Accelerating Broadband Permits Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (text: continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) S1581)
Accelerating Broadband Permits Act
This bill makes specified changes to processes for federal review of certain communications and broadband infrastructure projects.
Specifically, the bill 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. (Under current law, executive branch agencies with control over buildings or property may grant such easements, rights-of-way, or leases to entities seeking to install, construct, modify, or maintain communications facilities. Generally, agencies must act on such applications within 270 days.)
Under the bill, agencies must develop controls to ensure accurate tracking of processing times for such applications and take action to address factors contributing to delays as they occur. 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. (These provisions were recommended by the Government Accountability Office in an April 2024 report to Congress entitled Broadband Deployment: Agencies Should Take Steps to Better Meet Deadline for Processing Permits .)
Separately, the bill lowers the cost threshold for certain broadband infrastructure projects to qualify as covered projects under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act from $200 million to $5 million. Such projects qualify for expedited federal environmental review.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 5, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 5, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (text: CR S1581)
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
John Thune (R-SD) introduced it on March 5, 2025, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 5, 2025, 554 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 554 days ago, on March 5, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers