On December 16, the U.S. House of Representatives, by voice votes, passed the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Act (H.R. 3293) and the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act (H.R. 3343). Both bills are now in the Senate. Although there do not appear to be any companion bills in the House, perhaps the unanimous passage in the House will prompt the final passage of both measures by the end of the 118th Congress or early in the 119th Congress.
My May 30, 2023, blog post noted the unanimous passage of both bills by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That post summarized H.R. 3293 and H.R. 3343:
The Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act [H.R. 3293] would authorize the NTIA to establish an interagency "strike force" to ensure that each Federal land management agency "prioritizes the review of requests for communications use authorizations." The strike force would conduct periodic calls among those agencies and monitor their progress. And within 270 days after the Act becomes law, the NTIA would be required to submit to Congress a report on "the effectiveness of the strike force in ensuring that Federal land management agencies prioritize reviews of requests for communications use authorizations.
The Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act [H.R. 3343] would require the NTIA to submit to Congress a plan for the agency to track requests for communications use authorizations on federal property and provide transparency to applications regarding the status of their applications.
The FCC has long recognized that slow and cumbersome permitting processes can be a major impediment to market entry for communications services, and broadband Internet service providers frequently identify delays and costs associated with obtaining approvals to construct infrastructure on rights-of-way and government property as an impediment to timely and efficient network deployment. If passed into law, H.R. 3293 and H.R. 3343 could help streamline permit approvals and help prevent avoidable delays for infrastructure construction and major upgrades on federal property. Credit is due to the House for passing the bills. Hopefully, the Senate will give H.R. 3293 and H.R. 3343 prompt consideration.
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