DIGITAL Applications Act
Latest action · Mar 17, 2026 Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedFeb 27, 2025
- Passed HouseMar 16, 2026
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications Act or the DIGITAL Applications Act
This bill requires the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service to each establish an online portal for accepting, processing, and disposal of applications for communications use authorizations. These are requests for easements, rights-of-way, leases, licenses, or other authorizations to locate or modify a transmitting device, support structure, or other communications facility on public lands or National Forest System land.
Interior and the Forest Service must also notify the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) within three business days of establishing their respective portals, and once the portals are established, the NTIA must link to them from its website.
Cosponsors 3
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 27, 2025 to Jan 7, 2026; 1 is an original cosponsor, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | Doris O. Matsui | Original | Feb 27, 2025 |
| D-MD | April McClain Delaney | Dec 2, 2025 | |
| D-OH | Greg Landsman | Jan 7, 2026 |
Committees 4
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred Feb 27, 2025Markup Apr 9, 2025Reported Feb 4, 2026 |
| House | Energy and Commerce Committee | Referred Feb 27, 2025Markup Dec 3, 2025Reported Feb 4, 2026 |
| Communications and Technology Subcommittee | Referred Feb 27, 2025Markup Nov 18, 2025Reported Nov 18, 2025 | |
| House | Agriculture Committee | Referred Feb 27, 2025Discharged Feb 4, 2026 |
| Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development Subcommittee | Referred Apr 9, 2025 | |
| Senate | Energy and Natural Resources Committee | Referred Mar 17, 2026 |
Actions 20
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Mar 17, 2026Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
- Mar 16, 2026Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2511-2512)
- Mar 16, 2026Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- Mar 16, 2026Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H2511-2513)
- Mar 16, 2026DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 1665.
- Mar 16, 2026Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- Feb 4, 2026Reported by the Committee on Energy and Commerce. H. Rept. 119-487, Part I.
- Feb 4, 2026Reported by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 119-487, Part II.
- Feb 4, 2026Committee on Agriculture discharged.
- Feb 4, 2026Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 416.
- Dec 3, 2025Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
- Dec 3, 2025Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 51 - 0.
- Nov 18, 2025Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
- Nov 18, 2025Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote.
- Apr 9, 2025Referred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development.
- Apr 9, 2025Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
- Apr 9, 2025Ordered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent.
- Feb 27, 2025Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
- Feb 27, 2025Introduced in House
- Feb 27, 2025Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
In the Congressional Record 1
Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.
| Where | In the Record | Members | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| House | Debate and remarks H2511–H2513Text printed H2511 | Bruce Westerman R-AR, Kat Cammack R-FL, Sarah Elfreth D-MD | Mar 16, 2026 |
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Committee reports
Congressional Budget Office cost estimates 2
- Mar 9, 2026H.R. 1665, DIGITAL Applications ActAs reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on February 4, 2026
- Mar 9, 2026H.R. 1665, DIGITAL Applications ActAs reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on February 4, 2026
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 171, no. 39, February 27, 2025, page H919.
Titles 10
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- 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.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- DIGITAL Applications Act
- Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications Act
- Short Title(s) as Reported to House
- DIGITAL Applications Act
- Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications Act
- Short Title(s) as Passed House
- DIGITAL Applications Act
- Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications Act
- Short Titles from RFS (Referred to Senate) bill text
- DIGITAL Applications Act
- Deploying Infrastructure with Greater Internet Transactions And Legacy Applications Act
- Official Title from EH (Engrossed in House) bill text
- 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.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications.
Text 4
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Mar 17, 2026Referred in Senate
- Mar 16, 2026Engrossed in House
- Feb 4, 2026Reported in House
- Feb 27, 2025Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
