FY 2020 FCC Budget Estimates to Congress

For Fiscal Year 2020, the Federal Communications Commission is requesting the budget and personnel amounts that are summarized in the bullets below:

• The Commission requests $335,660,000 in budget authority from regulatory fee offsetting collections. The requested budget level recommended by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of $335,660,000 for FY 2020 is $3,950,000 less than the Congressionally authorized budget level of $339,610,000 included in the 2018 FCC Reauthorization in the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Also, the OMB recommended request level for FY 2020 of $335,660,000 represents a decrease of $3,340,000 or about 1.0 percent from the FY 2019 appropriated level of $339,000,000.
  • Prior to the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, OMB approved up to $9.141 million in one-time IT investments for the Commission in FY 2020.
• The Commission requests $132,538,680 in budget authority for the spectrum auctions program. For FY 2019, the Congress appropriated a cap of $130,284,000 for the spectrum auctions program, which included additional funds to implement the requirements of the RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018 (2018 Act) that mandated significant additional work for the FCC related to the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund (TVBRF). The Commission’s FY 2020 budget authority request of $132,538,680 is an increase of $2,254,680 or 1.7 percent, which represents only non-salary inflationary increases. This level of funding will enable the Commission to continue its efforts to: reimburse full power and Class A stations, multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), Low Power TV (LPTV), TV translator, and FM stations for reasonable costs incurred as a result of the Commission’s incentive auction; make more spectrum available for 5G; and educate consumers affected by the reorganization of broadcast television spectrum. To date, the Commission’s spectrum auctions program has generated over $114.6 billion for government use; at the same time, the total cost of the auctions program has been less than $2.0 billion or less than 1.7 percent of the total auctions’ revenue.
• In creating a lean, accountable, more efficient Commission that works for the American people, the Commission requests 1,448 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) funded by budget authority from both regulatory fee offsetting collections and the spectrum auctions program. This FTE level is the same as the level enacted by the FCC for FY 2019. With this FTE level, the Commission will continue to meet its mission demands in FY 2020.