A proposed NARUC resolution blasting the FCC’s rulemaking procedures advanced...
A proposed NARUC resolution blasting the FCC’s rulemaking procedures advanced out of the telecom subcommittee Sunday, with no objections but about a half dozen abstentions from the subcommittee PUC staff members. The draft resolution came from Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner…
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Jim Cawley (CD Jan 25 p5) and criticized the FCC’s heavy reliance on ex parte filings in its decisions. It’s a “strange kind of resolution and just makes me uncomfortable,” said Universal Service Fund Manager Jeff Richter of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission before the vote. He was among those who abstained. Others pointed to “judgmental” and “pejorative” phrasing when suggesting edits. Telecom Analyst Labros Pilalis of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission countered by asking what other action NARUC would have besides appellate court action. He said the resolution also now has cosponsors: Vice Chair Anne Boyle of the Nebraska Public Service Commission, Chairman Betty Ann Kane of the D.C. Public Service Commission and Commissioner Stephen Bloom of the Oregon Public Utility Commission. The proposed resolution will advance to consideration by first the NARUC telecom committee and then the NARUC board, who then will decide whether to make it official organization policy. “The real deal is done in the ex partes,” said Ray Baum, senior policy adviser to House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., speaking at a Monday panel on the FCC. “Full detail” of these ex parte contacts needs to be revealed, “not some summary,” he added: “We really need to reform that agency.” The congressman’s office will take the proposed NARUC resolution “seriously” and be watching its status, he said. Boyle told the three Hill staffers on that panel Monday to tell their members of Congress that the proposed resolution isn’t a partisan effort. She and two other commissioners behind the resolution, Kane and Cawley, are Democrats, she said.