I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 278
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes
for telecommunications service facilities, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. G
RIFFITHintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline
siting processes for telecommunications service facilities,
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 ‘‘Barriers and Regu-4
latory Obstacles Avoids Deployment of Broadband Access 5
and Needs Deregulatory Leadership Act’’ or the 6
‘‘BROADBAND Leadership Act’’. 7
SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY. 8
Section 253 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 9
U.S.C. 253) is amended to read as follows: 10
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‘‘SEC. 253. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY. 1
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—No State or local statute or reg-2
ulation, or other State or local legal requirement, may pro-3
hibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any 4
entity to provide or enhance the provision of any interstate 5
or intrastate telecommunications service. 6
‘‘(b) P
LACEMENT, CONSTRUCTION, ORMODIFICA-7
TION OFTELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICEFACILITIES.— 8
‘‘(1) P
ROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION .—The 9
regulation of the placement, construction, or modi-10
fication of a telecommunications service facility by a 11
State or local government or instrumentality thereof 12
may not discriminate— 13
‘‘(A) among telecommunications service fa-14
cilities— 15
‘‘(i) based on the technology used to 16
provide services; or 17
‘‘(ii) based on the services provided; 18
or 19
‘‘(B) against telecommunications service 20
facilities, as compared to the regulation of the 21
placement, construction, or modification of 22
other facilities. 23
‘‘(2) T
IMEFRAME TO GRANT OR DENY RE -24
QUESTS.— 25
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State or local gov-1
ernment or instrumentality thereof shall grant 2
or deny a request for authorization to place, 3
construct, or modify a telecommunications serv-4
ice facility not later than— 5
‘‘(i) if the request is for authorization 6
to place, construct, or modify such facility 7
in or on eligible support infrastructure, 90 8
days after the date on which the request is 9
submitted by the requesting party to the 10
government or instrumentality; or 11
‘‘(ii) for any other action relating to 12
such facility, 150 days after the date on 13
which the request is submitted by the re-14
questing party to the government or in-15
strumentality. 16
‘‘(B) A
PPLICABILITY.—The applicable 17
timeframe under subparagraph (A) shall apply 18
collectively to all proceedings, including permits 19
and authorizations, required by a State or local 20
government or instrumentality thereof for the 21
approval of the request. 22
‘‘(C) N
O MORITORIA.—A timeframe under 23
subparagraph (A) may not be tolled by any 24
moratorium, whether express or de facto, im-25
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posed by a State or local government or instru-1
mentality thereof on the submission, accept-2
ance, or consideration of requests for authoriza-3
tion to place, construct, or modify a tele-4
communications service facility. 5
‘‘(D) T
OLLING DUE TO INCOMPLETE -6
NESS.— 7
‘‘(i) I
NITIAL REQUEST INCOM -8
PLETE.—If, not later than 30 days after 9
the date on which a requesting party sub-10
mits to a State or local government or in-11
strumentality thereof a request for author-12
ization to place, construct, or modify a 13
telecommunications service facility, the 14
government or instrumentality provides to 15
the requesting party a written notice de-16
scribed in clause (iii) with respect to the 17
request, the timeframe described in sub-18
paragraph (A) is tolled with respect to the 19
request until the date on which the re-20
questing party submits to the government 21
or instrumentality a supplemental submis-22
sion in response to the notice. 23
‘‘(ii) S
UPPLEMENTAL SUBMISSION IN -24
COMPLETE.—If, not later than 10 days 25
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after the date on which a requesting party 1
submits to a State or local government or 2
instrumentality thereof a supplemental 3
submission in response to a written notice 4
described in clause (iii), the government or 5
instrumentality provides to the requesting 6
party a written notice described in clause 7
(iii) with respect to the supplemental sub-8
mission, the timeframe under subpara-9
graph (A) is further tolled until the date 10
on which the requesting party submits to 11
the government or instrumentality a subse-12
quent supplemental submission in response 13
to the notice. 14
‘‘(iii) W
RITTEN NOTICE DE -15
SCRIBED.—The written notice described in 16
this clause is, with respect to a request de-17
scribed in subparagraph (A) or a supple-18
mental submission described in clause (i) 19
or (ii) submitted to a State or local govern-20
ment or instrumentality thereof by a re-21
questing party, a written notice from the 22
government or instrumentality to the re-23
questing party— 24
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‘‘(I) stating that all of the infor-1
mation (including any form or other 2
document) required by the govern-3
ment or instrumentality to be sub-4
mitted for the request to be consid-5
ered complete has not been submitted; 6
‘‘(II) identifying the information 7
described in subclause (I) that was 8
not submitted; and 9
‘‘(III) including a citation to a 10
specific provision of a publicly avail-11
able rule, regulation, or standard 12
issued by the government or instru-13
mentality requiring that such informa-14
tion be submitted with such a request. 15
‘‘(iv) L
IMITATION ON SUBSEQUENT 16
WRITTEN NOTICE.—If a written notice pro-17
vided by a State or local government or in-18
strumentality thereof to a requesting party 19
under clause (ii) with respect to a supple-20
mental submission identifies as not having 21
been submitted any information that was 22
not identified as not having been submitted 23
in the prior written notice under this sub-24
paragraph in response to which the supple-25
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mental submission was submitted, the sub-1
sequent written notice shall be treated as 2
not having been provided to the requesting 3
party. 4
‘‘(E) T
OLLING BY MUTUAL AGREEMENT .— 5
The timeframe under subparagraph (A) may be 6
tolled by mutual agreement between the State 7
or local government or instrumentality thereof 8
and the requesting party. 9
‘‘(3) D
EEMED GRANTED.— 10
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a State or local 11
government or instrumentality thereof has nei-12
ther granted nor denied a request within the 13
applicable timeframe under paragraph (2), the 14
request shall be deemed granted on the date on 15
which the government or instrumentality re-16
ceives a written notice of the failure to grant or 17
deny from the requesting party. 18
‘‘(B) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—In the 19
case of a request that is deemed granted under 20
subparagraph (A), the placement, construction, 21
or modification requested in such request shall 22
be considered to be authorized, without any fur-23
ther action by the government or instrumen-24
tality, beginning on the date on which such re-25
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quest is deemed granted under such subpara-1
graph. 2
‘‘(4) W
RITTEN DECISION AND RECORD .—A de-3
cision by a State or local government or instrumen-4
tality thereof to deny a request to place, construct, 5
or modify a telecommunications service facility shall 6
be— 7
‘‘(A) in writing; 8
‘‘(B) supported by substantial evidence 9
contained in a written record; and 10
‘‘(C) publicly released, and provided to the 11
requesting party, on the same day such decision 12
is made. 13
‘‘(5) F
EES.— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—To the extent per-15
mitted by law, a State or local government or 16
instrumentality thereof may charge a fee that 17
meets the requirements under subparagraph 18
(B)— 19
‘‘(i) to consider a request for author-20
ization to place, construct, or modify a 21
telecommunications service facility; or 22
‘‘(ii) for use of a right-of-way or a fa-23
cility in a right-of-way owned or managed 24
by the government or instrumentality for 25
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the placement, construction, or modifica-1
tion of a telecommunications service facil-2
ity. 3
‘‘(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—A fee charged 4
under subparagraph (A) shall be— 5
‘‘(i) competitively neutral, technology 6
neutral, and nondiscriminatory; 7
‘‘(ii) established in advance and pub-8
licly disclosed; 9
‘‘(iii) calculated— 10
‘‘(I) based on actual and direct 11
costs for— 12
‘‘(aa) review and processing 13
of requests; and 14
‘‘(bb) repairs and replace-15
ment of— 16
‘‘(AA) components and 17
materials directly resulting 18
from and affected by the 19
placement, construction, or 20
modification (including the 21
installation or improvement) 22
of telecommunications serv-23
ice facilities; or 24
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‘‘(BB) equipment that 1
facilitates the placement, 2
construction, or modification 3
(including the installation or 4
improvement) of such facili-5
ties; and 6
‘‘(II) using, for purposes of sub-7
clause (I), only costs that are objec-8
tively reasonable; and 9
‘‘(iv) described to a requesting party 10
in a manner that distinguishes between— 11
‘‘(I) nonrecurring fees and recur-12
ring fees; and 13
‘‘(II) the use of facilities on 14
which telecommunications service fa-15
cilities or infrastructure for compat-16
ible uses are already located and fa-17
cilities on which there are no tele-18
communications service facilities or 19
infrastructure for compatible uses as 20
of the date on which the request is 21
submitted by the requesting party to 22
the government or instrumentality. 23
‘‘(c) J
UDICIALREVIEW.— 24
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person adversely affected 1
by a State or local statute, regulation, or other legal 2
requirement, or by a final action or failure to act by 3
a State or local government or instrumentality there-4
of, that is inconsistent with this section may com-5
mence an action in any court of competent jurisdic-6
tion. 7
‘‘(2) T
IMING.— 8
‘‘(A) E
XPEDITED BASIS.—A court shall 9
hear and decide an action commenced under 10
paragraph (1) on an expedited basis. 11
‘‘(B) F
INAL ACTION OR FAILURE TO 12
ACT.—An action may only be commenced under 13
paragraph (1) on the basis of a final action or 14
failure to act by a State or local government or 15
instrumentality thereof, if commenced not later 16
than 30 days after such action or failure to act. 17
‘‘(d) P
RESERVATION OF STATEREGULATORYAU-18
THORITY.—Nothing in this section shall affect the ability 19
of a State to impose, on a competitively neutral and non-20
discriminatory basis and consistent with section 254, re-21
quirements necessary to preserve and advance universal 22
service, protect the public safety and welfare, ensure the 23
continued quality of telecommunications services, and 24
safeguard the rights of consumers. 25
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‘‘(e) PRESERVATION OFSTATE ANDLOCALGOVERN-1
MENTAUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section affects the 2
authority of a State or local government or instrumen-3
tality thereof to manage, on a competitively neutral and 4
nondiscriminatory basis, the public rights-of-way or to re-5
quire, on a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory 6
basis, fair and reasonable compensation from tele-7
communications providers for use of public rights-of-way, 8
if the compensation required meets the requirements of 9
subsection (b)(5). 10
‘‘(f) P
REEMPTION.— 11
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—If, after notice and an op-12
portunity for public comment, the Commission deter-13
mines that a State or local government or instru-14
mentality thereof has permitted or imposed a stat-15
ute, regulation, or legal requirement that violates or 16
is inconsistent with this section, the Commission 17
shall preempt the enforcement of such statute, regu-18
lation, or legal requirement to the extent necessary 19
to correct such violation or inconsistency. 20
‘‘(2) T
IMING.—Not later than 120 days after 21
receiving a petition for preemption of the enforce-22
ment of a statute, regulation, or legal requirement 23
as described in paragraph (1), the Commission shall 24
grant or deny the petition. 25
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‘‘(g) COMMERCIALMOBILESERVICEPROVIDERS; 1
C
ABLEOPERATORS.—Nothing in this section shall affect 2
the application of section 332(c)(3) to commercial mobile 3
service providers or section 621 to cable operators. 4
‘‘(h) R
URALMARKETS.—It shall not be a violation 5
of this section for a State to require a telecommunications 6
carrier that seeks to provide telephone exchange service 7
or exchange access in a service area served by a rural tele-8
phone company to meet the requirements in section 9
214(e)(1) for designation as an eligible telecommuni-10
cations carrier for that area before being permitted to pro-11
vide such service. This subsection shall not apply— 12
‘‘(1) to a service area served by a rural tele-13
phone company that has obtained an exemption, sus-14
pension, or modification of section 251(c)(4) that ef-15
fectively prevents a competitor from meeting the re-16
quirements of section 214(e)(1); and 17
‘‘(2) to a provider of commercial mobile serv-18
ices. 19
‘‘(i) W
HENREQUESTCONSIDEREDSUBMITTED.— 20
For the purposes of this section, a request to a State or 21
local government or instrumentality thereof shall be con-22
sidered submitted on the date on which the requesting 23
party takes the first procedural step within the control of 24
the requesting party— 25
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‘‘(1) to submit such request in accordance with 1
the procedures established by the government or in-2
strumentality for the review and approval of such a 3
request; or 4
‘‘(2) in the case of a government or instrumen-5
tality that has not established specific procedures for 6
the review and approval of such a request, to submit 7
to the government or instrumentality the type of fil-8
ing that is typically required to initiate a standard 9
review for a similar facility or structure. 10
‘‘(j) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 11
‘‘(1) E
LIGIBLE SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE .— 12
The term ‘eligible support infrastructure’ means in-13
frastructure that supports or houses a telecommuni-14
cations service facility (or that is designed for or ca-15
pable of supporting or housing such a facility) at the 16
time when a request to a State or local government 17
or instrumentality thereof for authorization to place, 18
construct, or modify a telecommunications service 19
facility in or on the infrastructure is submitted by 20
the requesting party to the government or instru-21
mentality. 22
‘‘(2) T
ELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE FACIL -23
ITY.—The term ‘telecommunications service facil-24
ity’— 25
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‘‘(A) means a facility that is designed or 1
used to provide or facilitate the provision of any 2
interstate or intrastate telecommunications 3
service; and 4
‘‘(B) includes a facility described in sub-5
paragraph (A) that is used to provide other 6
services.’’. 7
Æ
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