S 4448

Introduced

Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026

To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to create tools for tracking the progress of grant recipients under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, to require the Assistant Secretary to help executive agencies improve compliance with the statutory deadline for processing communications use applications, and for other purposes.

Introduced Apr 30, 2026

Latest action (Jul 22, 2026) Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

Referred to

Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee

Policy area

Science, Technology, Communications

Issues

Technology & Privacy

Summary

Requires the Assistant Secretary of Commerce to create a public dashboard tracking progress of broadband grant recipients, including funds expended and locations where broadband service is made available
Requires creation of a tool to help eligible entities identify federal permit requirements and monitor subgrantee progress toward obtaining federal permits
Requires the Assistant Secretary to develop data controls within 90 days to ensure accurate tracking of communications use application processing times
Requires analysis of factors contributing to delays in application processing and annual reports to Congress on those delay factors
Requires establishment of a method to alert agency staff to applications at risk of missing the 270-day processing deadline
Includes broadband infrastructure projects over $5 million that are subject to NEPA in minimum project costs

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] (R-SD)

2 cosponsors

Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY] (R-WY)
Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM)

Actions (3)

Jul 22, 2026 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably. · senate
Apr 30, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text: CR S2173) · senate
Apr 30, 2026 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Committee action

What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Business meeting to markup S.1759, to allow for the operation of civil supersonic flight in the national airspace system under certain conditions, S.3258, to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to publish the list of medications that the Administrator has compiled for purposes of the medical certification of airmen and air traffic control specialists, S.3885, to provide for updates to the Federal Aviation Administration type certification process to support development of new and novel technologies, S.4429, to prohibit the importation, manufacture, sale, resale, or introduction into interstate commerce in the United States of connected vehicles and related software and hardware associated with foreign adversaries, S.4448, to require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to create tools for tracking the progress of grant recipients under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, to require the Assistant Secretary to help executive agencies improve compliance with the statutory deadline for processing communications use applications, S.4691, to support improved awareness and coordination of Federal communications resources during disasters and emergencies, S.4802, to provide for the acquisition by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of aircraft for air, atmosphere, and weather reconnaissance and research missions, and the nominations of Thomas B. Chapman, of Maryland, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Edward Eppler, of Connecticut, to be Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transportation, Karen Jean Hedlund, of New York, to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board, Brien Lorenze, of Virginia, and Karen Sessions, of Texas, each to be a Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and David Cummins, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration.Commerce, Science, and Transportation CommitteeJul 22, 2026Business meeting

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 30, 2026

Mr. Thune (for himself, Mr. Lujan, and Mr. Barrasso) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026”.

SEC. 2. TRACKING BEAD PROGRESS AND PERMITS.

(a) Progress Dashboard.—Section 60102(j) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702(j)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(5) Progress dashboard.—The Assistant Secretary shall make available on a public website a dashboard that tracks the progress of each eligible entity through major milestones under the Program, including—

“(A) the amount of grant funds received under this section that the eligible entity has expended; and

“(B) the number of locations at which broadband service has been made available using grant funds received by the eligible entity under this section, and the number of those locations at which broadband service has been utilized.”.

(b) Tracking Permits.—Section 60102(h) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (47 U.S.C. 1702(h)) is amended—

(1) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7); and

(2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:

“(6) Tracking permits.—The Assistant Secretary shall create a tool to help each eligible entity—

“(A) identify the relevant Federal permit requirements for each subgrantee of the eligible entity; and

“(B) monitor the progress of each subgrantee of the eligible entity toward obtaining Federal permits.”.

SEC. 3. TRACKING AND IMPROVING PROCESSING TIMES FOR COMMUNICATIONS USE APPLICATIONS.

Section 6409(b)(3) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(E) Tracking and improving processing times.—

“(i) Data controls.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026, the Assistant Secretary shall develop controls to ensure that data is sufficiently accurate and complete for an executive agency to track the processing time for each application described in subparagraph (A) received by the executive agency.

“(ii) Requirement to analyze, address, and report on delay factors.—With respect to the factors that contribute to delays in processing applications described in subparagraph (A), the Assistant Secretary shall—

“(I) analyze the factors as the delays are occurring;

“(II) take actions to address the factors; and

“(III) provide an annual report on the factors to— “(aa) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; “(bb) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate;

“(cc) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; and

“(dd) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives.

“(iii) Method for alerting staff to at- risk applications.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026, the Assistant Secretary shall establish a method to alert employees of an executive agency to any application described in subparagraph (A) with respect to which the executive agency is at risk of failing to meet the 270-day deadline under that subparagraph.”.

SEC. 4. MINIMUM BROADBAND PROJECT COST.

Section 41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A)) is amended—

(1) in clause (iii), by striking “or” at the end;

(2) by redesignating clause (iv) as clause (v); and

(3) by inserting after clause (iii) the following:

“(iv)(I) is subject to NEPA;

“(II) involves the construction of infrastructure for broadband; and

“(III) is likely to require a total investment of more than $5,000,000; or”. <all>

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