Wheeler Maintaining 'Field Presence' in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler modified his plan to close Enforcement Bureau field offices, he told House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., in a May 20 letter the FCC released Thursday.…
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“At this stage, we have circulated the reorganization recommendations to all FCC Commissioners in the form of a proposed rule change,” Wheeler said. “Over the past few weeks, I have received constructive feedback from my colleagues. Based on this feedback, I am modifying the proposal to maintain a field presence in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Alaska to ensure a rapid FCC response to natural disasters outside the continental United States.” Wheeler had announced earlier this year a plan to close 16 of 24 field offices. Consultation with other commissioners will continue, Wheeler said. He said the FCC will notify the relevant appropriators on Capitol Hill and that management staffers are ready to brief any lawmaker offices interested. The field office reorganization is “long overdue,” Wheeler said. Walden is planning a subcommittee hearing on this issue next week (see 1506020055">1506020055). In a separate letter to House lawmakers, FCC senior legal adviser John Williams gave House Republicans a 253-page PowerPoint assessment that consultants gave the FCC about the field offices, though Williams' letter and not the PowerPoint presentation itself was made public.