HR278-119

What This Bill Does

The BROADBAND Leadership Act rewrites section 253 of the Communications Act of 1934. It bars state and local laws, regulations, and legal requirements from prohibiting, or effectively prohibiting, any entity from providing or improving interstate or intrastate telecommunications service.

For telecommunications service facilities, the bill limits how state and local governments may regulate placement, construction, or modification. They may not discriminate based on the technology used, the services provided, or against telecommunications service facilities compared with other facilities. They must grant or deny requests within 90 days for work in or on eligible support infrastructure and within 150 days for other facility requests. Those deadlines cover all required permits and authorizations, cannot be tolled by express or de facto moratoria, and can be tolled only under specified incomplete-application notices or mutual agreement. If a government misses the deadline, the request is deemed granted after the requester gives written notice.

The bill requires denials to be in writing, supported by substantial evidence in a written record, publicly released, and provided to the requester the same day. It limits state and local fees for applications and rights-of-way to competitively neutral, technology-neutral, nondiscriminatory, publicly disclosed, actual-and-direct-cost based charges. Affected parties may bring expedited court actions, and the Federal Communications Commission must preempt inconsistent state or local requirements and decide preemption petitions within 120 days.

Who Benefits and How

Telecommunications providers and broadband infrastructure builders benefit from fewer state and local barriers, faster permit timelines, automatic authorization when deadlines are missed, narrower fee rules, and expedited judicial or FCC review. Wireline and wireless providers seeking to place, construct, or modify telecommunications service facilities benefit because local governments could not discriminate among technologies, services, or equivalent facilities.

Households and businesses in areas awaiting telecommunications upgrades may benefit indirectly if lower permitting barriers and faster approvals accelerate service deployment. Commercial mobile service providers and cable operators benefit from language preserving the application of existing Communications Act sections 332(c)(3) and 621 rather than replacing those regimes.

Who Bears the Burden and How

State and local governments, municipal permitting offices, local right-of-way managers, and state telecommunications regulators bear new legal limits on zoning, permitting, moratoria, written denial records, fee design, and review deadlines. Local governments that charge telecommunications application or right-of-way fees may collect less if their fees exceed actual and direct costs or are not established and disclosed in advance.

The Federal Communications Commission bears additional preemption work because it must decide petitions within 120 days after notice and public comment. Courts may receive expedited suits by affected providers or other parties challenging final actions or failures to act. Rural telephone companies retain some protection because states may require eligible telecommunications carrier designation for telephone exchange or exchange access in certain rural telephone company service areas, subject to exceptions.

Key Provisions

• Preempts state and local legal requirements that prohibit or effectively prohibit entities from providing or improving interstate or intrastate telecommunications service.
• Prohibits discriminatory state or local regulation of telecommunications service facility placement, construction, or modification based on technology, service type, or comparison with other facilities.
• Creates 90-day and 150-day shot clocks for state and local authorization requests, covers all required proceedings, bars moratorium-based tolling, and limits tolling for incomplete applications.
• Deems requests granted when a government misses the applicable deadline and receives written notice from the requester.
• Requires written, evidence-supported, same-day public denial decisions.
• Limits application and right-of-way fees to competitively neutral, technology-neutral, nondiscriminatory, publicly disclosed, actual-and-direct-cost based charges.
• Allows expedited court challenges and requires the FCC to decide preemption petitions within 120 days.
• Preserves limited state authority over universal service, public safety, service quality, consumer rights, public rights-of-way, certain rural telephone areas, commercial mobile service, and cable operators.