I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1681
To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and
Information to establish an interagency strike force to ensure that certain
Federal land management agencies, including the organizational units
of such agencies, prioritize the review of requests for communications
use authorizations, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Mr. E
VANSof Colorado (for himself and Ms. CRAIG) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and
in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Agriculture, 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 com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu-
nications and Information to establish an interagency
strike force to ensure that certain Federal land manage-
ment agencies, including the organizational units of such
agencies, prioritize the review of requests for communica-
tions use authorizations, 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
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expediting Federal 2
Broadband Deployment Reviews Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY STRIKE FORCE. 4
(a) I
NTERAGENCYSTRIKEFORCE.— 5
(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 6
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the As-7
sistant Secretary shall establish an interagency 8
strike force to ensure that each Federal land man-9
agement agency, including each organizational unit 10
of the agency, prioritizes the review of requests for 11
communications use authorizations. 12
(2) M
EMBERS.—The strike force shall be com-13
posed of— 14
(A) the Assistant Secretary; 15
(B) the head of each Federal land manage-16
ment agency; 17
(C) a designee of the Secretary of Agri-18
culture, other than the Chief of the Forest 19
Service; and 20
(D) a designee of the Secretary of the In-21
terior, other than the Director of the Bureau of 22
Land Management. 23
(3) D
UTIES.—The duties of the strike force 24
shall include— 25
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•HR 1681 IH
(A) conducting periodic calls between the 1
members of the strike force to ensure that each 2
Federal land management agency, including 3
each organizational unit of the agency, 4
prioritizes the review of requests for commu-5
nications use authorizations; 6
(B) establishing objective and reasonable 7
goals for the review of requests for communica-8
tions use authorizations; and 9
(C) monitoring, and facilitating the ac-10
countability of, each Federal land management 11
agency, including each organizational unit of 12
the agency, with respect to meeting such goals. 13
(4) R
EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 14
270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 15
the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the appro-16
priate congressional committees a report on the ef-17
fectiveness of the strike force in ensuring that each 18
Federal land management agency, including each or-19
ganizational unit of the agency, prioritizes the review 20
of requests for communications use authorizations. 21
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 22
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -23
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-24
mittees’’ means— 25
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(A) the Committee on Energy and Com-1
merce of the House of Representatives; 2
(B) the Committee on Natural Resources 3
of the House of Representatives; 4
(C) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 5
and Transportation of the Senate; 6
(D) the Committee on Environment and 7
Public Works of the Senate; 8
(E) the Committee on Agriculture of the 9
House of Representatives; and 10
(F) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-11
tion, and Forestry 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 1681 IH
means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or 1
other authorization— 2
(A) provided by a Federal land manage-3
ment agency; 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 land for commu-8
nications 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
EDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCY .— 14
The term ‘‘Federal land management agency’’ 15
means each of the following: 16
(A) The Bureau of Land Management. 17
(B) The Forest Service. 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) O
RGANIZATIONAL UNIT.—The term ‘‘orga-24
nizational unit’’ means— 25
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(A) with respect to the Bureau of Land 1
Management— 2
(i) a State office; 3
(ii) a regional office; 4
(iii) a district office; or 5
(iv) a field office; and 6
(B) with respect to the Forest Service— 7
(i) a regional office; 8
(ii) a management unit; or 9
(iii) a ranger district office. 10
(10) P
UBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 11
has the meaning given that term in section 103 of 12
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 13
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 14
(11) S
TRIKE FORCE.—The term ‘‘strike force’’ 15
means the interagency strike force established under 16
subsection (a)(1). 17
Æ
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