[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 92 (Monday, June 3, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3167-S3168]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. Schatz):
S. 1699. A bill to streamline siting processes for small cell
deployment; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1699
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Streamlining The Rapid
Evolution And Modernization of Leading-edge Infrastructure
Necessary to Enhance Small Cell Deployment Act'' or the
``STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act''.
SEC. 2. PRESERVATION OF LOCAL ZONING AUTHORITY.
Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
332(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (7) and inserting
the following:
``(7) Preservation of local zoning authority.--
``(A) General authority.--Except as provided in this
paragraph, nothing in this Act shall limit or affect the
authority of a State or local government or instrumentality
thereof over decisions regarding the placement, construction,
and modification of personal wireless service facilities.
``(B) Limitations.--
``(i) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (C),
the regulation of the placement, construction, or
modification of a personal wireless service facility by any
State or local government or instrumentality thereof--
``(I) shall not unreasonably discriminate among providers
of functionally equivalent services; and
``(II) shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting
the provision of personal wireless service.
``(ii) Timeframe.--A State or local government or
instrumentality thereof shall act on any request for
authorization to place, construct, or modify a personal
wireless service facility within a reasonable period of time
after the request is duly filed with the government or
instrumentality, taking into account the nature and scope of
the request.
``(iii) Written decision and record.--Any decision by a
State or local government or instrumentality thereof to deny
a request to place, construct, or modify a personal wireless
service facility shall be--
``(I) in writing; and
``(II) supported by substantial evidence contained in a
written record.
``(iv) Environmental effects of radio frequency
emissions.--No State or local government or instrumentality
thereof may regulate the placement, construction, or
modification of personal wireless service facilities on the
basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency
emissions to the extent that the facilities comply with the
Commission's regulations concerning such emissions.
``(v) Judicial and administrative review.--
``(I) Judicial review.--Any person adversely affected by
any final action or failure to act by a State or local
government or any instrumentality thereof that is
inconsistent with this subparagraph may, within 30 days after
the action or failure to act, commence an action in any court
of competent jurisdiction, which shall hear and decide the
action on an expedited basis.
``(II) Administrative review.--Any person adversely
affected by an act or failure to act by a State or local
government or any instrumentality thereof that is
inconsistent with clause (iv) may petition the Commission for
relief.
``(C) Placement, construction, and modification of small
personal wireless service facilities.--
``(i) In general.--In addition to, and not in derogation of
any of, the limitations under subparagraph (B), the
regulation of the placement, construction, or modification of
small personal wireless service facilities by any State or
local government or instrumentality thereof--
``(I) shall not unreasonably discriminate among providers
of the same service using comparable equipment, including by
providing exclusive or preferential use of facilities to a
particular provider or class of providers of personal
wireless service; and
``(II) shall only permit a State or local government to
approve or deny a permit or other permission to deploy a
small personal wireless service facility, including access to
a right-of-way or a facility in a right-of-way owned or
managed by the State or local government, based on publicly
available criteria that are--
``(aa) reasonable;
``(bb) objective; and
``(cc) non-discriminatory.
[[Page S3168]]
``(ii) Engineering standards; aesthetic requirements.--A
State or local government or instrumentality thereof may
regulate the placement, construction, and modification of
small personal wireless service facilities for reasons of
objective and reasonable--
``(I) structural engineering standards based on generally
applicable codes;
``(II) safety requirements; or
``(III) aesthetic or concealment requirements.
``(iii) Timeframes.--
``(I) In general.--A State or local government or
instrumentality thereof shall act on a complete request for
authorization to place, construct, or modify a small personal
wireless service facility not later than--
``(aa)(AA) for collocation of a small personal wireless
service facility, 60 days after the date on which the
complete request is filed, except as provided in item (bb);
or
``(BB) for any other action relating to a small personal
wireless service facility, 90 days after the date on which
the complete request is filed, except as provided in item
(cc);
``(bb) for collocation of a small personal wireless service
facility, if the State or the area under the jurisdiction of
the local government has a population of fewer than 50,000
people--
``(AA) 90 days after the date on which the complete request
is filed, if during the 30-day period ending on that date of
filing, the applicable wireless service provider filed fewer
than 50 requests for collocation of a small personal wireless
service facility with the State or local government or
instrumentality thereof; or
``(BB) 120 days after the date on which the complete
request is filed, if during the 30-day period ending on that
date of filing, the applicable wireless service provider
filed not fewer than 50 requests for collocation of a small
personal wireless service facility with the State or local
government or instrumentality thereof; or
``(cc) for any other action relating to a small personal
wireless service facility, if the State or the area under the
jurisdiction of the local government has a population of
fewer than 50,000 people--
``(AA) 120 days after the date on which the complete
request is filed, if during the 30-day period ending on that
date of filing, the applicable wireless service provider
filed fewer than 50 requests for any other action relating to
a small personal wireless service facility with the State or
local government or instrumentality thereof; or
``(BB) 150 days after the date on which the complete
request is filed, if during the 30-day period ending on that
date of filing, the applicable wireless service provider
filed not fewer than 50 requests for any other action
relating to a small personal wireless service facility with
the State or local government or instrumentality thereof.
``(II) Applicability.--The applicable timeframe under
subclause (I) shall apply collectively to all proceedings
required by a State or local government or instrumentality
thereof for the approval of the request.
``(III) No tolling.--A timeframe under subclause (I) may
not be tolled by any moratorium, whether express or de facto,
imposed by a State or local government on the consideration
of any request for authorization to place, construct, or
modify a small personal wireless service facility.
``(IV) Temporary waiver.--The Commission may temporarily
waive the applicability of subclause (I) for not longer than
a single 30-day period for any complete request upon a
demonstration by a State or local government that the waiver
would be consistent with the public interest, convenience,
and necessity.
``(iv) Deemed granted.--If a State or local government or
instrumentality thereof has neither granted nor denied a
request within the applicable timeframe under subclause (I)
of clause (iii), including any temporary waiver granted under
subclause (IV) of that clause, the request shall be deemed
granted on the date that is 31 days after the date on which
the government instrumentality receives a written notice of
the failure from the applicant.
``(v) Fees.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
State or local government may charge a fee to consider an
application for the placement, construction, or modification
of a small personal wireless facility, or to use a right-of-
way or a facility in a right-of-way owned or managed by the
State or local government for the placement, construction, or
modification of a small personal wireless facility, if the
fee is--
``(I) competitively neutral, technology neutral, and
nondiscriminatory;
``(II) publicly disclosed; and
``(III)(aa) except as provided in item (bb), based on
actual and direct costs, such as costs for--
``(AA) review and processing of applications;
``(BB) maintenance;
``(CC) emergency responses;
``(DD) repairs and replacement of components and materials
resulting from and affected by the installation of small
personal wireless facilities, improvements, and equipment
that facilitates the deployment and installation of such
facilities; or
``(EE) inspections; or
``(bb) calculated in accordance with section 224, in the
case of a fee charged for the placement, construction, or
modification of a small personal wireless facility on a pole,
in a right-of-way, or on any other facility that may be
established under that section.
``(vi) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this subparagraph
shall be construed to prevent any State or local government
from imposing any additional limitation or requirement
relating to consideration by the State or local government of
an application for the placement, construction, or
modification of a small personal wireless service facility.
``(D) Definitions.--For purposes of this paragraph--
``(i) the term `antenna' means an apparatus designed for
the purpose of emitting radiofrequency radiation, to be
operated or operating from a fixed location for the
transmission of writing, signs, signals, data, images,
pictures, and sounds of all kinds;
``(ii) the term `communications network' means a network
used to provide a communications service;
``(iii) the term `communications service' means--
``(I) cable service, as defined in section 602;
``(II) information service;
``(III) telecommunications service; or
``(IV) personal wireless service;
``(iv) the term `complete request' means a request for
which the applicant has not received written notice from the
State or local government within 10 business days of
submission--
``(I) stating in writing that the request is incomplete;
and
``(II) identifying the information causing the request to
be incomplete;
``(v) the term `generally applicable code' includes a
uniform building, fire, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical
code adopted by a national code organization, or a local
amendment to such a code, to the extent not inconsistent with
this Act;
``(vi) the term `network interface device' means a
telecommunications demarcation device and cross-connect point
that--
``(I) is adjacent or proximate to--
``(aa) a small personal wireless service facility; or
``(bb) a structure supporting a small personal wireless
service facility; and
``(II) demarcates the boundary with any wireline backhaul
facility;
``(vii) the term `personal wireless service' means--
``(I) commercial mobile service;
``(II) commercial mobile data service (as that term is
defined in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and
Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401));
``(III) unlicensed wireless service; and
``(IV) common carrier wireless exchange access service;
``(viii) the term `personal wireless service facility'
means a facility for the provision of personal wireless
service;
``(ix) the term `small personal wireless service
facility'--
``(I) means a personal wireless service facility in which
each antenna is not more than 3 cubic feet in volume; and
``(II) does not include a wireline backhaul facility;
``(x) the term `unlicensed wireless service'--
``(I) means the offering of telecommunications service
using a duly authorized device that does not require an
individual license; and
``(II) does not include the provision of direct-to-home
satellite service, as defined in section 303(v); and
``(xi) the term `wireline backhaul facility' means an
above-ground or underground wireline facility used to
transport communications service or other electronic
communications from a small personal wireless service
facility or its adjacent network interface device to a
communications network.''.
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY OF BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT ON TRIBAL LAND AND
ON OR NEAR TRUST LAND.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall--
(1) in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the
Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Federal
Communications Commission, study the process for obtaining a
grant of a right-of-way to deploy broadband infrastructure on
Tribal land or on or near trust land, as defined in section
3765 of title 38, United States Code;
(2) in conducting the study under paragraph (1), consider
the unique challenges involved in broadband deployment on
Tribal land and on or near trust land; and
(3) submit to Congress a report on the study conducted
under paragraph (1).
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