Oppose FCC Preemption of Local Broadband Permitting Authorities

ACTION REQUIRED

Urge the Federal Communications Commission to pause rulemaking on the preemption of local permitting authorities under two regulatory dockets pertaining to wireless telecommunications (Docket No. 25-276) and wireline telecommunications (Docket No. 25-253) deployments. Counties support a meaningful role in the process of permitting wireless and wireline telecommunications infrastructure in our communities in order to protect the public Rights-of-Way. FCC actions to enact shot clocks, limit fee recovery, establish a safe harbor to permit in-kind contributions to count against fee recovery and prohibit conditional use permitting works to limit local partnership and reduce the role of county government in managing telecommunications infrastructure deployment in our communities.

BACKGROUND

In September 2025, the FCC announced two rulemaking proposals – Docket No. 25-253 and Docket No. 25-276 – that would seek to implement onto counties a series of preemptive actions related to wireline telecommunications and wireless telecommunications deployments, respectively. Both FCC dockets received regulatory comment from NACo during both the comment and reply comment periods, outlining county opposition to the imposition of shot clocks, fee limitations, prohibitions on conditional use and other preemptive actions. 

In June 2026, the FCC announced a forthcoming Notice seeking to move forward rulemaking on Docket No. 25-253, the wireline docket, to impose shot clocks of 120 days onto county governments to process wireline telecommunication project deployment permits, enact fee limitations on counties that limit recovery to a cost schedule of reasonable fees, establish a safe harbor to permit deployers to utilize in-kind contributions as an alternative fee mechanism and limit the use of conditional use permitting.

Counties are concerned about the costs that an inflexible federal mandate will impose on local permit operations. A local permit process that is mandated to prioritize expediency and limited in cost recovery mechanisms will increase staff burden and reduce the ability to maintain quality in the Rights-of-Way.

KEY TALKING POINTS

• The preemption of local permitting authority will not lead to the expedited build-out of broadband infrastructure, but instead jeopardise the safety of the public with less local government oversight on the infrastructure management process.
• Counties serve as partners, not barriers, in the buildout of high-speed broadband infrastructure, and counties welcome such development in our communities while affirming the necessity of the local permitting process.