Can the Brits save the FCC?

[Commentary] Now that Brexit is underway, maybe we can ask the Brits to help us with some of our own independence problems. In particular, could we get some guidance on how to make the Federal Communications Commission more independent and substantive? Can we reform the FCC without losing its world-class talents? Yes. The problem appears to be largely governance.

Taking lessons from the Brits (and others), a new governance model would have a small executive team that is responsible for carrying out the work of the agency, subject to a board made up of economists, accountants, engineers, social scientists, and business persons whose professional loyalties are to their professions, not politics. As with today’s commission, the board would be held accountable by courts, administrative procedures, and congressional oversight, and members would serve staggered terms and could not be removed without cause. A key difference would be selection: Appointments would be made by a joint committee consisting of equal numbers of Republican and Democratic members of Congress, board members, and representatives of academia and business. It appears that regulation by president-appointed commissions is an idea whose time has passed in the US. If we make effective reforms, maybe the US can once again become a world leader in effective regulation.

[Mark Jamison is the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida and serves as its director of telecommunications studies.]