Rural Broadband Permitting Efficiency Act of 2018

[AI summary unavailable — showing source text] Rural Broadband Permitting Efficiency Act of 2018 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA), with respect to National Forest System land, and the Department of the Interior, with respect to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, to establish a program to enter into memoranda of understanding with states to allow for the permitting of broadband within an operational right-of-way to enable broadband providers to install infrastructure that allows users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications. The "operational right-of-way" is defined as all real property interests (including easements) acquired for the construction or operation of a project. A state's governor, or a state's top-ranking transportation official in charge of highway construction, may enter into such a memorandum for a term not to exceed 10 years if the state consents to: (1) federal court jurisdiction, (2) federal environmental review procedures, (3) judicial review of decisions regarding the public availability of documents, (4) maintenance of necessary financial resources, and (5) the provision of any information that USDA or Interior needs to ensure that …