I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4847 

To streamline the process for consideration of applications for the placement 

of communications facilities on certain Federal lands, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 19, 2018 

Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana (for herself and Ms. MATSUI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy and Commerce, 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 streamline the process for consideration of applications 

for the placement of communications facilities on certain 

Federal lands, 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 ‘‘Broadband Deploy5 ment Streamlining Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STREAMLINING THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTE2 RIOR AND THE FOREST SERVICE PROCESS 

3 FOR CONSIDERATION OF COMMUNICATIONS 

4 FACILITY LOCATION APPLICATIONS. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY.—The term 

7 ‘‘communications facility’’ includes— 

8 (A) any infrastructure, including any 

9 transmitting device, tower, or support structure, 

10 and any equipment, switches, wiring, cabling, 

11 power sources, shelters, or cabinets, associated 

12 with the licensed or permitted unlicensed wire13 less or wireline transmission of writings, signs, 

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

15 all kinds; and 

16 (B) any antenna or apparatus that— 

17 (i) is designed for the purpose of 

18 emitting radio frequency; 

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

20 operating, from a fixed location pursuant 

21 to authorization by the Federal Commu22 nications Commission or is using duly au23 thorized devices that do not require indi24 vidual licenses; and 

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

26 other structure. 


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1 (2) COMMUNICATIONS SITE.—The term ‘‘com2 munications site’’ means an area of covered land 

3 designated for communications uses. 

4 (3) COMMUNICATIONS USE.—The term ‘‘com5 munications use’’ means the placement and oper6 ation of communications facility. 

7 (4) COMMUNICATIONS USE AUTHORIZATION.— 

8 The term ‘‘communications use authorization’’ 

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

10 other authorization to locate or modify a commu11 nications facility on covered land by the Department 

12 concerned for the primary purpose of authorizing 

13 the occupancy and use of the covered land for com14 munications use. 

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

16 means— 

17 (A) public land administered by the Sec18 retary of the Interior; and 

19 (B) National Forest System land. 

20 (6) DEPARTMENT CONCERNED.—The term 

21 ‘‘Department concerned’’ means the Department of 

22 the Interior or the Department of Agriculture. 

23 (7) ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT.—The term ‘‘orga24 nizational unit’’ means— 


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1 (A) with respect to public land adminis2 tered by the Secretary of the Interior— 

3 (i) a State office; 

4 (ii) a district office; or 

5 (iii) a field office; and 

6 (B) within the Forest Service— 

7 (i) a regional office; 

8 (ii) the headquarters; 

9 (iii) a management unit; or 

10 (iv) a ranger district office. 

11 (8) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec12 retary concerned’’ means— 

13 (A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re14 spect to public land; and 

15 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re16 spect to National Forest System land. 

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

18 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned 

19 shall issue regulations— 

20 (1) to streamline the process for considering ap21 plications to locate or modify communications facili22 ties on covered land of the Department concerned; 

23 (2) to ensure, to the maximum extent prac24 ticable, that the process is uniform and standardized 


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1 across the organizational units of the Department 

2 concerned; and 

3 (3) to require that the applications described in 

4 paragraph (1) be considered and granted on a com5 petitively neutral, technology neutral, and non-dis6 criminatory basis. 

7 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations issued under 

8 subsection (b) shall include the following: 

9 (1) Procedures for the tracking of applications 

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

11 (A) identifying the number of applica12 tions— 

13 (i) received; 

14 (ii) approved; and 

15 (iii) denied; 

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

17 denied, describing the reasons for the denial; 

18 and 

19 (C) describing the amount of time between 

20 the receipt of an application and the issuance of 

21 a final decision on an application. 

22 (2) Provision for minimum lease terms of not 

23 less than five years for leases with respect to the lo24 cation of communications facilities on covered land. 


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1 (3) A policy under which a communications use 

2 authorization renews automatically on expiration, 

3 unless the communications use authorization is re4 voked for good cause; and 

5 (4) A structure of fees for— 

6 (A) submitting an application described in 

7 subsection (b)(1), based on the cost to the De8 partment concerned of considering such an ap9 plication; and 

10 (B) issuing communications use authoriza11 tions, based on the cost to the Department con12 cerned of any maintenance or other activities 

13 required to be performed by the Department 

14 concerned as a result of the location or modi15 fication of the communications facility. 

16 (d) ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.—In issuing regu17 lations under subsection (b), the Secretary concerned shall 

18 consider— 

19 (1) how discrete reviews in considering an ap20 plication described in subsection (b)(1) can be con21 ducted simultaneously, rather than sequentially, by 

22 any organizational units of the Department con23 cerned that must approve the location or modifica24 tion; and 


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1 (2) how to eliminate overlapping requirements 

2 among the organizational units of the Department 

3 concerned with respect to the location or modifica4 tion of a communications facility on covered land ad5 ministered by those organizational units. 

6 (e) COMMUNICATION OF STREAMLINED PROCESS TO

7 ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS.—The Secretary concerned 

8 shall, with respect to the regulations issued under sub9 section (b)— 

10 (1) communicate the regulations to the organi11 zational units of the Department concerned; and 

12 (2) ensure that the organizational units of the 

13 Department concerned follow the regulations. 

14 (f) DEPOSIT AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.— 

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

16 Treasury shall establish a special account in the 

17 Treasury for each Department concerned for the de18 posit of fees collected by the Department concerned 

19 under subsection (c)(4) for communications use au20 thorizations on covered land granted, issued, or exe21 cuted by the Department concerned. 

22 (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR FEES COLLECTED.— 

23 Fees collected by the Department concerned under 

24 subsection (c)(4) shall be— 


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1 (A) based on the costs described in sub2 section (c)(4); and 

3 (B) competitively neutral, technology neu4 tral, and nondiscriminatory with respect to 

5 other users of the communications site. 

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

7 Department concerned under subsection (c)(4) shall 

8 be deposited in the special account established for 

9 that Department concerned under paragraph (1). 

10 (4) AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—Amounts depos11 ited in the special account for a Department con12 cerned shall be available, to the extent and in such 

13 amounts as are provided in advance in appropriation 

14 Acts, to the Secretary concerned to cover costs in15 curred by the Department concerned described in 

16 subsection (c)(4), including the following: 

17 (A) Preparing needs assessments or other 

18 programmatic analyses necessary to designate 

19 communications sites and issue communications 

20 use authorizations. 

21 (B) Developing management plans for 

22 communications sites. 

23 (C) Training for management of commu24 nications sites. 


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1 (D) Obtaining or improving access to com2 munications sites. 

3 (5) NO ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS AUTHOR4 IZED.—Except as provided in paragraph (4), no 

5 other amounts are authorized to be appropriated to 

6 carry out this section. 

7 SEC. 3. WIRELESS FACILITIES DEPLOYMENT ON FEDERAL 

8 PROPERTY. 

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

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

11 by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(5) TIMELY CONSIDERATION OF APPLICA13 TIONS.— 

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

15 days after the date on which an executive agen16 cy receives a duly filed application for an ease17 ment or right-of-way under this subsection, the 

18 executive agency shall— 

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

20 Federal Government, the application; and 

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

22 or denial. 

23 ‘‘(B) EXPLANATION OF DENIAL.—If an ex24 ecutive agency denies an application under sub25 paragraph (A), the executive agency shall notify 


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1 the applicant in writing, including a clear state2 ment of the reasons for the denial. 

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

4 agency does not grant or deny a duly filed ap5 plication under subparagraph (A) by the dead6 line set forth in such subparagraph, the execu7 tive agency shall be deemed to have granted the 

8 application. 

9 ‘‘(D) APPLICABILITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL

10 LAWS.—Nothing in this paragraph shall be con11 strued to relieve an executive agency of the re12 quirements of division A of subtitle III of title 

13 54, United States Code, or the National Envi14 ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 

15 et seq.). 

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

17 an application under subparagraph (A), an ex18 ecutive agency shall designate one or more ap19 propriate individuals within the executive agen20 cy to act as a point of contact with the appli21 cant. 

22 ‘‘(F) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—An appli23 cation shall not be considered duly filed for pur24 poses of this paragraph unless the application is 

25 complete.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. GAO REPORT. 

2 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

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

4 the United States shall submit to Congress a report evalu5 ating— 

6 (1) how the Federal Communications Commis7 sion ensures that the broadband data collected for 

8 the National Broadband Map is accurate, complete, 

9 and reliable, including— 

10 (A) the source of the data; and 

11 (B) whether data may be available from al12 ternative commercial sources; 

13 (2) the extent to which Federal agencies or 

14 other entities authorized to distribute Federal grants 

15 or loans for broadband projects rely on data from 

16 the National Broadband Map to— 

17 (A) award grants or loans for broadband 

18 projects; or 

19 (B) determine whether Federal Govern20 ment funds will be used to deploy broadband in 

21 areas already served by private broadband pro22 viders; 

23 (3) the actions the Federal Communications 

24 Commission has taken or plans to take to address 

25 the limitations, if any, in using data from the NaVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Jan 21, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4847.IH H4847

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1 tional Broadband Map for policy or funding deci2 sions; 

3 (4) the extent to which interested parties have 

4 challenged the accuracy of information on the Na5 tional Broadband Map, including how the challenges 

6 were resolved; and 

7 (5) whether the Federal Communications Com8 mission should collect data for the National 

9 Broadband Map from additional or alternative com10 mercial sources. 

11 (b) NATIONAL BROADBAND MAP DEFINED.—In this 

12 section, the term ‘‘National Broadband Map’’ means the 

13 map established by the National Telecommunications and 

14 Information Administration under section 6001(l) of the 

15 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (47 

16 U.S.C. 1305(l)). 

Æ 


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