April 21, 2026
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to submit to Congress a plan for the Assistant Secretary to track the acceptance, processing, and disposal of certain Form 299s, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act
.
Sec. 2. Plan for assistant secretary to track the acceptance, processing, and disposal of certain form 299s
(a) Plan
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a plan containing a description of—
(1)
the process by which the Assistant Secretary proposes to—
(A)
track the acceptance, processing, and disposal of each Form 299 for communications use authorization;
(B)
provide applicants additional transparency with respect to the status of the applicable Form 299 for communications use authorization; and
(C)
most expeditiously implement the plan; and
(2)
any potential barriers to implementing the plan that are identified by the Assistant Secretary.
(b) Definitions
In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees
The term appropriate congressional committees
means—
(A)
the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; and
(B)
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
(2) Assistant secretary
The term Assistant Secretary
means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information.
(3) Communications facility
The term communications facility
has the meaning given the term communications facility installation in section 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)).
(4) Communications use
The term communications use
means the placement and operation of a communications facility.
(5) Communications use authorization
The term communications use authorization
means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or other authorization—
(A)
provided by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture;
(B)
to locate or modify a communications facility on covered land; and
(C)
for the primary purpose of authorizing the occupancy and use of such covered land for communications use.
(6) Covered land
The term covered land
means—
(A)
public lands; and
(B)
National Forest System land.
(7) Form 299
The term Form 299
means the form established under section 6409(b)(2)(A) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(2)(A)), or any successor form.
(8) National forest system
The term National Forest System
has the meaning given the term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).
(9) Public lands
The term public lands
means land under the management of—
(A)
the Bureau of Land Management;
(B)
the National Park Service;
(C)
the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; or
(D)
the Bureau of Reclamation.