# 119-s-866: Accelerating Broadband Permits Act

119-s-866, Accelerating Broadband Permits Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] (R-SD); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2025-12-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-866
- As of: 2025-12-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-866
- Congress: 119
- Title: Accelerating Broadband Permits Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-03-05
- Sponsor: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] (R-SD)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2025-12-21

## Summary

**Speed up federal permitting for broadband projects.** This bill would require agencies to track and fix causes of delays in processing applications, alert staff when a case risks missing the 270-day deadline, and report delay factors to Congress. It would also lower the FAST Act cost threshold from $200 million to $5 million so many more broadband projects could qualify for expedited environmental review. - Broadband builders and providers: Many more projects would be eligible for expedited federal environmental review because the FAST Act covered-project threshold drops from $200 million to $5 million. - Federal agencies and staff: Agencies would have to adopt data controls to ensure accurate tracking of processing times, analyze and address delay factors as they occur, and establish methods to alert employees about applications at risk of missing the 270-day deadline. - Communities and local governments: More broadband permits would be tracked and potentially processed faster, which could speed up federally reviewed broadband builds and upgrades.

## Cosponsors (2)

- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM), 2025-03-05T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY] (R-WY), 2025-03-05T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Faster permit tracking for broadband: benefit, medium. If enacted, agencies that handle communications permit applications with a 270-day deadline would have to track processing time and keep application data accurate. Agencies would analyze delay causes as they happen, take steps to fix them, and alert staff when an application is at risk of missing t…
- Environmental review for $5 million broadband builds: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would change the FAST Act test for qualifying broadband projects. A project would count only if it is subject to environmental review, involves construction of broadband infrastructure, and is likely to require more than $5,000,000 in total investment. The bill text also insert…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-4448: Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026
- 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-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-866 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/866)

## Related
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-4448: Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4448)
- [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-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-866 (as of 2025-12-21).