Senators Release Details of BEAD Permitting Bill
The proposal would require NTIA to publicly track broadband deployment progress
WASHINGTON, May 6, 2026 – A Senate bill released Thursday would require federal officials to create public tracking tools for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment projects.
The Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026, led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to create a public dashboard tracking deployment progress across states and territories.
Under the proposal, the dashboard would display information including how much BEAD funding states have spent, how many locations have received broadband service, and how many households are subscribing to networks built with BEAD support.
The bill would also require NTIA to create tools helping states identify federal permit requirements for broadband subgrantees and monitor permit application progress.
Sens. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., joined as co-sponsors.
The legislation seeks to address permitting delays that lawmakers and broadband providers have blamed for slowing broadband construction projects in recent years.
The proposal would require federal agencies to regularly report to Congress on permitting compliance and processing timelines. It also directs Arielle Roth, assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information and NTIA administrator, to improve interagency coordination and permitting communications.
The bill would establish warning systems for applications at risk of missing statutory deadlines and would expand use of the FAST-41 federal permitting framework for certain large broadband infrastructure projects requiring environmental review.
Projects would qualify for the streamlined coordination process if they exceed $5 million in investment and are subject to National Environmental Policy Act review requirements.
The legislation would impose new reporting and administrative requirements on NTIA and other federal agencies.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
