Sponsors (4)
Ask me how I read this bill.
This is not an official government website.
Copyright © 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Directs the Federal Communications Commission to tighten U.S. rules for subsea and for any terrestrial cables that directly connect the United States with foreign countries: require FCC membership in an international cable-protection body, new licensing and security standards, faster review timelines, mandatory incident reporting, and stronger criminal penalties for damage. It also creates a streamlined federal permitting approach for cable landings, requires interagency studies and annual foreign-actor incident reports, and pushes for international agreements on minimum cable security standards.
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall take such actions as are necessary to become a member of the International Cable Protection Committee.
"Commission" means the Federal Communications Commission.
"Covered countries" means Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
"Cybersecurity risk" means a threat to or vulnerability of information or an information system, including unauthorized access, use, disclosure, degradation, disruption, modification, destruction, or an act of terrorism; it does not include actions that only violate a consumer term of service or consumer licensing agreement.
"Federal authorization" means any authorization required under Federal law for a submarine cable or a terrestrial telecommunications cable, including authorizations for construction, repair, maintenance, or landing stations, and includes licenses, permits, certifications, opinions, and other approvals required under Federal law for such cables or landing stations.
Who is affected and how:
Telecommunications and broadband service providers and submarine/landing-station operators: Face new and clarified licensing duties for submarine cables and any terrestrial cable that directly links the U.S. with a foreign country; must comply with new security standards, faster licensing timetables, and stricter incident reporting and documentation requirements. The single application process could simplify paperwork but imposes compliance costs and security-related conditions.
Repair contractors and maintenance crews: Must file damage and repair reports to the FCC within 7 days after repair begins; failure to report or incomplete reporting could trigger enforcement or licensing consequences.
Federal agencies (FCC, DHS/CISA, Department of the Navy, NOAA, Army Corps of Engineers, State Department): Will take on or expand responsibilities — FCC must develop security standards, adjudicate licenses quickly, and produce annual incident reports; Army Corps must issue a nationwide permit and adopt permit standards; CISA/Navy/NOAA will receive and act on outage reports; Secretary of State must pursue international security agreements.
State and local governments and permitting authorities: The Act narrows the space for state/local or duplicative federal environmental or approval requirements for licensed cables by blocking many additional approvals when a license and nationwide permit are in place. This can speed deployment but reduce local input or review opportunities.
National security stakeholders and allied partners: The measure tightens foreign-adversary limits, increases coordination with defense and intelligence entities, mandates international coordination on minimum standards, and creates annual public reporting on foreign‑actor incidents — all aimed at bolstering supply-chain and communications resilience.
Environmental and coastal stakeholders: The nationwide permit and preemption of some approvals could reduce the number or scope of separate environmental reviews, which could be contested by environmental groups or local communities concerned about ecological impacts at landing sites.
General public and downstream users (businesses and consumers): Intended to improve the security and reliability of international communications infrastructure, but potential tradeoffs include faster deployment with less local review and increased compliance costs that may affect business timelines.
Individuals who damage cables: Face much higher criminal exposure — substantially longer prison terms and updated fines.
Overall effect: The bill centralizes and accelerates federal control over planning, licensing, permitting, security standards, and incident reporting for critical undersea communications infrastructure and for any terrestrial cable that directly connects the United States to a foreign country. It prioritizes national security and continuity of communications, while reducing some local and interagency permitting processes; that will speed certain projects but raise concerns among environmental and local stakeholders and impose new compliance obligations on industry and federal agencies.
Replaces the existing penalty provision for willful and wrongful injury (or attempts, or aiding/abetting) to submarine cables: increases maximum imprisonment and removes fixed dollar maximums, instead referencing fines under title 18, U.S. Code.
Amends the Act of May 27, 1921 (codified at 47 U.S.C. 34 et seq.) to transfer certain licensing authorities from the President to the Federal Communications Commission, add prohibitions on issuance of licenses for specified submarine cables, impose incident reporting and security rulemaking requirements, set review and consultation requirements, and establish a 540-day decision deadline with a deemed-grant if the Commission does not decide.
Expand sections to see detailed analysis
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced May 19, 2025 by Rudy Yakym · Last progress May 19, 2025
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House