Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act

What this does

The bill orders the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to stand up an interagency strike force within 180 days of enactment. The strike force exists to push the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, down to their field and district offices, to prioritize reviewing requests to place or modify communications equipment on public land and National Forest System land. Its members are the Assistant Secretary, the heads of those two agencies, and designees of the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior. Its duties are to hold periodic calls, set objective goals for how fast those requests get reviewed, and track whether the agencies meet those goals. The Assistant Secretary must report to named congressional committees within 270 days on how well the strike force is working. The bill creates no new approval standard and no deadline for any individual permit. It defines the equipment, land, and authorizations it covers by cross-reference to existing statutes.