On April 30, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) introduced a bill that would require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to track the progress of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. This bill would require NTIA's top official—Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth—to take several new steps: publish a public dashboard tracking each state's BEAD progress, build a tool to help states track federal permits needed by their subgrantees, improve federal agencies' compliance with an existing statutory deadline for processing wireless infrastructure permit applications, and bring large broadband construction projects under a federal environmental and permitting coordination framework.

The people most directly affected are state and territorial broadband office directors who must navigate federal permitting and report on BEAD deployment; BEAD subgrantees (internet service providers) that need federal permits to build; federal land management agencies that process those permits; and members of the public and policymakers who want to know how BEAD money is being spent and whether broadband networks are actually being built.

Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026

The Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026 (S.4448) would amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the law that created BEAD in 2021, directing the Assistant Secretary to post a public dashboard on a government website that tracks each state and territory's progress through "major milestones" under BEAD. Specifically, the dashboard would have to show:

• The amount of BEAD grant funds each state and territory has spent; and
• The number of locations where broadband service has been made available using BEAD funds, and of those, the number of locations where someone is actually subscribing to internet access service.

The bill would add a requirement that the Assistant Secretary create a tool to help each state and territory:

• Identify the federal permit requirements applicable to each of its BEAD subgrantees; and
• Monitor each subgrantee's progress toward obtaining those federal permits.

The new bill would also amend a 2012 law, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, that requires federal agencies to approve or deny applications to place wireless communications equipment on federally controlled land or buildings (called "communications use applications") within 270 days. This existing 270-day deadline is the baseline the bill builds on. The Accelerating Broadband Permits Act would add three distinct requirements:

1. Data Controls

Within 90 days of enactment, the Assistant Secretary would have to develop "controls" to ensure that each executive agency has data that is "sufficiently accurate and complete" to track how long it is taking to process each communications use application.

2. Analysis, Action, and Annual Reporting on Delay Factors

The Assistant Secretary would have to:

• Analyze the factors contributing to delays in processing communications use applications as the delays are occurring (not retrospectively);
• Take actions to address those factors; and
• Provide an annual report on those factors to four congressional committees:
  • The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation;
  • The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources;
  • The House Committee on Energy and Commerce; and
  • The House Committee on Natural Resources.

3. Alert System for At-Risk Applications

Within 90 days of enactment, the Assistant Secretary would have to establish a method to alert federal agency employees when a communications use application is "at risk of failing to meet the 270-day deadline."

Finally, the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act would amend the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to add broadband infrastructure construction projects to the definition of "covered project" under the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC) framework—commonly known as the "FAST-41" permitting process.

To qualify as a "covered project" under the new provision, a project must meet all three of the following criteria; it must:

1. Be subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—the federal law requiring environmental review of major federal actions;
2. Involve the construction of infrastructure for broadband; and
3. Be "likely to require a total investment of more than $5,000,000.

What Else to Know

The Accelerating Broadband Permits Act is cosponsored by Senate Telecommunications and Media Subcommittee Ranking Member Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY). The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 

Currently, there is no single public source that shows, state by state, how much BEAD money has been drawn down and how many locations are actually connected. This bill would create that resource. The bill aims to track both broadband "made available" and "utilized" at a location. A provider can deploy infrastructure to a location and report it as served, but perhaps the most important outcome is whether or not anyone subscribes to the service. Tracking utilization alongside availability is a stronger accountability measure than availability alone.

The bill does not specify how frequently the dashboard must be updated, what data format must be used, or how "major milestones" are defined. The Accelerating Broadband Permits Act also does not specify a deadline by which the dashboard must be launched. Those details would presumably be filled in by NTIA—their absence in the statute gives the agency significant discretion.

FAST-41 created an interagency permitting coordination process for large infrastructure projects. Projects designated as "covered" under FAST-41 are tracked on a public dashboard (called PERMITTING.GOV), receive a coordinated review schedule, and are subject to certain time limits. Adding broadband to this framework would give large BEAD-funded construction projects access to those coordination mechanisms. Many broadband construction projects that use BEAD funds and cross federal lands will be subject to NEPA review. Bringing those projects into the FAST-41 framework could accelerate environmental review by requiring interagency coordination rather than sequential, agency-by-agency review. The bill does not specify a minimum timeline for NEPA review of covered broadband projects; it adds broadband to the FAST-41 coordination framework but does not set deadlines specific to broadband. Whether broadband projects would be subject to the same FAST-41 timelines as other covered project types is a question the bill does not directly answer in its text.

The bill does not appropriate any new money for broadband deployment. The Accelerating Broadband Permits Act imposes new administrative obligations on NTIA and, indirectly, on executive agencies that process communications use applications.

Track BEAD Program developments here. 

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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