The American Broadband Deployment Act of 2025

A new bill introduced in the U.S. Congress, H.R. 2289, would dramatically reduce the ability of cities, counties, and Tribal governments to oversee wireless, telecommunications, and cable infrastructure—while granting sweeping advantages to industry. The bill rewrites federal law in ways that override local authority at nearly every step.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a full committee markup of fifteen bills, including H.R. 2289, on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at 10:00 AM ET in Room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

H.R. 2289 applies to almost all communications infrastructure, including:

• Cell towers (tall macro towers)
• Small wireless facilities (4G, 5G and 6G small cells)
• Antennas and transmission equipment on existing structures
• Wireline/broadband infrastructure in rights-of-way
• Cable system equipment
• Modifications to existing wireless and wireline facilities
• Eligible support structures (utility poles, buildings, streetlights, etc.)

Here’s What H.R. 2289 Would Do

1. Sweeping Preemption of Local Control

The bill forces local governments to approve most wireless and telecom applications and allows the FCC to invalidate local rules. Despite cell tower health and safety risks, it authorizes antennas on nearly any structure, including homes, schools, and utility poles.

The Result: Communities lose meaningful power to decide where wireless radiation-emitting equipment goes.

2. Environmental, Historic & Tribal Review Rollbacks

H.R. 2289 exempts many facilities—including small wireless facilities and new towers under 50 feet—from review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Tribal review is weakened by presuming approval if a Tribe does not respond within 45 days.

The Result: Projects move forward without adequate environmental, cultural, or historic protections.

3. Local Cell Tower Review Becomes a Rubber Stamp

The bill imposes extremely short deadlines for processing cell tower and wireless facility applications and automatically approves (“deems granted”) applications if a city misses them. Local governments cannot pause or slow applications, even during high-volume periods.

The Result: Industry receives approvals even when local governments cannot reasonably complete their reviews.

4. Severe Limits on Local Fees

Cities and counties may charge only direct processing costs, not fair market rates or fees for long-term oversight or public impact.

The Result: Local taxpayers absorb costs while industry gains inexpensive access to public property.

5. Expanded RF Radiation Preemption

Local governments are barred from considering environmental or health effects of RF emissions for both the placement and operation of facilities. Under the 1996 Telecommunications Act, local governments are restricted only in narrow ways—for example, they may not deny cell tower placement based on the environmental effects of RF emissions for voice services. H.R. 2289 goes far beyond this by extending the RF-emission preemption to the operation, construction, and modification of facilities and by expanding it from voice-only service to all licensed and unlicensed wireless services, dramatically reducing local authority.

The Result: Communities cannot address residents’ concerns or restrict facilities near sensitive areas.

Statement on HR 2289

by Theodora Scarato, Director of the Wireless and EMF Program at Environmental Health Sciences 

Calling this bill a ‘power grab’ doesn’t go far enough. It’s a historic transfer of decision-making from communities to corporations, with virtually no guardrails, and the costs will be borne entirely by residents. It’s a radical shift that elevates industry speed over public safety and democracy. 

H.R. 2289 also dramatically expands the RF “gag rules” in our country. Despite every growing science indicating harm from cell tower radiation, the 1996 Telecommunications Act only prohibits local governments from denying cell towers based on the environmental effects of RF emissions for voice services. H.R. 2289 goes much further by extending that ban to the operation, construction, and modification of wireless facilities and broadening it from voice-only service to all licensed and unlicensed wireless technologies. This means communities are silenced across an even wider range of deployments, from small cells to antennas on homes, schools, and utility poles.

Congress isn’t the only one stripping communities of their rights—the FCC is advancing the same agenda with Build America Cell Tower Fast Track Plan in Docket 25-276. 

The American people are trapped in a regulatory catch-22: the 1996 Telecom Act prohibits local governments from considering health effects, federal agencies have cut off funding to study those effects, and the FCC still relies on outdated 1996 exposure limits while ignoring mounting scientific evidence of harm.

How can Congress and federal regulators mandate unlimited wireless expansion while simultaneously blocking communities from raising safety concerns, eliminating local oversight, and defunding the very research needed to protect the public and environment? This regulatory quagmire leaves families exposed, voiceless, and without any meaningful path to protection.

It is unacceptable for children and families to be placed at risk simply to advance corporate profits and accelerated deployment timelines. Cell towers bring numerous health and safety risks, and local communities have a right to enact common-sense protections.

What the Public Must Do

The public must demand transparency and accountability before Congress rewrites national wireless policy in this way. Residents should contact their elected officials and speak out locally on the need for environmental, health, and safety protections.  

What Policymakers Must Do

Policymakers must stop H.R. 2289 and reject FCC rules that further weaken local authority. Congress should update RF radiation exposure limits using current science and restore independent research funding. Instead of expanding gag rules that silence communities, Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act must be amended. Lawmakers must reinstate local oversight, environmental safeguards, and Tribal consultation, putting public safety above industry speed.