Guest Speakers & Questions at FCC Open Meetings

[Commentary] Over the years, Open Meetings at the Federal Communications Commission have taken a variety of formats. At one time, Open Meetings were working sessions where issues were debated live and staff were questioned about different policy choices. More recently, they have been summaries of decisions already made that are capped off by an official vote. Lately, it has even become common to invite select guest speakers to Open Meetings to provide testimony in addition to the Bureau presentations.

1. Guest Witnesses: While I fully support improving the functionality of the Open Meetings in terms of structure and process, I am not convinced that adding guest speakers is beneficial or appropriate. If the FCC persists in inviting witnesses to agenda meetings, it needs to make several changes: First, the Chairman’s office should provide advance notice. Second, the viewpoint of those Commissioners in the minority on a particular issue, if any, should be offered the opportunity to help choose the speakers or be allowed to select their own. Finally, speakers should be required to provide their testimony to all Commissioner offices no later than 48 hours in advance of the meeting.
2. Questioning the Staff Experts: I suggest that we can improve the discourse and relevance of an Open Meeting by allowing unscripted questions and answers. I trust that the Process Review Task Force can examine and reform the current witness invites and staff questioning procedures during Open Meetings along with the many other concrete suggestions I’ve already put forward to improve FCC procedures.