Sponsors
The bill aims to speed communications infrastructure deployment and clarify permitting on federal lands, but progress may be delayed by study requirements, increase agency and taxpayer costs, and create environmental tradeoffs if safeguards aren't maintained.
Rural and urban communities and consumers could get faster and better internet service if agencies identify and remove land‑use barriers and adopt regulatory/staffing changes that speed communications infrastructure buildout.
Local and state governments would have clearer permitting processes and timelines for siting communications facilities on public and National Forest lands, potentially smoothing coordination with federal agencies.
Required studies and reviews could delay immediate permitting reforms and postpone faster broadband deployment, meaning communities would wait longer for improvements.
Implementing recommended staffing increases at DOI and USDA could raise agency costs, potentially requiring budget reallocation or additional appropriations that would affect taxpayers and state budgets.
Expediting communications authorizations on public lands risks environmental or recreational conflicts if not balanced with conservation protections, potentially harming landscapes and local recreation economies.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs Interior and Agriculture/Forest Service to study barriers and recommend regulatory, prioritization, and staffing changes to speed reviews of broadband land use authorizations; report due in 1 year.
Requires the Interior Department and the Agriculture Department (through the Forest Service) to study how each agency reviews and approves requests to place or modify communications facilities on public lands and National Forest System lands. Within one year, the agencies must jointly report study findings to several House and Senate committees and include recommendations on barriers, regulatory changes, prioritization processes, and staffing plans to speed up reviews of easements, rights-of-way, leases, licenses, and similar land use authorizations for broadband facilities. Also designates an official short title for the Act; it does not provide new funding or immediately change existing rules. The main outcome is a joint report with a plan for improving timeliness of federal land authorizations for broadband deployment.
Introduced September 17, 2025 by Thomas Kean · Last progress March 4, 2026