I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5311 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve cable franchising 
authority, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 11, 2025 
Ms. FEDORCHAK 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. 
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 ‘‘Connecting And Build-
ing Lines for Expedited Expansion Act’’ or the ‘‘CABLE 
Expansion Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUEST REGARDING PLACEMENT, CONSTRUC-
TION, OR MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN FACILI-
TIES. 
Section 624 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 544) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(j) REQUEST REGARDING PLACEMENT, CONSTRUC-
TION, OR MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN FACILITIES.— 
‘‘(1) NO
AFFECT
ON
AUTHORITY
OF
FRAN-
CHISING AUTHORITY.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), and notwithstanding any other provision 
of this section, nothing in this title shall limit or af-
fect the authority of a franchising authority over de-
cisions regarding the placement, construction, and 
modification of a covered facility within the jurisdic-
tion of such franchising authority. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) ABILITY TO PROVIDE OR ENHANCE 
CABLE SERVICE.—The regulation of the place-
ment, construction, or modification of a covered 
facility by a franchising authority shall not pro-
hibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability 
of a cable operator to provide cable service, or 
enhance cable service provided, under a fran-
chise granted by such franchising authority. 
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‘‘(B) TIMING OF DECISIONS ON REQUESTS 
FOR AUTHORIZATIONS TO PLACE, CONSTRUCT, 
OR MODIFY FACILITY.— 
‘‘(i) REQUEST
FOR
AUTHORIZATION 
TO PLACE, CONSTRUCT, OR MODIFY FACIL-
ITY.— 
‘‘(I) TIMEFRAME.—A franchising 
authority shall approve or deny a 
complete request for authorization to 
place, construct, or modify a covered 
facility not later than— 
‘‘(aa) if the request is for 
authorization to place, construct, 
or modify a covered facility in or 
on an eligible support infrastruc-
ture, 90 days after the date on 
which the franchising authority 
receives the request; and 
‘‘(bb) if the request is not 
for authorization to place, con-
struct modify a covered facility in 
or on an eligible support infra-
structure, 150 days after the 
date on which franchising author-
ity receives the request. 
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‘‘(II) APPLICABILITY.—Notwith-
standing any provision of this title, 
the applicable timeframe under sub-
paragraph (A) shall apply collectively 
to all proceedings required by a fran-
chising authority for the approval of 
the request. 
‘‘(III) NO
TOLLING.—A time-
frame under subparagraph (A) may 
not be tolled by any moratorium, 
whether express or de facto, imposed 
by a franchising authority on the con-
sideration of any request for author-
ization to place, construct, or modify 
a facility for the provision of cable 
service. 
‘‘(IV) WRITTEN
DECISION
AND 
RECORD.—Any decision by a fran-
chising authority to deny a complete 
request for authorization to place, 
construct, or modify a covered facility 
shall be— 
‘‘(aa) in writing; 
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‘‘(bb) identifying the infor-
mation required to be submitted 
that was not submitted. 
‘‘(II) 
DEFINITION.—In 
this 
clause, the term ‘received by the fran-
chising authority’ means— 
‘‘(aa) in the case of a re-
quest submitted electronically, on 
the date on which the request is 
transmitted; 
‘‘(bb) in the case of a re-
quest submitted in person, on the 
date on which the request is de-
livered to the individual or at the 
location specified by the fran-
chising authority for in-person 
submission; and 
‘‘(cc) in the case of a re-
quest submitted in any other 
manner, on the date determined 
under regulations promulgated by 
the Commission for the manner 
in which the request is sub-
mitted. 
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‘‘(ii) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CON-
SIDERED RECEIVED.—For the purposes of 
subparagraph (B), a complete request shall 
be considered received on the date on 
which the requesting party submits to the 
franchising authority all information (in-
cluding any form or other document) re-
quired by the franchising authority to be 
submitted for the request to be considered 
complete. 
‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(i) ELIGIBLE SUPPORT INFRASTRUC-
TURE.—The term ‘eligible support infra-
structure’ means infrastructure that sup-
ports or houses a facility for communica-
tion by wire (or is designed to and capable 
of supporting or housing such facility) at 
the time when a complete request to a 
franchising authority for authorization to 
place, construct, or modify a covered facil-
ity in or on the infrastructure is received 
by the franchising authority. 
‘‘(ii) COVERED FACILITY.—The term 
‘covered facility’ means a facility— 
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‘‘(I) for the provision of cable 
service; and 
‘‘(II) 
that 
serves 
subscribers 
using an easement or public right-of- 
way.’’. 
Æ 
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