II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1363 

To streamline the process for broadband facility location applications on 

Federal land, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 15, 2017 

Mr. HELLER (for himself and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To streamline the process for broadband facility location 

applications on Federal land, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Broadband De5 ployment Streamlining Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STREAMLINING THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTE7 RIOR AND THE FOREST SERVICE PROCESS 

8 FOR BROADBAND FACILITY LOCATION APPLI9 CATIONS. 

10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) BROADBAND FACILITY.—The term 

2 ‘‘broadband facility’’ means any communications 

3 plant, equipment, supplies, cable, wire, box, device, 

4 meter, tower, pole, duct, conduit, or other facility re5 lated to the provision of advanced telecommuni6 cations capability (as defined in section 706 of the 

7 Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302)). 

8 (2) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 

9 means— 

10 (A) public land administered by the Sec11 retary of the Interior; and 

12 (B) National Forest System land adminis13 tered by the Secretary of Agriculture. 

14 (3) DEPARTMENT CONCERNED.—The term 

15 ‘‘Department concerned’’ means the Department of 

16 which the Secretary concerned is the head. 

17 (4) ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT.—The term ‘‘orga18 nizational unit’’ means— 

19 (A) within the Bureau of Land Manage20 ment— 

21 (i) a State office; 

22 (ii) a district office; or 

23 (iii) a field office; and 

24 (B) within the Forest Service— 

25 (i) a regional office; 


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1 (ii) the headquarters; 

2 (iii) a management unit; or 

3 (iv) a ranger district office. 

4 (5) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec5 retary concerned’’ means— 

6 (A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re7 spect to public land; and 

8 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re9 spect to National Forest System land. 

10 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned 

12 shall issue regulations— 

13 (1) to streamline the process for considering ap14 plications to locate or modify broadband facilities on 

15 covered land administered by the Secretary con16 cerned; 

17 (2) to ensure, to the maximum extent prac18 ticable, that the process is uniform and standardized 

19 across the organizational units of the Department 

20 concerned; and 

21 (3) to require that the applications described in 

22 paragraph (1) be considered and granted on a com23 petitively and technologically neutral, non-discrimi24 natory basis. 


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1 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations issued under 

2 subsection (b) shall include— 

3 (1) procedures that require the tracking of ap4 plications described in subsection (b)(1), including— 

5 (A) identifying the number of applica6 tions— 

7 (i) received; 

8 (ii) approved; and 

9 (iii) denied; 

10 (B) in the case of an application that is 

11 denied, describing the reasons for the denial; 

12 and 

13 (C) describing the amount of time between 

14 the receipt of an application and the issuance of 

15 a final decision on an application; 

16 (2) minimum terms of not less than 5 years for 

17 leases with respect to the location of broadband fa18 cilities on covered land; 

19 (3) a policy under which an easement, license, 

20 or other authorization to locate a broadband facility 

21 on covered land renews automatically on expiration, 

22 unless the authorization is revoked for good cause; 

23 and 

24 (4) fees for— 


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1 (A) submitting an application described in 

2 subsection (b)(1), based on the cost to the De3 partment concerned of considering such an ap4 plication; and 

5 (B) granting an easement, license, or other 

6 authorization to locate or modify a broadband 

7 facility on covered land, based on the cost to 

8 the Department concerned of any maintenance 

9 or other activities required to be performed by 

10 the Department concerned as a result of the lo11 cation or modification of the facility. 

12 (d) ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.—In issuing regu13 lations under subsection (b), the Secretary concerned shall 

14 consider— 

15 (1) how discrete reviews in considering an ap16 plication described in subsection (b)(1) can be con17 ducted simultaneously, rather than sequentially, by 

18 the organizational units of the Department con19 cerned that must approve the location or modifica20 tion; and 

21 (2) how to eliminate overlapping requirements 

22 among the organizational units of the Department 

23 concerned with respect to the location or modifica24 tion of a broadband facility on covered land adminis25 tered by those organizational units. 


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1 (e) COMMUNICATION OF STREAMLINED PROCESS TO

2 ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS.—The Secretary concerned 

3 shall, with respect to the regulations issued under sub4 section (b)— 

5 (1) communicate the regulations to the organi6 zational units of the Department concerned; and 

7 (2) ensure that the organizational units of the 

8 Department concerned follow the regulations. 

9 SEC. 3. COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES DEPLOYMENT ON 

10 FEDERAL PROPERTY. 

11 Section 6409(b) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and 

12 Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)) is amended 

13 by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(5) TIMELY CONSIDERATION OF APPLICA15 TIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 

17 days after the date on which an executive agen18 cy receives a duly filed application for an ease19 ment or right-of-way under this subsection, the 

20 executive agency shall— 

21 ‘‘(i) grant or deny, on behalf of the 

22 Federal Government, the application; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) notify the applicant of the grant 

24 or denial. 


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1 ‘‘(B) EXPLANATION OF DENIAL.—If an ex2 ecutive agency denies an application under sub3 paragraph (A), the executive agency shall notify 

4 the applicant in writing, including a clear state5 ment of the reasons for the denial. 

6 ‘‘(C) DEEMED GRANTED.—If an executive 

7 agency does not grant or deny a duly filed ap8 plication under subparagraph (A) by the dead9 line set forth in that subparagraph, the execu10 tive agency shall be deemed to have granted the 

11 application. 

12 ‘‘(D) APPLICABILITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL

13 LAWS.—Nothing in this paragraph shall be con14 strued to relieve an executive agency of the re15 quirements of division A of subtitle III of title 

16 54, United States Code, or the National Envi17 ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 

18 et seq.). 

19 ‘‘(E) POINT OF CONTACT.—Upon receiving 

20 an application under subparagraph (A), an ex21 ecutive agency shall designate one or more ap22 propriate individuals within the executive agen23 cy to act as a point of contact with the appli24 cant.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. GAO REPORT. 

2 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘National 

3 Broadband Map’’ means the map established by the Na4 tional Telecommunications and Information Administra5 tion under section 6001(l) of the American Recovery and 

6 Reinvestment Act of 2009 (47 U.S.C. 1305(l)). 

7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

8 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

9 United States shall submit to Congress a report evalu10 ating— 

11 (1) how the Federal Communications Commis12 sion ensures that the broadband data collected for 

13 the National Broadband Map is accurate, complete, 

14 and reliable, including— 

15 (A) the source of the data; and 

16 (B) whether data may be available from al17 ternative commercial sources; 

18 (2) the extent to which Federal agencies or 

19 other entities authorized to distribute Federal grants 

20 or loans for broadband projects rely on data from 

21 the National Broadband Map to— 

22 (A) award grants or loans for broadband 

23 projects; or 

24 (B) determine whether Federal Govern25 ment funds will be used to deploy broadband in 


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1 areas already served by private broadband pro2 viders; 

3 (3) the actions the Federal Communications 

4 Commission has taken or plans to take to address 

5 the limitations, if any, in using data from the Na6 tional Broadband Map for policy or funding deci7 sions; 

8 (4) the extent to which interested parties have 

9 challenged the accuracy of information on the Na10 tional Broadband Map, including how the challenges 

11 were resolved; and 

12 (5) whether the Federal Communications Com13 mission should collect data for the National 

14 Broadband Map from additional or alternative com15 mercial sources. 

Æ 


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