The FCC fully embraces an Obama administration push to review...
The FCC fully embraces an Obama administration push to review all federal regulations with an eye on making sure they are cost-effective, Chairman Julius Genachowski said Monday in a speech to the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. “It’s…
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important that the FCC review our major rules regularly,” Genachowski said. “We operate in the fast-moving world of telecommunications, where changes in technology occur in real time. In our world, both for companies and for the FCC, standing still can mean moving backward.” Genachowski highlighted a recent agreement on a voluntary industry approach to addressing wireless “bill shock,” unveiled last month (CD Oct 18 p1). The FCC has significantly reduced its backlog of unresolved licensing applications, with an 89 percent reduction in satellite and a 30 percent cut in broadcast licensing application backlog, he said. The FCC has also closed 999 dockets on his watch, one third of open dockets, Genachowski said. The FCC releases its decisions much more quickly than in the past, he said. “It used to take on average 14 calendar days after a vote for the commission to release the full text of its decisions, and major orders could take weeks or months to be released as language was finalized and documents were processed,” he said. “Now our average is down to just three days, with a majority of decisions released within one day of the commission’s vote.” Genachowski released Monday a “Preliminary Plan for Retrospective Analysis of Existing Rules,” concurrent with the Georgetown speech. The document (http://xrl.us/bmh3ts) says the FCC is planning a rulemaking on how regulatory fees are assessed, will examine how to standardize its delegated authority rules and is committed to examining its Part 25 (earth and space stations), Part 43 (reporting requirements for international telecommunications) and Part 76 (technical standards for cable television service) rules, among other steps.