S. 3800

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3800 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3800

To improve environmental reviews and authorizations through the use of 
interactive, digital, and cloud-based platforms, and for other 
purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 5, 2026

Mr. Curtis (for himself, Mr. Booker, Mr. Budd, Mr. Kelly, Mr. 
McCormick, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Daines, and Mr. Hickenlooper) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To improve environmental reviews and authorizations through the use of 
interactive, digital, and cloud-based platforms, and for other 
purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``ePermit Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds that--
(1) coordination between Federal, State, and local agencies 
and project sponsors is critical to ensuring the timely and 
effective completion of environmental reviews and 
authorizations, including through the sharing of relevant 
information, alignment of environmental review timelines, and 
integration of authorizations, while maintaining compliance 
with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements;
(2) digital strategies for environmental reviews have 
proven to make the community engagement process more 
accessible, available, and transparent to all stakeholders, 
especially the communities in which new projects are built;
(3) establishing robust data architectures will ensure data 
integrity, improve transparency, reduce costs, and enhance the 
ability of the Federal Government to serve the public;
(4) Federal agency use of modern software that can track 
the full lifecycle of environmental reviews and authorizations 
is critical for--
(A) effective project management and process 
improvement;
(B) enabling workflow automation, transparency, and 
tracking; and
(C) simplifying reporting requirements;
(5) modern business process management systems that track 
Federal agency workflows and produce vendor neutral, 
interoperable event, task, and other milestone data that can be 
shared with other Federal agency systems can reduce costs and 
improve performance for Federal agencies responsible for 
environmental reviews and authorizations;
(6) case and project management systems--
(A) are essential tools for managing the tasks and 
activities associated with environmental reviews and 
authorizations; and
(B) provide Federal agencies more data and insight 
into such environmental reviews and authorizations;
(7) well-defined business rules can enable process 
automation that allows Federal agencies responsible for 
environmental reviews or authorizations to expedite routine 
tasks and workflows, and improve transparency and accuracy of 
project timeline estimates, which in turn can help project 
sponsors better plan for application preparation and project 
delivery milestones;
(8) taking a standardized, digital-first perspective to 
environmental reviews and authorizations at Federal agencies 
responsible for environmental reviews or authorizations will 
improve document quality, lead to more concise reports, enable 
the reuse and accessibility of the data underpinning Federal 
agency analyses and decisions, and enable objective, 
technology-assisted evaluation of environmental impacts, 
analysis, and documentation, and accelerate future 
environmental reviews and authorizations;
(9) Federal agencies responsible for environmental reviews 
or authorizations, project sponsors, and the public should have 
access to up-to-date information on accurate timelines and the 
status of environmental reviews and authorizations; and
(10) allowing for seamless information exchange among 
Federal agencies and between Federal agencies and project 
sponsors will increase predictability and efficiency of 
environmental review and authorization schedules for project 
sponsors.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF DATA STANDARDS.

(a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, in 
consultation with the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, 
the Chief Information Officers Council, the Office of Management and 
Budget, and other relevant stakeholders and Federal agencies, shall 
develop, publish, and iteratively update data standards for the 
collection and curation of authorization data by Federal agencies, 
which shall be used to--
(1) assist with environmental reviews and authorizations;
(2) organize, define, and standardize various concepts, 
formats, and protocols that are included in environmental 
reviews and authorizations; and
(3) reduce the need for redundant environmental reviews by 
creating a shared vocabulary and software systems that will 
support vendor neutrality, data interoperability, workflow 
automation, and automatic data exchange between Federal 
agencies.
(b) Inclusions.--The data standards developed, published, and 
iteratively updated under subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1) A standardized taxonomy that allows Federal agencies to 
identify and track data types, relationships, and values.
(2) Comprehensive categories for data, such as--
(A) projects;
(B) processes;
(C) environmental documents;
(D) public comments;
(E) geospatial information;
(F) public engagement events, as applicable by 
process or Federal agency;
(G) case events; and
(H) milestones to ensure clarity and uniformity.

SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOTYPE TOOLS.

The Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, in consultation 
with the Administrator of General Services, the Federal Permitting 
Improvement Steering Council, the Chief Information Officers Council, 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and other relevant 
stakeholders and Federal agencies, shall design, test, and build 
prototype tools for environmental reviews and authorizations that will 
assist Federal agencies in implementing the minimum functional 
requirements described in section 5. The Chair of the Council on 
Environmental Quality shall prioritize designing, testing, and building 
tools under this section that--
(1) support authorization case or project management 
systems that manage tasks, milestones, and activities 
associated with environmental reviews and authorizations, and 
provide Federal agencies more data and insight into such 
reviews and authorizations;
(2) enable--
(A) application submission and tracking portals 
used by project sponsors, enabling greater 
transparency; and
(B) public comment opportunity tracking portals to 
increase transparency;
(3) facilitate automated applications, environmental 
reviews. and authorizations;
(4) allow data exchange between Federal agency systems; and
(5) accelerate complex environmental reviews.

SEC. 5. PUBLICATION OF GUIDANCE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF DATA STANDARDS 
AND MINIMUM FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS.

(a) Publication.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Chair of the Council on Environmental 
Quality shall publish guidance for how each Federal agency responsible 
for environmental reviews or authorizations implements--
(1) the data standards published under section 3; and
(2) the following minimum functional requirements:
(A) Application data sharing that enables automated 
transfer of relevant environmental review and 
authorization data among Federal agencies.
(B) Automated project screening to assist frontline 
staff with reviewing project sponsor provided 
information for completeness and accuracy and 
determining if a categorical exclusion or other general 
authorization applies to an action. Automated project 
screening may not be used by the Council on 
Environmental Quality or a Federal agency to unlawfully 
restrict any activities on Federal lands.
(C) Public availability of screening criteria and 
related decision models.
(D) Automated case or project management tools 
which include a repository of relevant data and 
metadata that enable advanced tracking, reporting, and 
optimization to aid workflows.
(E) Integrated geographic information system 
analysis tools which incorporate geospatial data layers 
and models for each resource analyzed as part of an 
environmental review or authorization for a given study 
area.
(F) Document management tools that preserve 
metadata associated with geospatial analysis, modeling, 
and other analytic processes conducted during an 
environmental review or authorization, to support 
future reviews and enable Artificial Intelligence-
assisted analysis of past decisions.
(G) Automated comment compilation and analysis 
tools, including services for comment categorization 
and response that handle the lifecycle of comment 
submission, analysis, categorization and response with 
Artificial Intelligence support where appropriate.
(H) Administrative record management tools that 
maintain both portable document formats and data-rich 
repositories accessible to both machine and human 
users.
(I) Common or interoperable Federal agency services 
that integrate shared services, shared applications, 
and common user experiences for Federal agency staff, 
project sponsors, and the public.
(b) Inclusions.--The guidance published under this section shall 
include the following:
(1) Guidelines for cloud-based storage, data sharing 
protocols, and application programming interfaces to enable the 
Council on Environmental Quality to work with Federal agencies 
to use authorization data to aid Federal agencies in 
modernizing their environmental reviews and authorizations and 
for iterative development of the authorization portal.
(2) Provisions that support scalability and adaptability of 
the minimum requirements to emerging technologies.

SEC. 6. IMPLEMENTATION OF DATA STANDARDS AND MINIMUM FUNCTIONAL 
REQUIREMENTS.

(a) Implementation.--The head of each Federal agency responsible 
for environmental reviews or authorizations shall--
(1) not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act--
(A) compare existing Federal agency systems for 
environmental reviews and authorizations under their 
authority with the data standards published under 
section 3 and the minimum functional requirements 
described in section 5(a)(2) and report findings from 
such comparison to the Council on Environmental 
Quality;
(B) assess whether existing Federal agency 
technological capabilities are consistent with the data 
standards published under section 3 and the minimum 
functional requirements described in section 5(a)(2);
(C) submit to the Council on Environmental Quality 
a report that estimates the completion dates for 
implementing the data standards published under section 
3 and the minimum functional requirements described in 
section 5(a)(2); and
(D) submit to the Council on Environmental Quality, 
in consultation with the Council on Environmental 
Quality, an implementation plan that--
(i) describes how the Federal agency will 
implement the data standards published under 
section 3 and the minimum functional 
requirements described in section 5(a)(2); and
(ii) describes how, to the extent the 
Federal agency determines necessary to meet 
relevant statutory requirements, the Federal 
agency will adopt or implement the prototype 
tools tested, designed, and built under section 
4; and
(2) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, begin implementing the data standards published under 
section 3 and the minimum functional requirements described in 
section 5(a)(2).
(b) Report.--Not less frequently than twice each year, the Chief 
Information Officer of each Federal agency, in consultation with the 
Chief Environmental Review and Permitting Officer of each Federal 
agency, shall submit to the Council on Environmental Quality and the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget a report on the 
progress of the Federal agency towards meeting the requirements of 
subsection (a).

SEC. 7. UNIFIED INTERAGENCY DATA SYSTEM.

(a) In General.--
(1) Unified interagency data system.--To the maximum extent 
practicable, the Chair of the Council of Environmental Quality 
and the head of each Federal agency responsible for 
environmental reviews or authorizations shall iteratively 
develop and maintain a unified interagency data system 
consisting of interconnected Federal agency systems and shared 
services for environmental reviews and authorizations.
(2) Authorization portal.--
(A) In general.--The shared services developed and 
maintained under paragraph (1) shall include a common 
interactive, digital, cloud-based authorization portal, 
which shall--
(i) be designed in a manner consistent 
with--
(I) the recommendations of the 
Council on Environmental Quality 
included in the study submitted 
pursuant to section 110 of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4336d) titled ``Council on 
Environmental Quality Report to 
Congress on the Potential for Online 
and Digital Technologies to Address 
Delays in Reviews and Improve Public 
Accessibility and Transparency under 42 
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)''; and
(II) the minimum functional 
requirements described in section 
5(a)(2);
(ii) serve as a platform for tracking and 
displaying real-time data on environmental 
reviews and authorizations made available 
through application programming interfaces or 
other reporting mechanisms from Federal agency 
systems that are compliant with the data 
standards and data architecture described in 
this Act;
(iii) be supported by a decentralized, 
cross-network digital infrastructure software 
that ensures vendor neutrality and 
interoperability of data and models across 
Federal agencies;
(iv) include a mechanism for the 
dissemination of relevant information (such as 
a notice of intent for public comment, public 
meetings, project statuses, or a notice of 
intent to begin an environmental review) to 
local communities, as applicable;
(v) allow a project sponsor to submit all 
necessary documentation for environmental 
reviews and authorizations in one unified and 
secure portal;
(vi) support interactive, digital, and 
cloud-based tools enabling applicants to edit 
documents and collaborate with relevant Federal 
agencies in real time;
(vii) support visual features, including 
video, animation, geographic information system 
displays, interactive maps, and three-
dimensional renderings;
(viii) provide for the exchange of 
information to and from Federal agency data 
systems via an application programming 
interface or another reporting mechanisms;
(ix) allow for the submission of geospatial 
data associated with project location, 
footprint, and impact;
(x) support automatic documentation of 
submission and process timelines; and
(xi) allow the following metrics to be 
tracked over time--
(I) estimates of achieved 
efficiencies, such as reductions in the 
time between receipt of applications 
and final authorization decisions;
(II) comparisons of authorization 
timelines before and after the 
implementation of this Act;
(III) usage of the authorization 
portal and other statistics from the 
Digital Analytics Program;
(IV) metrics on the number of 
public comments received, responses 
provided, and community meetings held;
(V) the number of projects subject 
to litigation based on authorization 
deficiencies or inefficiencies;
(VI) a list of Federal agencies 
that are not yet fully compliant with 
the data standards published under 
section 3 and the minimum functional 
requirements described in section 
5(a)(2), along with their progress 
toward compliance; and
(VII) examples or repositories of 
Federal agency-developed digital 
workflows enabled by the implementation 
of this Act, including visualizations 
of data sharing, authorizations and 
decision logic, and environmental 
reviews.
(B) Administrative support.--The Administrator of 
General Services shall host the authorization portal as 
a shared service for Congress, Federal agencies, and 
the public.
(C) Accessability.--The authorization portal shall 
be accessible to Congress, Federal agencies, and the 
public, with appropriate safeguards to protect 
sensitive or classified information and information 
restricted by user type as appropriate.
(D) Public accessibility.--To the extent 
practicable and consistent with other law, the 
authorization portal shall provide public access to 
non-sensitive data, including authorization timelines, 
location, project type, environmental reviews, and 
mitigation measures.
(E) Congressional access and oversight.--
(i) In general.--The authorization portal 
shall provide Congress with direct access to 
aggregated performance data and other analytics 
to enable real-time oversight of Federal 
agencies.
(ii) Artificial intelligence support 
systems and training materials.--Congress shall 
have access to the data, fine-tuning 
procedures, and prompt configurations 
specifically created or adapted for Artificial 
Intelligence systems used to support 
environmental review or authorization 
activities, excluding proprietary or general 
pretraining materials unrelated to such agency-
specific customization.
(iii) Technical assistance.--The Council on 
Environmental Quality shall provide to Congress 
technical assistance upon request to ensure 
effective use of the authorization portal and 
Artificial Intelligence systems for oversight 
purposes.
(3) Cybersecurity and compliance considerations.--The 
authorization portal shall be designed to promote vendor 
neutral interoperability, reduce redundancy, and ensure 
compliance and coordination with other laws, including--
(A) section 552a of title 5, United States Code 
(commonly referred to as the Privacy Act of 1974), and 
subchapter II of chapter 35 of title 44, United States 
Code;
(B) the Federal Risk and Authorization Management 
Program established under section 3608 of title 44, 
United States Code; and
(C) the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security 
Agency of the Department of Homeland Security, for a 
case in which the project is in coordination with a 
Federal agency with stringent security requirements.
(b) Deadlines.--
(1) Shared services pilot.--Not later than one year after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Council on Environmental 
Quality shall oversee piloting of shared services for 
environmental reviews and authorizations, including the 
authorization portal under subsection (a)(2).
(2) Unified system development and implementation.--To the 
maximum extent practicable, not later than December 1, 2027, 
the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality shall develop 
and implement the unified interagency data system required 
under subsection (a)(1).
(c) Report.--Not less frequently than annually, the Chair of the 
Council on Environmental Quality, in consultation with the Federal 
Permitting Improvement Steering Council, the Chief Information Officers 
Council, and other relevant stakeholders and Federal agencies, shall 
submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of 
the Senate a report on the Council on Environmental Quality's progress 
on developing a unified interagency data system under subsection (a).

SEC. 8. AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO CONTRACTS.

The Council on Environmental Quality may enter into contracts and 
other arrangements for analyses, services, and products with Federal 
agencies, private organizations, and businesses, and make such payments 
as determined necessary by the Council on Environmental Quality to 
carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 9. CLARIFYING RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the Council on 
Environmental Quality or a Federal agency to impose additional 
regulatory processes or requirements beyond those expressly stipulated 
under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq.) or any other law.

SEC. 10. SAVINGS CLAUSE.

To the extent that a data system, technology, or tool developed or 
incorporated into a unified interagency data system under this Act is 
not limited by project type, the data system, technology, or tool shall 
not have its use be restricted by project type.

SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:
(1) Authorization.--The term ``authorization'' means any 
license, permit, approval, finding, determination, or other 
administrative decision issued by an agency and any interagency 
consultation that is required or authorized under Federal law 
in order to site, construct, reconstruct, or commence 
operations of a project administered by a Federal agency.
(2) Authorization data.--The term ``authorization data'' 
means--
(A) any data relevant for a Federal agency to--
(i) determine the effect on the environment 
of an action for which an authorization is 
required by the Federal agency; and
(ii) determine whether to issue such 
authorization; and
(B) any community input or public comment on such 
determinations.
(3) Data architecture.--The term ``data architecture'' 
means the design and organization of data systems, including 
frameworks for data storage, processing, and exchange.
(4) Data standards.--The term ``data standards'' means 
agreed-upon specifications for data formats, structures, and 
definitions to ensure consistency and vendor neutral 
interoperability.
(5) Environmental review.--The term ``environmental 
review'' means any Federal agency procedures or processes for--
(A) applying a categorical exclusion; or
(B) preparing an environmental assessment, an 
environmental impact statement, or another document 
required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
(6) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' has the 
meaning given the term ``agency'' in section 551 of title 5, 
United States Code.
(7) Federal permitting improvement steering council.--The 
term ``Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council'' has 
the meaning given the term ``Council'' in section 41001 of the 
FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m).
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