# 119-hr-1655: Wildfire Communications Resiliency Act

119-hr-1655, Wildfire Communications Resiliency Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Bentz, Cliff [R-OR-2] (R-OR); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2025-12-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1655
- As of: 2025-12-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-1655
- Congress: 119
- Title: Wildfire Communications Resiliency Act
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-02-27
- Sponsor: Rep. Bentz, Cliff [R-OR-2] (R-OR)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2025-12-21

## Summary

**Speeds rebuilding of communications after wildfires.** This bill would exempt certain post-wildfire communications projects from federal environmental review and historic preservation review when they meet strict location, timing, and purpose tests. - Families and communities would get repairs and improved phone and internet service faster in declared disaster zones, especially when work is completed within 5 years of the disaster declaration. - State, tribal, and local recovery efforts would face fewer federal review hurdles for projects that replace damaged facilities or harden networks against future wildfires, so permitting for covered projects moves faster. - Federal agencies and preservation reviewers would no longer treat qualifying projects as "major federal actions" under NEPA or as "undertakings" under the National Historic Preservation Act, reducing those review requirements for covered rebuilds.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Faster wildfire phone and internet repairs: benefit, low. This bill would let some phone and internet rebuild projects skip federal environmental and historic reviews. It would apply only in areas where the President, a governor, or a tribal leader declared a wildfire major disaster or emergency. Work would need to be finished within 5 years of the declar…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4317: PBM Reform Act of 2025
- 119-hr-471: Fix Our Forests Act
- 119-hr-2709: Save Our Sequoias Act
- 119-hr-1897: ESA Amendments Act of 2025
- 119-hr-9535: Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act of 2026

## Sources
- [119-hr-1655 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1655)

## Related
- [119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2725)
- [119-hr-4317: PBM Reform Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4317)
- [119-hr-471: Fix Our Forests Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-471)
- [119-hr-2709: Save Our Sequoias Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2709)
- [119-hr-1897: ESA Amendments Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1897)
- [119-hr-9535: Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9535)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1655 (as of 2025-12-21).