Progress report on modernizing Communications Act

[Commentary] In 2014, the House Commerce Committee has asked for and received public input through a series of white papers and held a hearing with former chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission to better understand their perspectives on the law.

Commerce Committee Chairman Upton (R-MI) noted that the changes in technology since the last update in 1996 have been dramatic and existing laws have failed to keep pace with the vibrant and dynamic telecommunications industry. Former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley suggested that the objective of a statutory rewrite should not be to legislate premised on the current state of the marketplace or even on predictions of what it may look like in the future. Instead, he concluded, Congress should consider a flexible and technologically-neutral framework that will be capable of adapting to technical invention and innovation, whatever it may prove to be.