House Passes Slate of Broadband Bills
They included the Senate-approved Rural Broadband Protection Act.
WASHINGTON, April 21, 2026 – The House passed a slate of broadband bills Monday and Tuesday, including legislation to speed permitting on federal lands, more closely scrutinize subsidy participants, and updating emergency alerts.
The American Broadband Deployment Act, championed by industry groups and fiercely opposed by local governments, has yet to be considered. It was placed on the chamber’s calendar for this week but wasn’t brought Monday and isn’t on the schedule for Tuesday.
The House passed Monday a bill that would reauthorize the FirstNet Authority, the agency tasked with managing the nationwide first responder network owned and operated by AT&T, and bring it under closer Commerce Department oversight.
Rural Broadband Protection Act
The House passed the bill by voice vote Monday. It’s already been approved by the Senate, where Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., led the legislation.
The bill would require stronger vetting of broadband providers looking to participate in one of the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund programs. ISPs seeking dollars from the High Cost program, which funds the construction and maintenance of rural networks, would have to submit documentation on their finances and business plan to ensure they could meet their commitments.
The FCC would have to start a rulemaking to that effect within 180 days of the bill passing into law. The House had already passed the bill last year, but because the Senate cleared a differently numbered version the House had to pass the Senate version separately.
NTCA, which represents rural ISPs, many of which participate in USF programs, was happy.
“Better vetting of providers’ capabilities before they are awarded such funds is good public policy and common sense,” Mike Romano, the group’s CEO, said in a statement. “NTCA is delighted that the Rural Broadband Protection Act has passed the House and the Senate, and we look forward to seeing it signed into law.”
The legislation will now head to President Donald Trump’s desk. It was sponsored in the House by Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind.
Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act
The House passed the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act by voice vote Monday.
The bill would direct Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to create an “interagency strike force” with the heads of each federal land management agency, with the goal of prioritizing permitting request by communications providers.
The group would hold periodic calls and submit a report to Congress on its work within 270 days.
NTIA has already been collaborating with other federal agencies to ease federal permitting for its $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. That has included meeting with federal land management agencies and setting up an online system for shepherding projects through federal environmental and historical reviews.
Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act
The House also passed the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act by voice vote Monday.
The bill would require NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth to produce a plan for tracking federal broadband permit applications providing companies “additional transparency” on their applications.
Emergency Reporting Act
The House passed the Emergency Reporting Act by a 386-7 vote Monday. Each opponent was a Republican.
The bill would direct the FCC to hold at least one hearing annually on recent natural disasters that triggered its disaster reporting system for telecom companies. The agency would also have to produce reports on the impacts of each of those weather events.
Kari’s Law Reporting Act
The House passed the Kari’s Law Reporting Act by a 405-5 vote Tuesday. The opponents were each Republican.
The bill would direct the FCC to produce a report on how fully companies were complying with Kari’s Law, which requires phone systems in places like hotels and offices to allow dialers to reach 911 without a prefix.
Mystic Alerts Act
The House passed the Mystic Alerts Act by voice vote Monday. It would direct the FCC to begin the rulemaking process for allowing emergency alerts to be delivered to mobile devices via satellite.
Rural Telehealth
The House also passed by voice vote Tuesday a bill to reauthorize rural telehealth grant programs through 2030.
Member discussion