[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5147 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5147
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes
for personal wireless service facilities, including small personal
wireless service facilities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 4, 2025
Mr. Latta introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to streamline siting processes
for personal wireless service facilities, including small personal
wireless service facilities, and for other purposes.
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 ``Winning the International Race for
Economic Leadership and Expanding Service to Support Leadership Act''
or the ``WIRELESS Leadership Act''.
SEC. 2. PRESERVATION OF LOCAL ZONING AUTHORITY.
Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(c))
is amended by striking paragraph (7) and inserting the following:
``(7) Preservation of local zoning authority.--
``(A) General authority.--Except as provided in
this paragraph, nothing in this Act shall limit or
affect the authority of a State or local government or
instrumentality thereof over decisions regarding the
placement, construction, or modification of personal
wireless service facilities.
``(B) Limitations.--
``(i) In general.--The regulation of the
placement, construction, or modification of a
personal wireless service facility by any State
or local government or instrumentality
thereof--
``(I) shall not discriminate among
personal wireless service facilities or
providers of communications service,
including by providing exclusive or
preferential use of facilities to a
particular provider or class of
providers of personal wireless service;
and
``(II) shall not prohibit or have
the effect of prohibiting the
provision, improvement, or enhancement
of personal wireless service.
``(ii) Engineering standards; aesthetic
requirements.--It is not a violation of clause
(i) for a State or local government or
instrumentality thereof to establish for
personal wireless service facilities, or
structures that support such facilities,
objective, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory--
``(I) structural engineering
standards based on generally applicable
codes;
``(II) safety requirements; or
``(III) aesthetic or concealment
requirements (unless such requirements
prohibit or have the effect of
prohibiting the installation or
modification of such facilities or
structures).
``(iii) Timeframes.--
``(I) In general.--Except in the
case of an eligible facilities request
to which section 6409(a) of the Middle
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act
of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(a)) applies, a
State or local government or
instrumentality thereof shall grant or
deny a complete request for
authorization to place, construct, or
modify a personal wireless service
facility not later than--
``(aa) in the case of a
request for authorization to
place, construct, or modify a
personal wireless service
facility that is not a small
personal wireless service
facility--
``(AA) if the
request is for
authorization to place,
construct, or modify
such facility using an
existing structure,
including with respect
to an area that has not
previously been zoned
for personal wireless
service facilities
(other than small
personal wireless
service facilities), 90
days after the date on
which the complete
request is received by
the government or
instrumentality; or
``(BB) if the
request is for any
other action relating
to such facility, 150
days after the date on
which the complete
request is received by
the government or
instrumentality; and
``(bb) in the case of a
request for authorization to
place, construct, or modify a
small personal wireless service
facility--
``(AA) if the
request is for
authorization to place,
construct, or modify
such facility using an
existing structure, 60
days after the date on
which the complete
request is received by
the government or
instrumentality; or
``(BB) if the
request is for any
other action relating
to such facility, 90
days after the date on
which the complete
request is received by
the government or
instrumentality.
``(II) Treatment of batched
requests.--In the case of complete
requests described in subclause (I)
that are submitted as part of a single
batch and received by the government or
instrumentality on the same day, the
applicable timeframe under such
subclause for each request in the batch
shall be the longest timeframe under
such subclause that would be applicable
to any request in the batch if such
requests were submitted separately.
``(III) Applicability.--The
applicable timeframe under subclause
(I) shall apply collectively to all
proceedings required by a State or
local government or instrumentality
thereof for the approval of the
request.
``(IV) No tolling.--A timeframe
under subclause (I) may not be tolled
by any moratorium, whether express or
de facto, imposed by a State or local
government or instrumentality thereof
on the submission, acceptance, or
consideration of any request for
authorization to place, construct, or
modify a personal wireless service
facility.
``(iv) Deemed granted.--
``(I) In general.--If a State or
local government or instrumentality
thereof fails to take final action to
grant or deny a complete request within
the applicable timeframe under
subclause (I) of clause (iii), the
request shall be deemed granted on the
date on which the government or
instrumentality receives a written
notice of the failure from the
requesting party.
``(II) Rule of construction.--In
the case of a request that is deemed
granted under subclause (I), the
placement, construction, or
modification requested in the request
shall be considered to be authorized,
without any further action by the
government or instrumentality,
beginning on the date on which the
request is deemed granted under such
subclause.
``(v) Written decision and record.--Any
decision by a State or local government or
instrumentality thereof to deny a request for
authorization to place, construct, or modify a
personal wireless service facility shall be--
``(I) in writing;
``(II) supported by substantial
evidence contained in a written record;
and
``(III) publicly released, and
provided to the requesting party, on
the same day such decision is made.
``(vi) Environmental effects of radio
frequency emissions.--No State or local
government or instrumentality thereof may
regulate the operation, placement,
construction, or modification of personal
wireless service facilities on the basis of the
environmental effects of radio frequency
emissions to the extent that such facilities or
structures comply with the Commission's
regulations concerning such emissions.
``(vii) Fees.--To the extent permitted by
law, a State or local government or
instrumentality thereof may charge a fee to
consider a request for authorization to place,
construct, or modify a personal wireless
service facility or a fee for use of a right-
of-way or a facility in a right-of-way owned or
managed by the government or instrumentality
for the placement, construction, or
modification of a personal wireless service
facility, if the fee is--
``(I) competitively neutral,
technology neutral, and
nondiscriminatory;
``(II) established in advance and
publicly disclosed;
``(III) calculated--
``(aa) based on actual and
direct costs for--
``(AA) review and
processing of requests;
and
``(BB) repairs and
replacement of
components and
materials resulting
from and affected by
the placement,
construction, or
modification (including
the installation or
improvement) of
personal wireless
service facilities or
repairs and replacement
of equipment that
facilitates the
placement,
construction, or
modification (including
the installation or
improvement) of such
facilities; and
``(bb) using, for purposes
of item (aa), only costs that
are objectively reasonable; and
``(IV) described to a requesting
party in a manner that distinguishes
between--
``(aa) nonrecurring fees
and recurring fees; and
``(bb) the use of
facilities on which personal
wireless service facilities are
already located and facilities
on which there are no personal
wireless service facilities as
of the date on which the
complete request is received by
the government or
instrumentality.
``(C) Judicial or administrative review.--
``(i) Judicial review.--Any person
adversely affected by any final action or
failure to act by a State or local government
or any instrumentality thereof that is
inconsistent with this paragraph may, within 30
days after the action or failure to act,
commence an action in any court of competent
jurisdiction, which shall hear and decide the
action on an expedited basis.
``(ii) Administrative review.--
``(I) In general.--Any person
adversely affected by any final action
or failure to act by a State or local
government or any instrumentality
thereof that is inconsistent with this
paragraph may petition the Commission
to review such action or failure to
act.
``(II) Timing.--Not later than 120
days after receiving a petition under
subclause (I), the Commission shall
grant or deny such petition.
``(D) When request considered complete; received.--
``(i) When request considered complete.--
``(I) In general.--For the purposes
of this paragraph, a request to a State