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Congressional Daily Record
This section focuses on legislation moving through Congress. It mentions committees such as Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, members such as John Thune.
Issued
April 30, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextBy Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. Lujan, and Mr. Barrasso):
S. 4448. A bill to require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to create tools for tracking the progress of grant recipients under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, to require the Assistant Secretary to help
processing communications use applications, and for other purposes; 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.
S. 4448
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 “Accelerating Broadband
Permits Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. TRACKING BEAD PROGRESS AND PERMITS.
(a) Progress Dashboard.—Section 60102(j) of the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702(j)) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
“(5) Progress dashboard.—The Assistant Secretary shall
make available on a public website a dashboard that tracks
the progress of each eligible entity through major milestones
under the Program, including—
“(A) the amount of grant funds received under this section
that the eligible entity has expended; and
“(B) the number of locations at which broadband service
has been made available using grant funds received by the
eligible entity under this section, and the number of those
locations at which broadband service has been utilized.”.
(b) Tracking Permits.—Section 60102(h) of the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702(h)) is
amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
“(6) Tracking permits.—The Assistant Secretary shall
create a tool to help each eligible entity—
“(A) identify the relevant Federal permit requirements for
each subgrantee of the eligible entity; and
“(B) monitor the progress of each subgrantee of the
eligible entity toward obtaining Federal permits.”.
SEC. 3. TRACKING AND IMPROVING PROCESSING TIMES FOR
COMMUNICATIONS USE APPLICATIONS.
Section 6409(b)(3) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job
Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(3)) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
“(E) Tracking and improving processing times.—
“(i) Data controls.—Not later than 90 days after the date
of enactment of the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of
2026, the Assistant Secretary shall develop controls to
ensure that data is sufficiently accurate and complete for an
executive agency to track the processing time for each
application described in subparagraph (A) received by the
executive agency.
“(ii) Requirement to analyze, address, and report on delay
factors.—With respect to the factors that contribute to
delays in processing applications described in subparagraph
(A), the Assistant Secretary shall—
“(I) analyze the factors as the delays are occurring;
“(II) take actions to address the factors; and
“(III) provide an annual report on the factors to—
“(aa) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate;
“(bb) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the
Senate;
“(cc) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives; and
“(dd) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives.
“(iii) Method for alerting staff to at-risk
applications.—Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026,
the Assistant Secretary shall establish a method to alert
employees of an executive agency to any application described
in subparagraph (A) with respect to which the executive
agency is at risk of failing to meet the 270-day deadline
under that subparagraph.”.
SEC. 4. MINIMUM BROADBAND PROJECT COST.
Section 41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A))
is amended—
(1) in clause (iii), by striking “or” at the end;
(2) by redesignating clause (iv) as clause (v); and
(3) by inserting after clause (iii) the following:
“(iv)(I) is subject to NEPA;
“(II) involves the construction of infrastructure for
broadband; and
“(III) is likely to require a total investment of more
than $5,000,000; or”.
By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Ms. Hirono, and Mr. Booker):
S. 4449. A bill to strengthen Federal data collection regarding the teacher and principal workforce; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
S. 4449
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 “Strengthening Educator
Workforce Data Act”.
SEC. 2. CIVIL RIGHTS DATA COLLECTION ON THE EDUCATOR
WORKFORCE.
(a) Mandatory Educator Workforce Data Collection.—In
carrying out the civil rights data collection required under
section 203(c)(1) of the Department of Education Organization
Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(c)(1)), the Assistant Secretary for Civil
Rights of the Department shall, as part of the data
collection, collect and publish the data described in
subsection (b) on the educator workforce with respect to
teachers and principals.
(b) Metrics.—
(1) In general.—A civil rights data collection described
in subsection (a) shall include the following metrics from
each local educational agency and public elementary school or
secondary school that is required to respond to such data
collection:
(A) Principal data.—For each local educational agency, the
following data regarding principals employed at public
elementary schools and secondary schools served by the local
educational agency:
(i) The number of full-time principals employed.
(ii) Including the year of the data collection—
(I) the median number of years of principal experience of
full-time principals employed; and
(II) the years of experience of the full-time principals
employed, based on the following categories:
(aa) Less than 1 year of principal experience.
(bb) At least 1 year but less than 3 years of principal
experience.
(cc) At least 3 years but less than 7 years of principal
experience.
(dd) At least 7 years but less than 15 years of principal
experience.
(ee) 15 or more years of principal experience.
(B) Teacher data.—For each local educational agency and
public elementary school or secondary school, the following
data regarding teachers employed at all public elementary
schools and secondary schools served by a local educational
agency, and each such school, respectively:
(i) The number of full-time teachers employed.
(ii) Including the year of the data collection, but
excluding student teaching and similar teaching preparation
experiences—
(I) the median number of years of teaching experience of
full-time teachers employed; and
(II) the years of experience of the full-time teachers
employed, based on the following categories:
(aa) Less than 1 year of teaching experience.
(bb) At least 1 year but less than 2 years of teaching
experience.
(cc) At least 2 years but less than 5 years of teaching
experience.
(dd) At least 5 years but less than 10 years of teaching
experience.
(ee) At least 10 years but less than 20 years of teaching
experience.
(ff) 20 or more years of teaching experience.
(iii) The number of full-time teachers employed who meet
all State licensing and certification requirements.
(iv) The number of full-time teachers employed who do not
meet all State licensing and certification requirements.
(v) The numbers of full-time teachers employed who meet all
State license, certificate, and endorsement requirements in
each of the following:
(I) Mathematics.
(II) Science.
(III) English as a second language.
(IV) Special education.
(2) Disaggregation and cross-tabulation.—The Secretary
shall collect the data described in paragraph (1) in a manner
that allows the disaggregation and cross-tabulation of each
data category (including each subcategory) described in such
paragraph by race, ethnicity, and sex, subject to subsection
(d).
(c) Reporting Requirements.—
(1) Special report.—Upon the conclusion of each civil
rights data collection that includes the data required under
subsection (b), the Secretary, acting through the Assistant
Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department, shall prepare a
special report regarding the educator workforce.
(2) Contents.—The report required under paragraph (1)
shall—
(A) be accessible through the website of the Office for
Civil Rights of the Department;
(B) include information on—
(i) for each State, the total number of principals in the
educator workforce, as calculated in the most recent civil
rights data collection that includes the data required under
subsection (b), based on a summary of the data collected in
accordance with this section; and
(ii) for each State, the total number of teachers in the
educator workforce, as calculated in such data collection,
based on a summary of the data collected in accordance with
this section; and
(C) for each category described in subparagraph (B),
present in an easily accessible manner, such as through
percentages or a graph or other visual representation, the—
(i) disaggregated results based on race, ethnicity, and
sex; and
(ii) the disaggregated results based on the years of
experience categories under subparagraph (A)(ii)(II) or
(B)(ii)(II) of subsection (b)(1), as applicable.
(3) Access to data.—The Secretary shall make the
underlying data used for the report under paragraph (1)
accessible to the public through the website of the Office
for Civil Rights of the Department.
(d) Data Privacy.—In carrying out data collection,
disaggregation, cross-tabulation, and reporting in accordance
with this section and under section 203(c)(1) of the
Department of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C.
3413(c)(1)), the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the
Department shall coordinate with the Chief Privacy Officer of
the Department to ensure that teacher and principal privacy
is protected and that individually identifiable information
about teachers and principals remains confidential.
(e) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) ESEA definitions.—The terms “Department”,
“elementary school”, “local educational agency”,
“secondary school”, and “State” have the meanings given
such terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(2) Teacher.—The term “teacher” means an individual
employed as a teacher, including a preschool teacher, at a
public elementary school or secondary school.
(f) Applicability.—This section shall apply with respect
to each civil rights data collection required under section
203(c)(1) of the Department of Education Organization Act
that begins on or after the date of enactment of this Act.