I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3295 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes 
for telecommunications service facilities, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 15, 2023 
Mr. GRIFFITH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline 
siting processes for telecommunications service facilities, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Barriers and Regu-
latory Obstacles Avoids Deployment of Broadband Access 
and Needs Deregulatory Leadership Act’’ or the 
‘‘BROADBAND Leadership Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY. 
Section 253 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 253) is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘SEC. 253. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No State or local statute or reg-
ulation, or other State or local legal requirement, may pro-
hibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any 
entity to provide or enhance the provision of any interstate 
or intrastate telecommunications service. 
‘‘(b) PLACEMENT, CONSTRUCTION, OR MODIFICA-
TION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE FACILITIES.— 
‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION.—The 
regulation of the placement, construction, or modi-
fication of a telecommunications service facility by a 
State or local government or instrumentality thereof 
may not discriminate— 
‘‘(A) among telecommunications service fa-
cilities— 
‘‘(i) based on the technology used to 
provide services; or 
‘‘(ii) based on the services provided; 
or 
‘‘(B) against telecommunications service 
facilities, as compared to the regulation of the 
placement, construction, or modification of 
other facilities. 
‘‘(2) TIMEFRAME
TO
GRANT
OR
DENY
RE-
QUESTS.— 
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mentality thereof on the submission, accept-
ance, or consideration of requests for authoriza-
tion to place, construct, or modify a tele-
communications service facility. 
‘‘(3) DEEMED GRANTED.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—If a State or local 
government or instrumentality thereof has nei-
ther granted nor denied a complete request 
within the applicable timeframe under para-
graph (2), the request shall be deemed granted 
on the date on which the government or instru-
mentality receives a written notice of the failure 
to grant or deny from the requesting party. 
‘‘(B) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION.—In the 
case of a request that is deemed granted under 
subparagraph (A), the placement, construction, 
or modification requested in such request shall 
be considered to be authorized, without any fur-
ther action by the government or instrumen-
tality, beginning on the date on which such re-
quest is deemed granted under such subpara-
graph. 
‘‘(4) WRITTEN DECISION AND RECORD.—A de-
cision by a State or local government or instrumen-
tality thereof to deny a request to place, construct, 
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or modify a telecommunications service facility shall 
be— 
‘‘(A) in writing; 
‘‘(B) supported by substantial evidence 
contained in a written record; and 
‘‘(C) publicly released, and provided to the 
requesting party, on the same day such decision 
is made. 
‘‘(5) FEES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—To the extent per-
mitted by law, a State or local government or 
instrumentality thereof may charge a fee that 
meets the requirements under subparagraph 
(B)— 
‘‘(i) to consider a request for author-
ization to place, construct, or modify a 
telecommunications service facility; or 
‘‘(ii) for use of a right-of-way or a fa-
cility in a right-of-way owned or managed 
by the government or instrumentality for 
the placement, construction, or modifica-
tion of a telecommunications service facil-
ity. 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—A fee charged 
under subparagraph (A) shall be— 
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‘‘(i) competitively neutral, technology 
neutral, and nondiscriminatory; 
‘‘(ii) established in advance and pub-
licly disclosed; 
‘‘(iii) calculated— 
‘‘(I) based on actual and direct 
costs for— 
‘‘(aa) review and processing 
of requests; and 
‘‘(bb) repairs and replace-
ment of— 
‘‘(AA) components and 
materials resulting from and 
affected by the placement, 
construction, or modification 
(including the installation or 
improvement) 
of 
tele-
communications service fa-
cilities; or 
‘‘(BB) equipment that 
facilitates 
the 
placement, 
construction, or modification 
(including the installation or 
improvement) of such facili-
ties; and 
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‘‘(II) using, for purposes of sub-
clause (I), only costs that are objec-
tively reasonable; and 
‘‘(iv) described to a requesting party 
in a manner that distinguishes between— 
‘‘(I) nonrecurring fees and recur-
ring fees; and 
‘‘(II) the use of facilities on 
which telecommunications service fa-
cilities or infrastructure for compat-
ible uses are already located and fa-
cilities on which there are no tele-
communications service facilities or 
infrastructure for compatible uses as 
of the date on which the complete re-
quest is received by the government or 
instrumentality. 
‘‘(c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person adversely affected 
by a State or local statute, regulation, or other legal 
requirement, or by a final action or failure to act by 
a State or local government or instrumentality there-
of, that is inconsistent with this section may com-
mence an action in any court of competent jurisdic-
tion. 
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‘‘(2) TIMING.— 
‘‘(A) EXPEDITED
BASIS.—A court shall 
hear and decide an action commenced under 
paragraph (1) on an expedited basis. 
‘‘(B) FINAL
ACTION
OR
FAILURE
TO 
ACT.—An action may only be commenced under 
paragraph (1) on the basis of a final action or 
failure to act by a State or local government or 
instrumentality thereof, if commenced not later 
than 30 days after such action or failure to act. 
‘‘(d) PRESERVATION OF STATE REGULATORY AU-
THORITY.—Nothing in this section shall affect the ability 
of a State to impose, on a competitively neutral and non-
discriminatory basis and consistent with section 254, re-
quirements necessary to preserve and advance universal 
service, protect the public safety and welfare, ensure the 
continued quality of telecommunications services, and 
safeguard the rights of consumers. 
‘‘(e) PRESERVATION OF STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN-
MENT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section affects the 
authority of a State or local government or instrumen-
tality thereof to manage, on a competitively neutral and 
nondiscriminatory basis, the public rights-of-way or to re-
quire, on a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory 
basis, fair and reasonable compensation from tele-
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communications providers for use of public rights-of-way, 
if the compensation required meets the requirements of 
subsection (b)(5). 
‘‘(f) PREEMPTION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If, after notice and an op-
portunity for public comment, the Commission deter-
mines that a State or local government or instru-
mentality thereof has permitted or imposed a stat-
ute, regulation, or legal requirement that violates or 
is inconsistent with this section, the Commission 
shall preempt the enforcement of such statute, regu-
lation, or legal requirement to the extent necessary 
to correct such violation or inconsistency. 
‘‘(2) TIMING.—Not later than 120 days after 
receiving a petition for preemption of the enforce-
ment of a statute, regulation, or legal requirement 
as described in paragraph (1), the Commission shall 
grant or deny the petition. 
‘‘(g) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS.— 
Nothing in this section shall affect the application of sec-
tion 332(c)(3) to commercial mobile service providers. 
‘‘(h) RURAL MARKETS.—It shall not be a violation 
of this section for a State to require a telecommunications 
carrier that seeks to provide telephone exchange service 
or exchange access in a service area served by a rural tele-
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phone company to meet the requirements in section 
214(e)(1) for designation as an eligible telecommuni-
cations carrier for that area before being permitted to pro-
vide such service. This subsection shall not apply— 
‘‘(1) to a service area served by a rural tele-
phone company that has obtained an exemption, sus-
pension, or modification of section 251(c)(4) that ef-
fectively prevents a competitor from meeting the re-
quirements of section 214(e)(1); and 
‘‘(2) to a provider of commercial mobile serv-
ices. 
‘‘(i) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COMPLETE; RE-
CEIVED.— 
‘‘(1) 
WHEN
REQUEST
CONSIDERED
COM-
PLETE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 
this section, a request to a State or local gov-
ernment or instrumentality thereof shall be con-
sidered complete if the requesting party— 
‘‘(i) has taken the first procedural 
step within the control of the requesting 
party— 
‘‘(I) to submit such request in 
accordance with the procedures estab-
lished by the government or instru-
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mentality for the review and approval 
of such request; or 
‘‘(II) in the case of a government 
or instrumentality that has not estab-
lished specific procedures for the re-
view and approval of such request, to 
submit to the government or instru-
mentality the type of filing that is 
typically required to initiate a stand-
ard review for a similar facility or 
structure; and 
‘‘(ii) has not received a written notice 
from the government or instrumentality 
within 30 days after the date on which the 
request is received by the government or 
instrumentality— 
‘‘(I) stating that all the informa-
tion (including any form or other doc-
ument) required by the government or 
instrumentality to be submitted for 
the request to be considered complete 
has not been submitted; 
‘‘(II) identifying the information 
required to be submitted that was not 
submitted; and 
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‘‘(III) citing a specific provision 
of a publicly available rule, regulation, 
or standard of the government or in-
strumentality that requires the infor-
mation identified under subclause (II) 
to be submitted. 
‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘the date on which the request is received 
by the government or instrumentality’ means— 
‘‘(i) in the case of a request submitted 
electronically, the date on which the re-
quest is transmitted; 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a request sub-
mitted in person, the date on which the re-
quest is delivered to the individual or at 
the location specified by the government or 
instrumentality for in-person submission; 
and 
‘‘(iii) in the case of a request sub-
mitted in any other manner, the date de-
termined under regulations promulgated by 
the Commission for the manner in which 
the request is submitted. 
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‘‘(2) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CONSIDERED 
RECEIVED.—For the purposes of this section, a com-
plete request shall be considered received— 
‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 
(B), 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 in-
strumentality to be submitted for the request to 
be considered complete; or 
‘‘(B) in the case of a request with respect 
to which all such information is not submitted 
and that is considered complete under para-
graph (1)(A) because the requesting party has 
not received a written notice from the govern-
ment or instrumentality within the period de-
scribed in such paragraph, on the day after the 
last day of such period. 
‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE.— 
The term ‘eligible support infrastructure’ means in-
frastructure that supports or houses a telecommuni-
cations service facility (or that is designed for or ca-
pable of supporting or housing such a facility) at the 
time when a complete request to a State or local 
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government or instrumentality thereof for authoriza-
tion to place, construct, or modify a telecommuni-
cations service facility in or on the infrastructure is 
received by the government or instrumentality. 
‘‘(2) TELECOMMUNICATIONS
SERVICE
FACIL-
ITY.—The term ‘telecommunications service facil-
ity’— 
‘‘(A) means a facility that is designed or 
used to provide or facilitate the provision of any 
interstate 
or 
intrastate 
telecommunications 
service; and 
‘‘(B) includes a facility described in sub-
paragraph (A) that is used to provide other 
services.’’. 
Æ 
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