposal of a Form 299 for 17
communications use authorization; and 18
(B) any barrier to the establishment of any 19
such portal. 20
(2) N
OTIFICATION.—Not later than 3 business 21
days after the date on which the online portal has 22
been established by a Secretary pursuant to para-23
graph (1), that Secretary shall notify the Assistant 24
Secretary of the establishment of such portal. 25
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(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 1
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -2
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-3
mittees’’ means— 4
(A) the Committee on Energy and Com-5
merce of the House of Representatives; 6
(B) the Committee on Natural Resources 7
of the House of Representatives; 8
(C) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 9
and Transportation of the Senate; and 10
(D) the Committee on Environment and 11
Public Works of the Senate. 12
(2) A
SSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-13
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 14
Commerce for Communications and Information. 15
(3) C
OMMUNICATIONS FACILITY .—The term 16
‘‘communications facility’’ has the meaning given the 17
term ‘‘communications facility installation’’ in sec-18
tion 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 19
Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)). 20
(4) C
OMMUNICATIONS USE .—The term ‘‘com-21
munications use’’ means the placement and oper-22
ation of a communications facility. 23
(5) C
OMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZATION .— 24
The term ‘‘communications use authorization’’ 25
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•HR 1588 IH
means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or 1
other authorization— 2
(A) provided by the Secretary of the Inte-3
rior or the Secretary of Agriculture; 4
(B) to locate or modify a communications 5
facility on covered land; and 6
(C) for the primary purpose of authorizing 7
the occupancy and use of such covered land for 8
communications use. 9
(6) C
OVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 10
means— 11
(A) public lands; and 12
(B) National Forest System land. 13
(7) F
ORM299.—The term ‘‘Form 299’’ means 14
the form established under section 6409(b)(2)(A) of 15
the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act 16
of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(2)(A)), or any successor 17
form. 18
(8) N
ATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM .—The term 19
‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 20
that term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range-21
land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 22
U.S.C. 1609(a)). 23
(9) R
ELEVANT COVERED DEPARTMENT .—The 24
term ‘‘relevant covered department’’ means— 25
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•HR 1588 IH
(A) with respect to the Secretary of the In-1
terior, the Department of the Interior; and 2
(B) with respect to the Secretary of Agri-3
culture, the Department of Agriculture. 4
(10) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 5
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 6
(A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 7
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 8
through the Chief of the Forest Service. 9
Æ
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