- No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
PLAN for Broadband Act
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
<p><strong>Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act or the PLAN for Broadband Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to develop and implement a national strategy to improve the coordination and management of federal broadband programs and agency consideration of applications to build or maintain broadband infrastructure on federal property. </p><p>The NTIA must also develop and publish for public comment a plan for the implementation of the national strategy. Among other requirements, the implementation plan must establish, for federal broadband programs that are not technologically neutral (i.e., programs that involve a preference for certain broadband technologies), a ceiling on the amount of funding that may be awarded to support the provision of broadband service to a single location. </p><p>The bill also requires executive branch agencies to identify and address factors that contribute to delays in their review of applications for easements, rights-of-way, or leases related to communications infrastructure projects on federal property. (Under current law, agencies are generally required to act on such applications within 270 days.) Agencies must also establish methods to alert employees when the agency is at risk of failing to meet the 270-day deadline with respect to a particular application. </p><p>Finally, the bill lowers the cost threshold for certain broadband infrastructure projects to qualify as <em>covered projects</em> under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act from $200 million to $5 million.
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
<p><strong>Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act or the PLAN for Broadband Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to develop and implement a national strategy to improve the coordination and management of federal broadband programs and agency consideration of applications to build or maintain broadband infrastructure on federal property. </p><p>The NTIA must also develop and publish for public comment a plan for the implementation of the national strategy.
Among other requirements, the implementation plan must establish, for federal broadband programs that are not technologically neutral (i.e., programs that involve a preference for certain broadband technologies), a ceiling on the amount of funding that may be awarded to support the provision of broadband service to a single location. </p><p>The bill also requires executive branch agencies to identify and address factors that contribute to delays in their review of applications for easements, rights-of-way, or leases related to communications infrastructure projects on federal property. (Under current law, agencies are generally required to act on such applications within 270 days.) Agencies must also establish methods to alert employees when the agency is at risk of failing to meet the 270-day deadline with respect to a particular application. </p><p>Finally, the bill lowers the cost threshold for certain broadband infrastructure projects to qualify as <em>covered projects</em> under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act from $200 million to $5 million.
This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.
How solid the drafting looks.
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Who stands to gain, and who may push back.
These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.
- No clear downsides surfaced yet.
Why the argument around this bill splits.
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
The path through Congress.
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Still ahead
Still ahead
Still ahead
This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.
- The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
Recent votes on the bill.
No vote history yet
The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.
Go deeper than the headline read.
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.
Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for PLAN for Broadband Act.
Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.