Update: Effective Dates, Reconsideration/Appeal Deadlines Set in Lifeline Overhaul

[Commentary] Recently we reported on the Federal Communications Commission’s overhaul of the Lifeline program. The Commission’s sweeping decision has now been published in the Federal Register. As frequent visitors here know, that publication does a couple of things.

First, it sets the effective date for some, but by no means all, of the new rules. That date is June 23, 2016. But heads up. The following new or revised rules will not take effect that day: §§54.101, 54.202(a)(6), (d), and (e), 54.205(c), 54.401(a)(2), (b), (c), and (f), 54.403(a), 54.405(e)(1) and (e)(3) through (5), 54.407(a), (c)(2), and (d), 54.408, 54.409(a)(2), 54.410(b) through (h), 54.411, 54.416(a)(3), 54.420(b), and 54.422(b)(3). That, of course, is thanks to our old friend, the hilariously-named Paperwork Reduction Act. Since the listed sections all involve new or revised “information collections”, they have to be run past the Office of Management and Budget for its review before the FCC can start to use them.

Second, Federal Register publication establishes the dates for seeking reconsideration (by the FCC) or judicial review (by a federal appeals court) of the Commission’s decision. Petitions for reconsideration may be filed with the FCC by June 23, 2016, and petitions for review may be filed with your favorite federal court of appeals by July 25. (As always, would-be appellants with their hearts set on a particular circuit should jump through the proper hoops, as described in this notice from the General Counsel’s office. Spoiler alert: Those hoops require filing the petition for review way earlier than the outside July 25.