CBO Scores FCC Reform Bill (HR 2592)

HR 2592, a bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission to publish on the website of the Commission documents to be voted on by the Commission, would prohibit the FCC from adopting certain orders, decisions, reports, or actions by a commission vote unless the text of the item was published on the agency’s website either within 24 hours of the text being made available to the commissioners or at least 21 days before a vote on the item is to occur.

Based on information from the FCC, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that complying with the requirements in HR 2592 would have no significant effect on the agency’s workload or costs because current FCC rules place a similar requirement upon the agency. Moreover, under current law, the FCC is authorized to collect fees sufficient to offset the cost of its regulatory activities each year. Therefore, CBO estimates that the net cost to implement HR 2592 would be negligible, assuming annual appropriation actions consistent with the agency’s authorities. Because enacting HR 2592 would not affect direct spending or revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting HR 2592 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027. HR 2592 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.