"There's a failure of process here"

"THERE'S A FAILURE OF PROCESS HERE"
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
On September 12th, the Federal Communications Commission granted closed-captioning exemptions for two religious broadcasters, a fairly rare occurrence until recently. But this decision went further, noting that in future cases if a non-profit demonstrates that it receives no compensation from video program distributors and that "in the absence of an exemption, may terminate or substantially curtail its programming," the FCC will favor a closed captioning exemption request. The American Association of People with Disabilities quickly denounced the decision. Rep Edward Markey (D-MA) sent an open letter to FCC Chair Kevin Martin expressing his concern. Karen Peltz Strauss, who served as attorney for the National Association for the Deaf and helped to draft language included in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that created closed captioning mandates, says she's "very concerned about the process that the FCC has followed, or failed to follow, in taking this new step." She adds, "The new standard seems to suggest that a non-profit organization can get an exemption when it does not receive compensation from program distributors and when it claims that, without getting an exemption, it might terminate or substantially curtail its programming or curtail other activities important to its mission. Being able to get an exemption when the entity even alleges that activities important to their mission would be curtailed—that is not a standard in the rules. It's a standard that is created by this order. There was no notice and public comment. So it is very upsetting that the FCC would go ahead and create a standard like this without issuing notice and comment to the public. Now on top of that there have been hundreds of additional letters sent out from the FCC granting additional exemptions."
http://lasarletter.com/freepage.php?id=200610101