CABLE Expansion Act

Subjects: Science, Technology, Communications


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3330 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3330

 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve cable franchising 
 authority, provide for faster deployment of cable and other services, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 15, 2023

  Mrs. Lesko 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, provide for faster deployment of cable and other services, 
                        and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Connecting And Building Lines for 
Expedited Expansion Act'' or the ``CABLE Expansion Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUEST REGARDING PLACEMENT, CONSTRUCTION, OR MODIFICATION OF 
              CABLE EQUIPMENT.

    Section 624 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 544) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(j) Request Regarding Placement, Construction, or Modification of 
Facilities.--
            ``(1) No effect on authority of certain entities.--Except 
        as provided in this subsection, nothing in this title shall 
        limit or affect the authority of a covered entity over--
                    ``(A) decisions regarding the placement, 
                construction, or modification of a covered equipment 
                within the jurisdiction of such covered entity; or
                    ``(B) safety standards for the placement, 
                construction, or modification of such a covered 
                equipment.
            ``(2) Limitations.--
                    ``(A) Ability to provide or enhance cable 
                service.--With respect to the regulation by a covered 
                entity of the placement, construction, or modification 
                of a covered equipment, the covered entity shall not 
                prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability 
                of a cable operator to provide, improve, or enhance the 
                provision of service using a covered equipment under a 
                franchise granted by such covered entity, or within the 
                jurisdiction of such covered entity, as so may be the 
                case.
                    ``(B) Timing of decisions on requests for 
                authorizations to place, construct, or modify 
                facility.--
                            ``(i) Timeframe.--A covered entity shall 
                        approve or deny a complete request for 
                        authorization to place, construct, or modify a 
                        covered equipment not later than--
                                    ``(I) if the request is for 
                                authorization to place, construct, or 
                                modify a covered equipment in or on 
                                eligible support infrastructure, 90 
                                days after the date on which the 
                                covered entity receives the request; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) if the request is not for 
                                authorization to place, construct, or 
                                modify a covered equipment in or on 
                                eligible support infrastructure, 150 
                                days after the date on which the 
                                covered entity receives the request.
                            ``(ii) Applicability.--Notwithstanding any 
                        provision of this title, the applicable 
                        timeframe under clause (i) shall apply 
                        collectively to all proceedings required by a 
                        covered entity for the approval of the request.
                            ``(iii) No tolling.--A timeframe under 
                        clause (i) may not be tolled by any moratorium, 
                        whether express or de facto, imposed by the 
                        covered entity on the consideration of any 
                        request for authorization to place, construct, 
                        or modify a covered equipment.
                            ``(iv) Written decision and record.--Any 
                        decision by a covered entity to deny a complete 
                        request for authorization to place, construct, 
                        or modify covered equipment shall be--
                                    ``(I) in writing;
                                    ``(II) supported by substantial 
                                evidence contained in a written record; 
                                and
                                    ``(III) publicly released, and 
                                provided to the requesting party, on 
                                the same day such decision is made.
                            ``(v) Deemed granted.--If a covered entity 
                        fails to grant or deny a complete request by 
                        the applicable deadline under subparagraph 
                        (A)(i), the request shall be deemed granted and 
                        authorized on the date on which the covered 
                        entity receives written notice of the failure 
                        from the requesting party.
            ``(3) When request considered complete; received.--
                    ``(A) When request considered complete.--
                            ``(i) In general.--For the purposes of this 
                        subsection, a request to a covered entity shall 
                        be considered complete if the requesting 
                        party--
                                    ``(I) has taken the first 
                                procedural step within the control of 
                                the requesting party--
                                            ``(aa) that the covered 
                                        entity requires as part of the 
                                        process for reviewing such 
                                        requests; or
                                            ``(bb) to submit the type 
                                        of filing that is typically 
                                        required to initiate a standard 
                                        review for a similar request in 
                                        a jurisdiction that has not 
                                        established specific procedures 
                                        for the relevant review and 
                                        approval of such a request; and
                                    ``(II) has not received a written 
                                notice from the covered entity within 
                                30 days after the date on which the 
                                request is received by the covered 
                                entity--
                                            ``(aa) stating that all the 
                                        information (including any form 
                                        or other document) required by 
                                        the covered entity to be 
                                        submitted for the request to be 
                                        considered complete has not 
                                        been submitted;
                                            ``(bb) identifying 
                                        information required to be 
                                        submitted that was not 
                                        submitted; and
                                            ``(cc) that includes a 
                                        citation to a specific 
                                        provision of a publicly 
                                        available rule, regulation, or 
                                        standard issued by the 
                                        government requiring that the 
                                        information be submitted with 
                                        such a request.
                            ``(ii) Definition.--In this subparagraph, 
                        the term `the date on which the request is 
                        received by the covered entity' means--
                                    ``(I) in the case of a request 
                                submitted electronically, the date on 
                                which the request is transmitted;
                                    ``(II) in the case of a request 
                                submitted in person, the date on which 
                                the request is delivered to the 
                                individual or at the location specified 
                                by the covered entity or in-person 
                                submission; and
                                    ``(III) in the case of a request 
                                submitted in any other manner, the date 
                                determined under regulations 
                                promulgated by the Commission for the 
                                manner in which the request is 
                                submitted.
                    ``(B) When complete request considered received.--
                For the purposes of this subsection, a complete request 
                shall be considered received--
                            ``(i) except as provided in clause (ii), on 
                        the date on which the requesting party submits 
                        to the covered entity all information 
                        (including any form or other document) required 
                        by the covered entity to be submitted for the 
                        request to be considered complete; or
                            ``(ii) in the case of a request with 
                        respect to which all such information is not 
                        submitted and that is considered complete under 
                        subparagraph (A)(i) because the requesting 
                        party has not received a written notice from 
                        the covered entity within the period described 
                        in such subparagraph, on the day after the last 
                        day of such period.
            ``(4) Fees.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A covered entity may charge a 
                fee that meets the requirements under subparagraph (B) 
                to consider a request for authorization to place, 
                construct, or modify covered equipment.
                    ``(B) Requirements.--A fee charged under 
                subparagraph (A) shall be--
                            ``(i) competitively neutral, technology 
                        neutral, and nondiscriminatory;
                            ``(ii) publicly disclosed in advance;
                            ``(iii) calculated--
                                    ``(I) based on actual and direct 
                                costs for--
                                            ``(aa) review and 
                                        processing of requests; and
                                            ``(bb) repairs and 
                                        replacement of--

                                                    ``(AA) components 
                                                and materials resulting 
                                                from and affected by 
                                                the placement, 
                                                construction, or 
                                                modification (including 
                                                the installation or 
                                                improvement) of covered 
                                                equipment; or

                                                    ``(BB) the 
                                                modification (including 
                                                the improvement) of 
                                                eligible support 
                                                infrastructure, or 
                                                repairs and replacement 
                                                of equipment that 
                                                facilitates the 
                                                placement, 
                                                construction, or 
                                                modification (including 
                                                the installation or 
                                                improvement) of such 
                                                facilities or the 
                                                modification (including 
                                                the improvement) of 
                                                such structures; and

                                    ``(II) using, for purposes of 
                                subclause (I), only costs that are 
                                objectively reasonable; and
                                    ``(III) described to a requesting 
                                party in a manner that distinguishes 
                                between nonrecurring fees and recurring 
                                fees.
                    ``(C) No relation to franchise fees.--A fee charged 
                under this paragraph to consider a request for 
                authorization to place, construct, or modify covered 
                equipment may not be considered a franchise fee under 
                section 622.
            ``(5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Covered equipment.--The term `covered 
                equipment' means equipment used in or attached to a 
                cable system.
                    ``(B) Covered entity.--The term `covered entity' 
                means:
                            ``(i) A State.
                            ``(ii) A local government.
                            ``(iii) An instrumentality of a State or a 
                        local government.
                            ``(iv) A franchising authority.
                    ``(C) Eligible support infrastructure.--The term 
                `eligible support infrastructure' means infrastructure 
                that supports or houses a facility for communication by 
                wire (or is designed to and capable of supporting or 
                housing such facility) at the time when a complete 
                request to a covered entity for authorization to place, 
                construct, or modify covered equipment in or on the 
                infrastructure is received by the covered entity.''.

SEC. 3. ACTION ON PENDING REQUESTS.

    (a) Application.--Paragraphs (2)(B) and (4) of section 624(j) of 
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 544(j)), as added by section 
2, shall apply to a--
            (1) request received by a covered entity (as such term is 
        defined in section 624(j) of the Communications Act of 1934)--
                    (A) before the date of the enactment of this Act; 
                and
                    (B) has not been approved or denied by the covered 
                entity on or before such date; and
            (2) a request received by a covered entity on or after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Date of Receipt.--The date of receipt by a covered entity of a 
request described under subsection (a)(1) shall be deemed to be the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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