I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1148 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve cable franchising 

authority, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 18, 2021 

Mr. LONG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve 

cable franchising authority, 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 ‘‘Cable Access for 

5 Broadband and Local Economic Leadership Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘CABLE Leadership Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. REQUEST FOR NEW FRANCHISE. 

8 Section 621 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

9 U.S.C. 541) is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(g) TIMING OF DECISION ON REQUEST FOR FRAN2 CHISE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

4 after the date on which a franchising authority re5 ceives a complete request for the grant of a fran6 chise (other than a renewal thereof), the franchising 

7 authority shall approve or deny such request. 

8 ‘‘(2) DEEMED GRANT OF NEW FRANCHISE.—If 

9 the franchising authority does not approve or deny 

10 a request under paragraph (1) by the day after the 

11 date on which the time period ends under such para12 graph, such request shall be deemed granted on such 

13 day. 

14 ‘‘(3) APPLICABILITY.—Notwithstanding any 

15 provision of this title, the timeframe under para16 graph (1) shall apply collectively to all proceedings 

17 required by a franchising authority for the approval 

18 of the request. 

19 ‘‘(4) NO TOLLING.—A timeframe under para20 graph (1) may not be tolled by any moratorium, 

21 whether express or de facto, imposed by a fran22 chising authority on the consideration of any request 

23 for a franchise. 


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1 ‘‘(5) WRITTEN DECISION AND RECORD.—Any 

2 decision by a franchising authority to deny a com3 plete request for a franchise shall be— 

4 ‘‘(A) in writing; 

5 ‘‘(B) supported by substantial evidence 

6 contained in a written record; and 

7 ‘‘(C) publicly released, contemporaneously 

8 with the decision. 

9 ‘‘(6) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COMPLETE; 

10 RECEIVED.— 

11 ‘‘(A) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COM12 PLETE.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes 

14 of this subsection, a request to a fran15 chising authority shall be considered com16 plete if the requesting party has not re17 ceived a written notice from the fran18 chising authority within 10 business days 

19 after the date on which the request is re20 ceived by the franchising authority— 

21 ‘‘(I) stating that all the informa22 tion (including any form or other doc23 ument) required by the franchising 

24 authority to be submitted for the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:19 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1148.IH H1148

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1 quest to be considered complete has 

2 not been submitted; and 

3 ‘‘(II) identifying the information 

4 required to be submitted that was not 

5 submitted. 

6 ‘‘(ii) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, 

7 the term ‘received by the franchising au8 thority’ means— 

9 ‘‘(I) in the case of a request sub10 mitted electronically, on the date on 

11 which the request is transmitted; 

12 ‘‘(II) in the case of a request 

13 submitted in person, on the date on 

14 which the request is delivered to the 

15 individual or at the location specified 

16 by franchising authority for in-person 

17 submission; and 

18 ‘‘(III) in the case of a request 

19 submitted in any other manner, on 

20 the date determined under regulations 

21 promulgated by the Commission for 

22 the manner in which the request is 

23 submitted. 

24 ‘‘(B) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CONSID25 ERED RECEIVED.—For the purposes of this 


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1 subsection, a complete request shall be consid2 ered received on the date on which the request3 ing party submits to the franchising authority 

4 all information (including any form or other 

5 document) required by the franchising authority 

6 to be submitted for the request to be considered 

7 complete.’’. 

Æ 


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