This bill requires the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to build public tools and controls to track broadband grant and permit progress. For the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program it would create a public dashboard that shows each eligible entity’s major milestones, how much BEAD grant money has been spent, and how many locations now have and use broadband paid for with those funds. It also requires a tool to help eligible entities identify which Federal permits their subgrantees need and to monitor subgrantees’ progress obtaining those permits.
The bill also amends rules for processing communications use applications. The Assistant Secretary must develop data controls within 90 days so executive agencies can track application processing times, set up a method within 90 days to alert agency staff when an application is at risk of missing the 270-day processing deadline, analyze and act on factors that cause delays as they occur, and provide an annual report on delay factors to four specified congressional committees.
Finally, the bill changes a definition related to NEPA by adding a clause that counts a broadband infrastructure project as meeting a minimum project-cost condition when it is subject to NEPA and is likely to require more than $5,000,000 in total investment.
No publicly available information on costs or budgetary effects is provided in the bill text or metadata.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.