Industry Welcomes Congressional Push To Revamp FCC Operations
Capitol Hill’s tools of FCC oversight and overhaul are piling up. Just as committee leaders announced investigations into White House influence over net neutrality (see 1502090049) and another lawmaker his intentions to reauthorize the agency formally (see 1502030039), Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced his more ambitious FCC process overhaul bill, which industry lobbyists have told us is likelier to move this Congress. A Senate Republican staffer also said there is interest in bringing the commissioners before the Commerce Committee in the weeks ahead.
“As the influence of the FCC continues to grow with innovation, it is imperative its actions not be clouded in opaqueness or secrecy,” Heller said in a statement Tuesday. “Consumers ultimately suffer the most when this occurs, and I do not believe that was the intent when legislators created the FCC over 80 years ago. … In amending the rules, the public will know exactly what the FCC is voting on well before the vote. Right now, we don’t even know what a major decision like the FCC’s net neutrality order says. How is that an example of solid rulemaking?”
The reintroduced FCC Process Reform Act passed the House last Congress but never the Senate. It hasn't been introduced in the House. As Heller told us in December (see 1412240031), House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., has been his partner on the bills, with consultation natural. Heller introduced his other revamp bill, the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act, in January, and the House Commerce Committee is moving to mark up a version of that bill Wednesday.
The bill text, 22 pages long and supplied by an aide Monday, would change FCC operations in several ways. It would force the FCC to do a rulemaking “not later than 1 year after the date of enactment” of the bill and thereupon “adopt procedural changes to the rules of the Commission to maximize opportunities for public participation and efficient decision making.” The commission would have to “set minimum comment periods for comment and reply comment, subject to a determination by the Commission that good cause exists for departing from the minimum comment periods” for significant regulatory actions and all other rulemaking proceedings. It would have to post the language of any rule change at least 21 days before any voting on such changes. The Heller bill also would change the sunshine rules, “allowing a bipartisan majority of Commissioners to meet for collaborative discussions subject to transparency safeguards,” his news release said.
The FCC would have to figure out how to accommodate an influx of filings near the end of a comment period. It would also need to develop a way to address filings submitted after a comment deadline. The agency would need to “establish procedures for publishing the status of open rulemaking proceedings and proposed orders, decisions, reports, or actions on circulation for review by the Commissioners, including which Commissioners have not cast a vote on an order, decision, report, or action that has been on circulation for more than 60 days.” Any NPRM must show a finding that the “proposed rule or the proposed amendment of an existing rule will not impose additional burdens on industry or consumers,” with good cause demonstrated to justify why it’s not simply a notice of inquiry issued. Economically significant changes to rules would call for “an identification and analysis of the specific market failure, actual consumer harm, burden of existing regulation, or failure of public institutions that warrants the adoption or amendment.” The legislation would also compel a notice of inquiry to be completed within a year, looking at process revamps.
The Senate stalling of the Process Reform Act “will change with this new Congress,” Walden said in a statement. “Unfortunately, many of the issues that triggered our initial review have become more apparent in recent months. The FCC should be an open, transparent, and predictable agency -- no matter who is in charge.”
Industry groups praised the legislation’s return. CTIA praised both of Heller’s bills and invoked FCC reauthorization, which hasn't happened in 25 years. The bills are “much-needed improvements to the FCC’s processes and on their own or as part of a package would represent useful steps toward modernizing an agency that hasn’t been reauthorized in a quarter of a century,” Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter said. USTelecom believes the Process Reform Act “will enhance transparency, increase regulatory certainty, and streamline rulemakings and other commission proceedings,” President Walter McCormick said. AT&T Executive Vice President-Federal Relations Tim McKone underscored the importance of transparency and collaboration, as did American Cable Association President Matthew Polka. NAB lauded the bill.