II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 866
To require executive agencies to take steps to better meet the statutory
deadline for processing communications use applications, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH5, 2025
Mr. T
HUNE(for himself, Mr. LUJA´N, and Mr. BARRASSO) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To require executive agencies to take steps to better meet
the statutory deadline for processing communications use
applications, 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 ‘‘Accelerating 4
Broadband Permits Act’’. 5
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•S 866 IS
SEC. 2. TRACKING AND IMPROVING PROCESSING TIMES 1
FOR COMMUNICATIONS USE APPLICATIONS. 2
Section 6409(b)(3) of the Middle Class Tax Relief 3
and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(3)) is 4
amended by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(E) T
RACKING AND IMPROVING PROC -6
ESSING TIMES.— 7
‘‘(i) D
ATA CONTROLS.—An executive 8
agency shall develop controls to ensure 9
that data is sufficiently accurate and com-10
plete to track the processing time for each 11
application described in subparagraph (A). 12
‘‘(ii) R
EQUIREMENT TO ANALYZE , AD-13
DRESS, AND REPORT ON DELAY FAC -14
TORS.—With respect to the factors that 15
contribute to delays in processing applica-16
tions described in subparagraph (A), an 17
executive agency shall— 18
‘‘(I) analyze the factors as the 19
delays are occurring; 20
‘‘(II) take actions to address the 21
factors; and 22
‘‘(III) provide an annual report 23
on the factors to— 24
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•S 866 IS
‘‘(aa) the Committee on 1
Commerce, Science, and Trans-2
portation of the Senate; 3
‘‘(bb) the Committee on En-4
ergy and Natural Resources of 5
the Senate; 6
‘‘(cc) the Committee on En-7
ergy and Commerce of the House 8
of Representatives; 9
‘‘(dd) the Committee on 10
Natural Resources of the House 11
of Representatives; and 12
‘‘(ee) each committee of 13
Congress with jurisdiction over 14
the executive agency. 15
‘‘(iii) M
ETHOD FOR ALERTING STAFF 16
TO AT-RISK APPLICATIONS.—An executive 17
agency shall establish a method to alert 18
employees of the executive agency to any 19
application described in subparagraph (A) 20
with respect to which the executive agency 21
is at risk of failing to meet the 270-day 22
deadline under that subparagraph.’’. 23
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•S 866 IS
SEC. 3. MINIMUM BROADBAND PROJECT COST. 1
Section 41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 2
4370m(6)(A)) is amended— 3
(1) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 4
(2) by redesignating clause (iv) as clause (v); 5
and 6
(3) by inserting after clause (iii) the following: 7
‘‘(iv)(I) is subject to NEPA; 8
‘‘(II) involves the construction of in-9
frastructure for broadband; and 10
‘‘(III) is likely to require a total in-11
vestment of more than $5,000,000; or’’. 12
Æ
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