CBO Re-scores FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act

The FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act (S. 2881) would authorize each Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to appoint an electrical engineer or computer scientist to his or her staff. The bill also would authorize the appropriation of $1 million for fiscal years 2011 and 2012 for the FCC, in cooperation with the National Academy of Sciences, to undertake a study on the adequacy of the FCC's technical and engineering resources to support decisionmaking.

Based on information from the FCC, CBO estimates that implementing S. 2881 would have a gross cost of $7 million over the 2011-2015 period, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Approximately $1 million per year would be attributed to the cost of salaries and overhead for the Commissioners' additional staff. Under current law, the FCC is authorized to collect fees from the telecommunications industry sufficient to offset the cost of its regulatory programs. CBO has determined that the costs incurred under S. 2881 would be reimbursed through such fee collections. Therefore, CBO estimates that the net budgetary impact of S. 2881 would be insignificant. Pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply to this legislation because it would not affect direct spending or revenues. On April 6, 2010, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 2881, as ordered reported by the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on March 24, 2010. That estimate did not recognize that funds appropriated to implement the bill would be offset by additional fees collected under the FCC's current authority. By correcting that mistake, CBO now estimates that the net cost of implementing the bill would be insignificant.