Washington, D.C. — Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chair Bob Latta (R-OH) delivered the following opening remarks at today’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee markup of 28 bills to close the digital divide.

Excerpts and highlights below:

REMOVING BARRIERS TO BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT

“Good morning and welcome to today’s subcommittee markup of 27 pieces of legislation to remove barriers to broadband deployment.

“The bills we are considering today will reduce or eliminate unnecessary, restrictive permitting policies that threaten the success of the largest investment in broadband infrastructure this country has ever made.

“I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: the infrastructure law was a missed opportunity to enact meaningful permitting reform.

“Today, we have the opportunity to fix that mistake.

“While I am happy that several of the bills before us are bipartisan, it is disheartening that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were unwilling to work with us on the rest of the bills in this package.

“Our proposals make meaningful, commonsense reforms to many permitting processes that are barriers to broadband deployment.

“With the legislation we are considering today, we are acting to modernize broadband permitting in three important ways.

“Number one: streamlining state and local permitting processes.

“Number two: reducing permitting barriers on federal property.

“Number three: removing cumbersome environmental and historical review processes for broadband deployment in certain circumstances.”

WIRELESS LEADERSHIP ACT

“Included in this markup is a bill I’m proud to lead, the WIRELESS Leadership Act.

“This bill places reasonable limitations on state and local governments for what fees they may charge and will prevent them from delaying application approvals.

“Specifically, it provides much needed transparency into the application process for broadband providers, which helps in the effort to invest in new or upgraded infrastructure.

“These companies deserve a timely and predictable response to their applications.

“It would also impose clear shot clocks that would provide reasonable expectations for both applicants and local governments.

“Additionally, my legislation would address state and local governments that prohibit the deployment of broadband infrastructure or fail to act on an application.

“Applications that a state or local government fails to grant or deny within the timeframe described in the bill would be ‘deemed granted.’”

SPEEDING UP DEPLOYMENT OF BROADBAND TO RURAL AREAS

“In addition to my legislation, we will forward on to the full committee 18 bills that will speed up deployment of broadband to rural areas and streamline the network upgrade process, allowing faster broadband speeds for more Americans.

“Additionally, we are going to consider eight bills that take steps to streamline the cumbersome requirements to deploy broadband on federal lands.

“These bills will fast track deployment, encourage network upgrades, and simplify the historical and environmental review processes.

“The federal government has now dedicated billions of dollars to connect all Americans through a variety of programs.

“We’ve heard it time and time again: reforming and simplifying broadband permitting is the only way we make this money go further and connect more Americans faster.

“Over the last serval years, billions of dollars have been made available for state and local governments that can be used to increase staff to process applications, and we heard from witnesses that resources could be helpful.

“The resources are there and should be dedicated to process permits to avoid these issues.

“House Republicans aren’t the only ones preaching this message.

“In fact, even the Biden administration’s Notice of Funding Opportunity for the BEAD Program requires states to identify actionable steps to ‘reduce costs and barriers to deployment, promote the use of existing infrastructure,’ including expediting permitting timelines and waiving fees.

“The Biden-Harris Permitting Action Plan calls for many of the solutions we’ve put forward today.

“The goal of closing the digital divide cannot be accomplished without improving the permitting process, particularly on federal lands.

“Despite these recommendations, many of the bills being considered today do not have Democratic support, but we welcome your support as we move forward to full committee.”

SPECTRUM

“Lastly, will consider legislation to extend FCC’s spectrum auction authority.

“It is vitally important that we continue to push for a long-term spectrum auction authority solution and this legislation is a step in that direction.

“I would like to thank the members of the subcommittee for their work on these measures, and I look forward to advancing them to the full committee.”