Democrats Wary of Some FCC Reform Proposals

A House Communications Subcommittee Democratic staff memo warns that Federal Communications Commission reforms like shot clocks on decisions or deadlines for reports and comments, which were included among possible reforms by Republican leadership, "could result in unintended consequences that jeopardize the FCC's independence and weaken the agency's decision-making process."

The Democrats argue that many of those possible reforms go beyond requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act and could reduce the regulatory flexibility. "With respect to elements of the regulatory process such as comment periods, notice approaches (e.g., Notice of Inquiry vs. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking), the degree of cost-benefit analysis, and timeframes for action"--those were all among the Republican's consideration list. That flexibility, the Democrats argue, "may assist the FCC in carrying out its core responsibilities under the Communications Act." For example, while the Republicans, in their own memo, suggested considering statutory minimums for comment periods, saying it "could produce better decisions and shield the FCC from pressure to rush to judgment." The Democrats counter that "requiring the FCC to provide at least 30 days for the submission of comments and 30 days for reply comments may undermine the agency's flexibility to use shorter or longer comment and reply deadlines in order to fulfill other statutory mandates...In addition, routine Commission matters such as fee proceedings and refreshing the record in an open proceeding may not require such extensive comment periods."