To amend the National Marine Sanctuaries Act to prohibit requiring an authorization for the installation, continued presence, operation, maintenance, repair, or recovery of undersea fiber optic cables in a national marine sanctuary if such activities have previously been authorized by a Federal or State agency.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedAdditional sponsors: Mr. Bentz and Mr. Begich
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole …
Mr. Carter of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Dunn of Florida, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
Prevents NOAA from requiring additional permits for undersea fiber optic cables in marine sanctuaries when another federal or state agency has already authorized the cable. Streamlines approval process.
Who Benefits and How
Telecommunications companies avoid duplicative permitting for undersea cables. Internet infrastructure deployment speeds up. Coastal communities get faster access to fiber connectivity.
Who Bears the Burden and How
NOAA loses permitting authority over already-authorized cables. Marine sanctuary managers have less oversight of cable operations. Environmental review may be reduced.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits NOAA from requiring permits for cables authorized by other agencies
- Covers installation, operation, maintenance, and repair
- Preserves interagency cooperation requirements
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Prohibits NOAA from requiring separate permits for undersea fiber optic cables already authorized by federal or state agencies
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Reduce regulatory burden on undersea cable deployment"
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Commerce (via NOAA)
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology