March 17, 2026
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
To require the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture to establish online portals to accept, process, and dispose of certain Form 299s, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications Act
or the DIGITAL Applications Act
.
Sec. 2. Establishment of online portals to accept, process, and dispose of certain Form 299s
(a) Establishment of online portals
(1) Establishment
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretaries concerned shall each establish, with respect to the relevant covered department, an online portal for the acceptance, processing, and disposal of a Form 299 for communications use authorizations.
(2) Notification
Not later than 3 business days after the date on which an online portal has been established by a Secretary pursuant to paragraph (1), that Secretary shall notify the Assistant Secretary of the establishment of such portal.
(b) Availability of online portals
The Assistant Secretary shall publish on the website of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration a link to each online portal established pursuant to subsection (a)(1).
(c) Definitions
In this section:
(1) Assistant secretary
The term Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information.
(2) Communications facility
The term communications facility has the meaning given the term communications facility installation in section 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)).
(3) Communications use
The term communications use means the placement and operation of a communications facility.
(4) Communications use authorization
The term communications use authorization means an easement, right-of-way, lease, license, or other authorization—
(A)
provided by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture;
(B)
to locate or modify a communications facility on covered land; and
(C)
for the primary purpose of authorizing the occupancy and use of such covered land for communications use.
(5) Covered land
The term covered land means—
(A)
public lands; and
(B)
National Forest System land.
(6) Form 299
The term Form 299 means the form established under section 6409(b)(2)(A) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(b)(2)(A)), or any successor form.
(7) National Forest System
The term National Forest System has the meaning given that term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).
(8) Public lands
The term public lands has the meaning given that term in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702).
(9) Relevant covered department
The term relevant covered department means—
(A)
with respect to the Secretary of the Interior, the Department of the Interior; and
(B)
with respect to the Secretary of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture.
(10) Secretaries concerned
The term Secretaries concerned means—
(A)
the Secretary of the Interior; and
(B)
the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.