§1761a Streamlining the Forest Service process for consideration of communications facility location applications

Summary

Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make rules, within one year after December 20, 2018, that speed up and standardize how the Forest Service handles requests to place or change communications facilities on National Forest land. The rules must be uniform across Forest Service units and must treat applicants fairly, without favoring any technology or company. They must include ways to track applications (how many are received, approved, or denied; why denials happen; and how long decisions take), require leases of at least 15 years, set fees that cover the Forest Service’s costs for reviewing applications and managing sites, and give faster or simpler review for work in rights-of-way that were already disturbed. Key terms named by the law include: communications facility — equipment and structures used to send or receive wired or wireless signals; communications site — land set aside for communications; communications use — placing and operating a facility; communications use authorization — permits like easements, leases, or rights-of-way; covered land — National Forest System land; Forest Service — the U.S. Forest Service; organizational unit — regional offices, headquarters, management units, or ranger districts. The Secretary must try to let needed reviews happen at the same time and cut out overlapping rules. The Treasury must hold fees in a special account and the fees can only be used, as Congress provides, to cover costs like planning, site management, training, and access. The law does not give any new power to lease or own land beyond what existed before December 20, 2018, and it does not stop other federal property laws or decisions about selling or disposing of land.