DIGITAL Applications Act
This bill, the DIGITAL Applications Act, would require the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture to create online portals for accepting, processing, and disposing of Form 299 submissions related to communications use authorizations on federal lands (public lands and National Forest System lands). The portals must be up within one year of enactment, and each Secretary must notify the Assistant Secretary within three business days after establishing their portal. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) would then publish links to these portals on its website. The bill also provides definitions for key terms, including what constitutes a communications use authorization and what lands are covered. In essence, the bill aims to digitalize and publicly surface the process for obtaining authorization to place or modify communications facilities on federal lands, potentially speeding up infrastructure deployment while centralizing access to these forms through a government-wide portal.
Key Points
- 1Establish online portals within one year for the acceptance, processing, and disposal of Form 299 submissions for communications use authorizations on federal lands (Interior and Agriculture).
- 2Each Secretary must notify the Assistant Secretary within 3 business days after their portal is established.
- 3The Assistant Secretary must publish links to the portals on the NTIA website, making them publicly accessible.
- 4The bill defines and clarifies terms such as “communications use authorization,” “communications facility,” and “covered land” (public lands and National Forest System lands) to ensure the portals handle Form 299s consistently.
- 5The portals are specifically tied to Form 299 processing for right-of-way-type permissions to locate or modify communications facilities on covered land.