House Communications Subcommittee Advances GOP Broadband Permitting Package

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2025 – The House Communications and Technology Subcommittee cleared a raft of GOP-led broadband permitting legislation Tuesday.

The bills would make it easier for ISPs to cross railroad lines, set shot clocks and fee limits on state and local permitting agencies, and exempt certain projects from environmental and historical reviews, among other things.

The legislation approved by the subcommittee would give state and local permitting authorities 90 days to approve or deny requests to modify existing broadband infrastructure, and 150 days to approve or deny requests for new construction. After those windows, the request would be deemed granted.

Lawmakers approved seven bills, the last of which was amended to include language from the 21 additional bills slated for consideration Tuesday. 

Six of the bills, largely related to creating online application processes for broadband permits on federal lands, plus the railroad crossing bill, were bipartisan. The other main goals of the package, especially shot clocks on state and local permit processing, were the subject of heated debate.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairman of the subcommittee, said the goal was to prevent ISPs from waiting months and losing cash while local permitting processes dragged on and held up deployments.

“With billions of dollars ready to go for broadband deployment, we have to provide accountability for agencies and certainty to providers on whether or not they’ll get their permits approved,” he said. “Delays in the permitting process have the potential to ruin the success of connecting all Americans, and we cannot risk this money getting wasted.”

Hudson was referring to the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. The Commerce Department announced Tuesday that 18 states and territories had their tentative grant winners approved, and that one state, Louisiana, had access to its cash already.

For the subcommittee Democrats, delays at the local level were either the result of necessary planning or a lack of resources, and the shot clocks were an effort to allow ISPs and carriers to build where they liked without addressing either issue.

“What possible advantage would come from deliberately ignoring or delaying requests to improve service for their constituents?” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., the top Democrat on the House Commerce Committee.

One of the approved bills would also tie funding under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program to efforts to curb permitting fees. The legislation would prevent the Commerce Department from releasing additional money to states and territories if they charged permitting fees deemed unreasonable by the law.

The subcommittee forwarded to the full Energy and Commerce Committee the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act, the Facilitating DIGITAL Applications Act, the DIGITAL Applications Act, the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Act, the Standard FEES Act, the Broadband and Telecommunications RAIL Act, and the Proportional Reviews for Broadband Deployment Act. The last was amended to include the remaining bills set to be considered Tuesday, and each bill was passed by voice vote.

The full committee would have to clear the bills before the House itself could take them up. A similar package of bills failed to make it out of the chamber last Congress.

Industry and FCC support, local gov'ts oppose

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr was happy to see the bills move forward. 

"This package of common sense permitting reforms will help unleash additional broadband infrastructure builds in communities all across the country,” he said in a statement. “This will not only ensure that more families have access to high-speed connectivity, but it will drive down the prices for broadband services by cutting out excessive costs.”

The FCC is undertaking two proceedings seeking comment on state and local rules the companies say are holding up both wireline and wireless deployment. The ultimate goal is to potentially preempt rules using the agency’s power under the Communications Act, similar to steps the agency took around small cell permits in 2018. 

The agency is also looking to overhaul its environmental permitting process.

The Competitive Carriers Association, the Wireless Infrastructure Association, and ACA Connects each cheered the bills.

“Streamlining permitting requirements will decrease the arduous challenges faced by small and rural providers looking to build and deploy broadband infrastructure,” CCA CEO Tim Donovan said in a statement. “Congress must act now to ensure that current federal permitting processes do not delay or altogether prohibit broadband deployment particularly in rural, high-cost, unserved, or underserved areas, and that federal siting and permitting policies help deliver ubiquitous broadband service across the country.”

A coalition of groups representing local governments opposed many of the bills. 

“These bills represent an unprecedented federal intrusion into established local decision-making processes, favoring large broadband, telecommunications, wireless, and cable companies at the expense of residents and taxpayers,” they wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “These bills strip local governments of the ability to effectively manage the infrastructure built on local streets and in neighborhoods, while imposing no reciprocal obligations on providers.”

The letter was signed by the United States Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors.

Trade groups, including NCTA and CTIA, which represent larger cable operators and wireless carriers, were also pleased about the RAIL Act. The bill would set deadlines for railroad companies to approve ISPs' crossing applications, and make them harder to deny.

NCTA called it “key legislation that will help resolve the obstacles broadband providers too often encounter when building across railroad infrastructure. This legislation will help speed deployment particularly in rural areas. We look forward to continued collaboration with the bill’s sponsors as this important effort moves forward.”

Failed amendments

Democrats on the subcommittee tried to attach multiple amendments to the legislation, each of which failed after party line votes. 

Those included efforts to require Commerce to disburse all BEAD funds to states and territories before any permitting changes went into effect (the agency isn’t eager for states to spend much of the program’s money not needed for broadband deployment), strike the “deemed granted” provisions, provide funding for local permitting agencies to staff up, and require providers to serve every location in an area where they receive a permit under the new rules.

Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., also proposed an unsuccessful amendment that would have required Commerce's Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program to disburse its funding before the changes went into effect. The agency is revising its rules for the program before making more awards.