Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act
Officially: “Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act” Read the full text
What it does
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1Short title
This section would let the Act be called the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act.
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1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act .
2Establishment of interagency strike force
This section would require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, within 180 days after enactment, to establish an interagency strike force whose purpose is to ensure that the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, including each of their organizational units (for the Bureau of Land Management, its state, regional, district, and field offices; for the Forest Service, its regional offices, management units, and ranger district offices), prioritize the review of requests for communications use authorizations. A communications use authorization is an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or other authorization that a Federal land management agency provides to let someone locate or modify a communications facility on covered land (public lands or National Forest System land), where authorizing that communications use is the primary purpose of the grant. The strike force would be made up of the Assistant Secretary, the head of the Bureau of Land Management, the head of the Forest Service, a designee of the Secretary of Agriculture who is not the Chief of the Forest Service, and a designee of the Secretary of the Interior who is not the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. The strike force's duties would include holding periodic calls among its members to ensure the agencies keep prioritizing review of these requests, setting objective and reasonable goals for how the requests are reviewed, and monitoring the agencies and helping hold them accountable for meeting those goals. Within 270 days after enactment, the Assistant Secretary would have to submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees, which this section identifies as the House Committees on Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, and Agriculture and the Senate Committees on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Environment and Public Works, and Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, on how effective the strike force has been at getting the agencies to prioritize these reviews. The section also sets the meaning of several terms used elsewhere in it: 'communications facility' carries the meaning already given to 'communications facility installation' in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012; 'communications use' means placing and operating a communications facility; 'National Forest System' and 'public lands' carry the meanings already given those terms in the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, respectively; and 'Federal land management agency' means the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service.
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2. Establishment of interagency strike force (a) Interagency strike force (1) Establishment Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary shall establish an interagency strike force to ensure that each Federal land management agency, including each organizational unit of the agency, prioritizes the review of requests for communications use authorizations. (2) Members The strike force shall be composed of— (A) the Assistant Secretary; (B) the head of each Federal land management agency; (C) a designee of the Secretary of Agriculture, other than the Chief of the Forest Service; and (D) a designee of the Secretary of the Interior, other than the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. (3) Duties The duties of the strike force shall include— (A) conducting periodic calls between the members of the strike force to ensure that each Federal land management agency, including each organizational unit of the agency, prioritizes the review of requests for communications use authorizations; (B) establishing objective and reasonable goals for the review of requests for communications use authorizations; and (C) monitoring, and facilitating the accountability of, each Federal land management agency, including each organizational unit of the agency, with respect to meeting such goals. (4) Report to Congress Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the effectiveness of the strike force in ensuring that each Federal land management agency, including each organizational unit of the agency, prioritizes the review of requests for communications use authorizations. (b) Definitions In this section: (1) Appropriate congressional committees The term appropriate congressional committees means— (A) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; (B) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives; (C) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; (D) the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate; (E) the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives; and (F) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate. (2) Assistant Secretary The term Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. (3) Communications facility The term communications facility has the meaning given the term communications facility installation in section 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 ( 47 U.S.C. 1455(d) ). (4) Communications use The term communications use means the placement and operation of a communications facility. (5) Communications use authorization The term communications use authorization means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or other authorization— (A) provided by a Federal land management agency; (B) to locate or modify a communications facility on covered land; and (C) for the primary purpose of authorizing the occupancy and use of such land for communications use. (6) Covered land The term covered land means— (A) public lands; and (B) National Forest System land. (7) Federal land management agency The term Federal land management agency means each of the following: (A) The Bureau of Land Management. (B) The Forest Service. (8) National Forest System The term National Forest System has the meaning given that term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 ( 16 U.S.C. 1609(a) ). (9) Organizational unit The term organizational unit means— (A) with respect to the Bureau of Land Management— (i) a State office; (ii) a regional office; (iii) a district office; or (iv) a field office; and (B) with respect to the Forest Service— (i) a regional office; (ii) a management unit; or (iii) a ranger district office. (10) Public lands The term public lands has the meaning given that term in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ( 43 U.S.C. 1702 ). (11) Strike force The term strike force means the interagency strike force established under subsection (a)(1).
Where it is
In the House.