I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7374 

To provide that the deployment of a small personal wireless service facility 

shall not constitute an undertaking under section 300320 of title 54, 

United States Code, or a major Federal action for the purposes of 

section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2020 

Mr. SCALISE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Natural Resources, 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 provide that the deployment of a small personal wireless 

service facility shall not constitute an undertaking under 

section 300320 of title 54, United States Code, or a 

major Federal action for the purposes of section 

102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reducing Antiquated 

3 Permitting for Infrastructure Deployment Act’’ or the 

4 ‘‘RAPID Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION ON SHOT CLOCK 

6 TIMELINE BEGINNING FOR PURPOSES OF 

7 NHPA. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE.—The term 

10 ‘‘personal wireless service’’ means— 

11 (A) commercial mobile service (as defined 

12 in section 332(d) of the Communications Act of 

13 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d))); 

14 (B) commercial mobile data service (as de15 fined in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax 

16 Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 

17 1401)); 

18 (C) unlicensed wireless service; and 

19 (D) common carrier wireless exchange ac20 cess service. 

21 (2) PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY.— 

22 The term ‘‘personal wireless service facility’’ means 

23 a facility for the provision of personal wireless serv24 ice. 


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1 (3) SMALL PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FA2 CILITY.—The term ‘‘small personal wireless service 

3 facility’’— 

4 (A) means a personal wireless service facil5 ity in which each antenna is not more than 3 

6 cubic feet in volume; and 

7 (B) does not include a wireline backhaul 

8 facility. 

9 (4) WIRELINE BACKHAUL FACILITY.—The term 

10 ‘‘wireline backhaul facility’’ means an above-ground 

11 or underground wireline facility used to transport 

12 communications service or other electronic commu13 nications from a small personal wireless service facil14 ity or its adjacent network interface device to a com15 munications network. 

16 (b) IN GENERAL.—The deployment of a small per17 sonal wireless service facility shall not constitute an under18 taking under section 300320 of title 54, United States 

19 Code, or a major Federal action for the purposes of sec20 tion 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act 

21 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 

22 (c) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—If an Indian Tribe or Native 

24 Hawaiian Organization is shown to have received a 

25 complete Form 620 or Form 621 (or any successor 


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1 form), or can be reasonably expected to have re2 ceived a complete Form 620 or Form 621 (or any 

3 successor form), and has not acted on a complete re4 quest contained in the form within 45 days after 

5 such receipt— 

6 (A) the Commission and a court of com7 petent jurisdiction (as the case may be) shall 

8 presume the applicant has made a good faith 

9 effort to provide the information reasonably 

10 necessary for Indian Tribes and Native Hawai11 ian Organizations to ascertain whether historic 

12 properties of religious and cultural significance 

13 to them may be affected by the undertaking; 

14 and 

15 (B) the Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian 

16 Organization (as the case may be) shall be pre17 sumed to have disclaimed interest in the appli18 cation. 

19 (2) OVERCOMING PRESUMPTION.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—An Indian Tribe or Na21 tive Hawaiian Organization may overcome the 

22 presumption under paragraph (1) upon favor23 ably demonstrating one or more of the factors 

24 to be considered under subparagraph (B). 


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1 (B) FACTORS CONSIDERED.—The review 

2 by the Commission or a court of competent ju3 risdiction under paragraph (1) shall give sub4 stantial weight to— 

5 (i) whether the applicant made a rea6 sonable attempt to follow up with the In7 dian Tribe or Native Hawaiian Organiza8 tion not earlier than 30 days, and not later 

9 than 50 days, after the applicant sub10 mitted a complete Form 620 or Form 621 

11 (as the case may be) to the Indian Tribe 

12 or Native Hawaiian Organization; and 

13 (ii) whether the rules of the Commis14 sion and Form 620 or Form 621 is found 

15 to be in violation of a Nationwide Pro16 grammatic Agreement of the Commission. 

Æ 


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