# 119-s-4448: Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026

119-s-4448, Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] (R-SD); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-18).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4448
- As of: 2026-10-18
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4448
- Congress: 119
- Title: Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2026-04-30
- Sponsor: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] (R-SD)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-18

## Summary

**Transparency and accountability for broadband buildouts.** This bill creates public BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) progress dashboards, a federal permit-tracking tool for subgrantees, strengthened data controls and alerts for 6409(b)(3) communications application timelines, and new National Environmental Policy Act review rules for large broadband projects. - Families and households will get clearer public data showing where BEAD grant money has been spent and where service is available and actually used, making it easier to spot gaps in deployment. - BEAD-eligible entities, local governments, and providers gain a tracking tool that identifies applicable federal permits for each subgrantee and monitors progress, plus alerts to flag at-risk applications so projects can better meet the 270-day processing deadline. - Federal agencies and project planners must put data controls in place within 90 days, analyze and report delay factors annually to Congress, and treat projects likely to cost over $5 million as candidates for NEPA review to improve oversight and environmental consideration.

## Cosponsors (2)

- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM), 2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY] (R-WY), 2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Faster tracking of permit application delays: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Assistant Secretary would require data controls within 90 days to ensure agencies can accurately track processing time for communications use applications. The bill would also require analyzing delay factors, taking corrective actions, and sending an annual report to four congressio…
- Public BEAD progress dashboard: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Assistant Secretary would publish a public dashboard for each BEAD eligible entity. The dashboard would show how much BEAD grant money each entity has spent. It would also show how many locations got broadband service with those funds and how many of those locations are using the se…
- Tool to track federal permits: benefit, low. If enacted, the Assistant Secretary would create a centralized tool to help each BEAD eligible entity identify which Federal permits each subgrantee needs. The tool would also let eligible entities monitor each subgrantee's progress toward getting those permits. This provision would take effect upo…
- NEPA review for large broadband builds: mixed, medium. If enacted, projects that build broadband infrastructure and are likely to require more than $5,000,000 in total investment would meet the criterion for NEPA applicability. That means such projects would be treated as subject to NEPA review. This could extend review timelines and raise compliance c…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-s-1261: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025
- 119-s-3345: PBM Price Transparency and Accountability Act
- 119-s-866: Accelerating Broadband Permits Act
- 119-sres-913: A resolution relating to the death of the Honorable Nancy Kassebaum, former United States Senator for the State of Kansas.

## Sources
- [119-s-4448 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4448)

## Related
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [119-s-1261: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1261)
- [119-s-3345: PBM Price Transparency and Accountability Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3345)
- [119-s-866: Accelerating Broadband Permits Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-866)
- [119-sres-913: A resolution relating to the death of the Honorable Nancy Kassebaum, former Uni…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-sres-913)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4448 (as of 2026-10-18).