I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7334 

To streamline the process for consideration of applications for the placement 

of communications facilities on certain Federal lands. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2020 

Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To streamline the process for consideration of applications 

for the placement of communications facilities on certain 

Federal lands. 

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 ‘‘Broadband Deploy5 ment Streamlining Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STREAMLINING DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

7 PROCESSES FOR CONSIDERATION OF COM8 MUNICATIONS FACILITY LOCATION APPLICA9 TIONS. 

10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 


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1 (1) COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY.—The term 

2 ‘‘communications facility’’ includes— 

3 (A) any infrastructure, including any 

4 transmitting device, tower, or support structure, 

5 and any equipment, switches, wiring, cabling, 

6 power sources, shelters, or cabinets, associated 

7 with the licensed or permitted unlicensed wire8 less or wireline transmission of writings, signs, 

9 signals, data, images, pictures, and sounds of 

10 all kinds; and 

11 (B) any antenna or apparatus that— 

12 (i) is designed for the purpose of 

13 emitting radio frequency; 

14 (ii) is designed to be operated, or is 

15 operating, from a fixed location pursuant 

16 to authorization by the Commission or is 

17 using duly authorized devices that do not 

18 require individual licenses; and 

19 (iii) is added to a tower, building, or 

20 other structure. 

21 (2) COMMUNICATIONS SITE.—The term ‘‘com22 munications site’’ means an area of covered land 

23 designated for communications uses. 


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1 (3) COMMUNICATIONS USE.—The term ‘‘com2 munications use’’ means the placement and oper3 ation of a communications facility. 

4 (4) COMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZATION.— 

5 The term ‘‘communications use authorization’’ 

6 means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or 

7 other authorization to locate or modify a commu8 nications facility on covered land by the Department 

9 for the primary purpose of authorizing the occu10 pancy and use of the covered land for communica11 tions use. 

12 (5) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 

13 means public land administered by the Secretary of 

14 the Interior. 

15 (6) ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT.—The term ‘‘orga16 nizational unit’’ means with respect to public land 

17 administered by the Secretary of the Interior— 

18 (A) a State office; 

19 (B) a district office; or 

20 (C) a field office. 

21 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to public 

23 land. 


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

2 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue 

3 regulations— 

4 (1) to streamline the process for considering ap5 plications to locate or modify communications facili6 ties on covered land of the Department of the Inte7 rior; 

8 (2) to ensure, to the maximum extent prac9 ticable, that the process is uniform and standardized 

10 across the organizational units of the Department of 

11 the Interior; 

12 (3) to require that the applications described in 

13 paragraph (1) be considered and granted on a com14 petitively neutral, technology neutral, and non-dis15 criminatory basis; 

16 (4) to ensure, to the maximum extent prac17 ticable, that any analyses required under the Na18 tional Environmental Policy Act or National Historic 

19 Preservation Act may be completed concurrently; 

20 (5) to allow for the use of categorical exclusions 

21 funded the National Environmental Policy Act from 

22 another department or agency for covered land of 

23 the Department of the Interior; 

24 (6) to revise land use designations for covered 

25 land of the Department of the Interior; 


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1 (7) to provide that discrete reviews in consid2 ering an application described in paragraph (1) shall 

3 be conducted simultaneously to the maximum extent 

4 practicable, rather than sequentially, by any organi5 zational units of the Department of the Interior that 

6 must approve the location or modification; and 

7 (8) to eliminate overlapping requirements 

8 among the organizational units of the Department of 

9 the Interior with respect to the location or modifica10 tion of a communications facility on covered land ad11 ministered by those organizational units. 

12 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations issued under 

13 subsection (b) shall include the following: 

14 (1) Procedures for the tracking of applications 

15 described in subsection (b)(1), including— 

16 (A) identifying the number of applica17 tions— 

18 (i) received; 

19 (ii) approved; and 

20 (iii) denied; 

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

22 denied, describing the reasons for the denial; 

23 and 


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1 (C) describing the amount of time between 

2 the receipt of an application and the issuance of 

3 a final decision on an application. 

4 (2) Provision for minimum lease terms of not 

5 less than 15 years for leases with respect to the loca6 tion of communications facilities on covered land. 

7 (3) A policy under which a communications use 

8 authorization renews automatically on expiration, 

9 unless the communications use authorization is re10 voked for good cause. 

11 (4) A structure of fees for— 

12 (A) submitting an application described in 

13 subsection (b)(1), based on the cost to the De14 partment of the Interior of considering such an 

15 application; and 

16 (B) issuing communications use authoriza17 tions, based on the cost to the Department of 

18 the Interior of any maintenance or other activi19 ties required to be performed by the Depart20 ment of the Interior as a result of the location 

21 or modification of the communications facility. 

22 (d) COMMUNICATION OF STREAMLINED PROCESS TO

23 ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS.—The Secretary shall, with re24 spect to the regulations issued under subsection (b)— 


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1 (1) communicate the regulations to the organi2 zational units of the Department of the Interior; and 

3 (2) ensure that the organizational units of the 

4 Department of the Interior follow the regulations. 

5 (e) DEPOSIT AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.— 

6 (1) SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—The Secretary of the 

7 Treasury shall establish a special account in the 

8 Treasury for the Department of the Interior for the 

9 deposit of fees collected by the Department under 

10 subsection (c)(4) for communications use authoriza11 tions on covered land granted, issued, or executed by 

12 the Department of the Interior. 

13 (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR FEES COLLECTED.— 

14 Fees collected by the Department of the Interior 

15 under subsection (c)(4) shall be— 

16 (A) based on the costs described in sub17 section (c)(4); and 

18 (B) competitively neutral, technology neu19 tral, and nondiscriminatory with respect to 

20 other users of the communications site. 

21 (3) DEPOSIT OF FEES.—Fees collected by the 

22 Department of the Interior under subsection (c)(4) 

23 shall be deposited in the special account established 

24 for that Department under paragraph (1). 


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1 (4) AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—Amounts depos2 ited in the special account for a Department of the 

3 Interior shall be available, to the extent and in such 

4 amounts as are provided in advance in appropriation 

5 Acts, to the Secretary to cover costs incurred by the 

6 Department of the Interior described in subsection 

7 (c)(4), including the following: 

8 (A) Preparing needs assessments or other 

9 programmatic analyses necessary to designate 

10 communications sites and issue communications 

11 use authorizations. 

12 (B) Developing management plans for 

13 communications sites. 

14 (C) Training for management of commu15 nications sites. 

16 (D) Obtaining or improving access to com17 munications sites. 

18 (5) NO ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS AUTHOR19 IZED.—Except as provided in paragraph (4), no 

20 other amounts are authorized to be appropriated to 

21 carry out this section. 

Æ 


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