On May 20, the House Subcommittee on Communications and
Technology met in an open markup session to consider several
proposed bills to reform the rulemaking process at the Federal
Communications Commission. Specifically, Subcommittee members
offered numerous bills targeting what they referred to in a
published memo as a "variety of process failures" at
the FCC.
The FCC derives its rulemaking authority from two sources:
the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. §§ 151, et
seq., which establishes the FCC's structure,
responsibilities, and powers; and
the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, 5 U.S.C. §§
151, et seq., which dictates how agencies such as the FCC issue
regulations. The FCC adopts rules in one of three ways: (1)
through public monthly meetings; (2) "on circulation"
between such meetings (in which rules are voted on via a computer
system); or (3) by delegated authority to individual members for
routine and ministerial matters.
