# H.R. 261 (119th): Undersea Cable Protection Act of 2025

Undersea Cable Protection Act of 2025 This bill prohibits the Department of Commerce from enforcing certain permit requirements for activities related to undersea fiber optic cables in national marine sanctuaries. Specifically, Commerce may not prohibit or require an authorization for any covered activities related to undersea fiber optic cables if a license, lease, or permit has been issued by a state or federal agency to authorize the covered activity. Covered activities are the installation, continued presence, operation, maintenance, repair, or recovery of undersea fiber optic cables in a national marine sanctuary. The bill also authorizes Commerce to direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to engage in interagency cooperation regarding federal agency actions that are likely to destroy, cause the loss of, or injure a resource in a national marine sanctuary and involve covered activities.

## How this bill is scored

Tier: no Tier 1 record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Lane: communications. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: critical_infrastructure. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: environmental_regulation. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: infrastructure. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: national_security. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: security. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Tier 1 sign-off: no record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Stored polarity: mixed. Only tags the rules mark scoreable on a mixed bill are scored. A yea can draw a penalty or a credit according to the tag. A nay on a tag scored as good can draw a penalty.
Roll 66: On Motion to Recommit. Vote type: recommit.
Roll 67: On Passage. Vote type: final_passage.
Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The measure pursues an ordinary infrastructure and communications good through permitting streamlining, which is prudential in character. It also carries real environmental-stewardship concerns because it limits Commerce's ability to prohibit or condition activities in sanctuaries and relies on existing state or federal authorizations. Neither a direct restraint of evil nor a direct advancement of moral harm is evident in the metadata, so the classification is mixed.
Theological note: The bill raises stewardship questions about protecting marine sanctuaries as part of creation while also weighing the common good of communications and critical infrastructure. Its relevance lies in whether permitting relief is ordered to lawful public benefit without diminishing responsible protection of sanctuary resources. This is an issue-relevance note, not a final candidate judgment.

## Recorded votes

Roll 66: On Motion to Recommit. Yea 214 · Nay 216 · Other 2.
Roll 67: On Passage. Yea 218 · Nay 212 · Other 2.

HTML: https://justmeasure.org/bill/hr-261-119/