Local governments play a critical role in enabling broadband deployment while ensuring projects are safe, efficient and coordinated. However, legislation scheduled to be before the U.S. House would limit the ability of local governments to manage public rights-of-way and negotiate cable franchise agreements—functions that are essential to ensuring efficient infrastructure deployment, protecting public safety, and coordinating with existing utilities.
H.R. 2289 would create a one-size-fits-all federal approach that would unnecessarily preempt state and local authority and impose rigid mandates that may ultimately slow, rather than speed, responsible deployment. MTA urges members to contact their U.S. representative to oppose the legislation as it would:
- Impose “deemed granted” provisions—Applications not acted on within a set time frame would be automatically approved, removing local accountability and allowing projects to proceed without full review.
- Create rigid federal shot clocks—Mandated inflexible deadlines (60/90/150 days) do not reflect real-world constraints such as staffing, engineering review, public meeting requirements, and coordination with other infrastructure projects.
- Limit on cost recovery—The bill restricts the ability of local governments to recover legitimate permitting costs, effectively shifting those costs onto taxpayers and drawing funding away from essential services.
- Expand federal authority—Broad new authority for the Federal Communications Commission risks exceeding statutory intent and undermining locally accountable infrastructure management.
While we collectively support expanding broadband access, this bill would preempt local decision-making in ways that could undermine community input, public safety protections and equitable infrastructure deployment. Ask your U.S. representative to oppose H.R. 2289 and preserve local governments’ role in achieving equitable and sustainable broadband deployment helps ensure that infrastructure investments are responsive to community needs and implemented responsibly.