WIRELESS Leadership Act

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes for personal wireless service facilities, including small personal wireless service facilities, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Winning the International Race for Economic Leadership and Expanding Service to Support Leadership Act WIRELESS Leadership Act 2. Preservation of local zoning authority Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 332(c) (7) Preservation of local zoning authority (A) General authority Except as provided in this paragraph, nothing in this Act shall limit or affect the authority of a State or local government or instrumentality thereof over decisions regarding the placement, construction, or modification of personal wireless service facilities. (B) Limitations (i) In general The regulation of the placement, construction, or modification of a personal wireless service facility by any State or local government or instrumentality thereof— (I) shall not discriminate among personal wireless service facilities or providers of communications service, including by providing exclusive or preferential use of facilities to a particular provider or class of providers of personal wireless service; and (II) shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision, improvement, or enhancement of personal wireless service. (ii) Engineering standards; aesthetic requirements It is not a violation of clause (i) for a State or local government or instrumentality thereof to establish for personal wireless service facilities, or structures that support such facilities, objective, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory— (I) structural engineering standards based on generally applicable codes; (II) safety requirements; or (III) aesthetic or concealment requirements (unless such requirements prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the installation or modification of such facilities or structures). (iii) Timeframes (I) In general Except in the case of an eligible facilities request to which section 6409(a) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 ( 47 U.S.C. 1455(a) (aa) in the case of a request for authorization to place, construct, or modify a personal wireless service facility that is not a small personal wireless service facility— (AA) if the request is for authorization to place, construct, or modify such facility using an existing structure, including with respect to an area that has not previously been zoned for personal wireless service facilities (other than small personal wireless service facilities), 90 days after the date on which the complete request is received by the government or instrumentality; or (BB) if the request is for any other action relating to such facility, 150 days after the date on which the complete request is received by the government or instrumentality; and (bb) in the case of a request for authorization to place, construct, or modify a small personal wireless service facility— (AA) if the request is for authorization to place, construct, or modify such facility using an existing structure, 60 days after the date on which the complete request is received by the government or instrumentality; or (BB) if the request is for any other action relating to such facility, 90 days after the date on which the complete request is received by the government or instrumentality. (II) Treatment of batched requests In the case of complete requests described in subclause (I) that are submitted as part of a single batch and received by the government or instrumentality on the same day, the applicable timeframe under such subclause for each request in the batch shall be the longest timeframe under such subclause that would be applicable to any request in the batch if such requests were submitted separately. (III) Applicability The applicable timeframe under subclause (I) shall apply collectively to all proceedings required by a State or local government or instrumentality thereof for the approval of the request. (IV) No tolling A timeframe under subclause (I) may not be tolled by any moratorium, whether express or de facto, imposed by a State or local government or instrumentality thereof on the submission, acceptance, or consideration of any request for authorization to place, construct, or modify a personal wireless service facility. (iv) Deemed granted (I) In general If a State or local government or instrumentality thereof fails to take final action to grant or deny a complete request within the applicable timeframe under subclause (I) of clause (iii), the request shall be deemed granted on the date on which the government or instrumentality receives a written notice of the failure from the requesting party. (II) Rule of construction In the case of a request that is deemed granted under subclause (I), the placement, construction, or modification requested in the request shall be considered to be authorized, without any further action by the government or instrumentality, beginning on the date on which the request is deemed granted under such subclause. (v) Written decision and record Any decision by a State or local government or instrumentality thereof to deny a request for authorization to place, construct, or modify a personal wireless service facility 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. (vi) Environmental effects of radio frequency emissions No State or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the operation, placement, construction, or modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities or structures comply with the Commission’s regulations concerning such emissions. (vii) Fees To the extent permitted by law, a State or local government or instrumentality thereof may charge a fee to consider a request for authorization to place, construct, or modify a personal wireless service facility or a fee for use of a right-of-way or a facility in a right-of-way owned or managed by the government or instrumentality for the placement, construction, or modification of a personal wireless service facility, if the fee is— (I) competitively neutral, technology neutral, and nondiscriminatory; (II) established in advance and publicly disclosed; (III) calculated— (aa) based on actual and direct costs for— (AA) review and processing of requests; and (BB) repairs and replacement of components and materials resulting from and affected by the placement, construction, or modification (including the installation or improvement) of personal wireless service facilities or repairs and replacement of equipment that facilitates the placement, construction, or modification (including the installation or improvement) of such facilities; and (bb) using, for purposes of item (aa), only costs that are objectively reasonable; and (IV) described to a requesting party in a manner that distinguishes between— (aa) nonrecurring fees and recurring fees; and (bb) the use of facilities on which personal wireless service facilities are already located and facilities on which there are no personal wireless service facilities as of the date on which the complete request is received by the government or instrumentality. (C) Judicial or administrative review (i) Judicial review Any person adversely affected by any final action or failure to act by a State or local government or any instrumentality thereof that is inconsistent with this paragraph may, within 30 days after the action or failure to act, commence an action in any court of competent jurisdiction, which shall hear and decide the action on an expedited basis. (ii) Administrative review (I) In general Any person adversely affected by any final action or failure to act by a State or local government or any instrumentality thereof that is inconsistent with this paragraph may petition the Commission to review such action or failure to act. (II) Timing Not later than 120 days after receiving a petition under subclause (I), the Commission shall grant or deny such petition. (D) When request considered complete; received (i) When request considered complete (I) In general For the purposes of this paragraph, a request to a State or local government or instrumentality thereof shall be considered complete if the requesting party— (aa) has taken the first procedural step within the control of the requesting party— (AA) to submit such request in accordance with the procedures established by the government or instrumentality for the review and approval of such request; or (BB) in the case of a government or instrumentality that has not established specific procedures for the review and approval of such request, to submit to the government or instrumentality the type of filing that is typically required to initiate a standard review for a similar facility or structure; and (bb) has not received a written notice from the government or instrumentality within 10 days after the date on which the request is received by the government or instrumentality, if the request is with respect to a small personal wireless service facility, or 30 days after such date, if the request is with respect to any other personal wireless service facility— (AA) stating that all the information (including any form or other document) required by the government or instrumentality to be submitted for the request to be considered complete has not been submitted; (BB) identifying the information required to be submitted that was not submitted; and (CC) citing a specific provision of a publicly available rule, regulation, or standard of the government or instrumentality that requires the information identified under subitem (BB) to be submitted. (II) Definition In this clause, the term the date on which the request is received by the government or instrumentality (aa) in the case of a request submitted electronically, the date on which the request is transmitted; (bb) 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 government or instrumentality for in-person submission; and (cc) 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. (ii) When complete request considered received For the purposes of this paragraph, a complete request shall be considered received— (I) except as provided in subclause (II), on the date on which the requesting party submits to the government or instrumentality all information (including any form or other document) required by the government or instrumentality 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 clause (i)(I) because the requesting party has not received a written notice from the government or instrumentality within the period described in such clause, on the day after the last day of such period. (E) Rule of construction Nothing in this paragraph may be construed to affect section 6409(a) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 ( 47 U.S.C. 1455(a) (F) Definitions In this paragraph: (i) Antenna The term antenna (ii) Communications network The term communications network (iii) Communications service The term communications service (I) cable service, as defined in section 602; (II) information service; (III) telecommunications service; and (IV) personal wireless service. (iv) Generally applicable code The term generally applicable code (v) Network interface device The term network interface device (I) is adjacent or proximate to— (aa) a small personal wireless service facility; or (bb) a structure supporting a small personal wireless service facility; and (II) demarcates the boundary with any wireline backhaul facility. (vi) Personal wireless service The term personal wireless service (I) commercial mobile service; (II) commercial mobile data service (as defined in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 ( 47 U.S.C. 1401 (III) unlicensed wireless service; and (IV) common carrier wireless exchange access service. (vii) Personal wireless service facility The term personal wireless service facility (viii) Small personal wireless service facility The term small personal wireless service facility (ix) Unlicensed wireless service The term unlicensed wireless service (I) means the offering of telecommunications service using a duly authorized device that does not require an individual license; and (II) does not include the provision of direct-to-home satellite services, as defined in section 303(v). (x) Wireline backhaul facility The term wireline backhaul facility .

Summary: Winning the International Race for Economic Leadership and Expanding Service to Support Leadership Act or the WIRELESS Leadership Act This bill limits the authority of a state or locality to regulate the placement, construction, or modification of personal wireless service facilities. The bill revises the prohibition on states or localities discriminating among providers of a personal wireless service to state that providing exclusive or preferential use of facilities to a particular class of providers is prohibited. However, states or localities may establish reasonable and nondiscriminatory requirements for engineering standards, safety, and aesthetics. They may also charge reasonable, cost-based fees for (1) reviewing requests to place, construct, or modify personal wireless service facilities; or (2) using property owned or managed by the state or locality for placing, constructing, or modifying a facility. Additionally, states and localities must respond to requests to place, construct, or modify facilities by specified deadlines. If a decision is not made by the deadline, the request is deemed to be approved.