Lawmakers Target Bottlenecks in Broadband Deployment

This op-ed was orginally published in The Well News.

Legislation currently going through the U.S. House would closely examine what red tape is harming efforts to close the digital divide in rural and tribal lands. 

The Enhancing Administrative Reviews in Broadband Deployment Act (H.R. 5419) passed the House Committee on Natural Resources last month. It now moves to the House floor for consideration. 

The bill introduced initially by Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J., last September would direct federal agencies to conduct comprehensive examination of administrative barriers that may impede progress in broadband deployment.

Under the legislation, the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture are tasked with studying: 

• If there are programmatic or administrative barriers to the timely review of requests for communications use authorizations.
• If there are revisions to rules or regulations that could be implemented to improve efficiency with respect to reviewing requests for communications use authorizations.
• If there are processes for prioritizing the review of requests for communications use authorizations.

The secretaries would be required under the legislation to report to Congress their findings within one year and submit a plan to provide enough staffing to ensure timely reviews of permit applications. 

Kean describes the permitting process as a critical bottleneck that is slowing efforts to provide all Americans with high-speed internet. 

“Bridging the digital divide requires cutting through bureaucratic red tape, inefficiencies and delays, and this legislation does just that,” Kean said. “By addressing key regulatory barriers, prioritizing staffing to process permits and improving interagency coordination, we can take real steps forward in ensuring affordable, reliable connectivity for our communities.”

This legislation is the latest move on Capitol Hill as Congress begins to tackle the regulations that have proven one of the biggest obstacles to the growth of broadband infrastructure, as the Taxpayers Protection Alliance has previously stated. Permitting delays have slowed deployment, while also increasing costs and leaving rural areas of the U.S. waiting on broadband.

In December, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced a package of bipartisan broadband permitting reforms, perhaps the most impactful of which will likely be the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2025.

That legislation would establish firm timelines for local permitting decisions and allow projects to move forward when governments fail to act. Shot clocks ranging from 60 to 150 days would ensure that broadband projects are judged on their merits—not stalled indefinitely by inaction.

The legislation would also exempt many projects from more rigorous review from the National Historic Preservation Act and Environmental Protection Act. The bill specifies that easement requests for broadband infrastructure projects do not constitute a “major federal action” under those acts, exempting them from meticulous review.

In addition, the Broadband and Telecommunications Rail Act would streamline approvals for fiber running across or alongside rail lines and would let the Federal Communications Commission help resolve disputes that are leaving in limbo integral broadband projects.

That act would also establish shot clocks and limit excessive fees for right-of-way access, which Broadband Association of Virginia President Ray LaMura called “one of the biggest barriers to broadband deployment.”

The wide net of congressional action comes as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration slowly rolls out the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program it is tasked with administering. The Trump administration has eliminated many of the rules BEAD established under the Biden administration that were destined to hamper the program, including rigorous historical and environmental reviews, union labor requirements and a strong preference for fiber over alternative technologies.

Legislation such as Kean’s bill will further help ensure that permitting delays don’t further hinder projects by inflating costs, discouraging investment and leaving customers in rural and tribal areas waiting longer than necessary for high-speed internet.