Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced the FCC Process...
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced the FCC Process Reform Act (http://1.usa.gov/1aoET2N) Tuesday. The bill originated in the House and cleared the House Commerce Committee by unanimous voice vote in December. Heller’s Senate bill mirrors the committee-cleared House version, a bipartisan…
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compromise. “This bill will help create an FCC that is more transparent and predictable, and provide individuals and businesses in the communications and technology sectors with the certainty they need to invest in infrastructure and grow their businesses,” Heller said in a statement (http://1.usa.gov/1eQDEFm). The bill would require the FCC to take account of the marketplace before rulemakings, assess its performance measures, limit the way the agency can apply conditions imposed on transactions, enhance agency transparency and change sunshine rules to allow a bipartisan majority of FCC commissioners to meet, among other changes. He has introduced similar legislation before, as well as the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act, which passed the House unanimously last fall and has since received zero traction in the Senate. Heller lamented the way the Senate Commerce Committee, of which he is a member, has not taken up such legislation. “The fact that the FCC took up this issue up last week during its Open Meeting combined with the proactivity of the House Committee, it is now incumbent on the Senate Committee to act,” a Heller spokesman told us by email. Heller has applauded the way FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has engaged in process reform, issuing a laudatory statement following the last FCC open meeting (http://1.usa.gov/1frFONa). Heller believes “the Senate voice is being muted on this debate” and that Senate Commerce members “should play a role,” the spokesman said. Heller is pressing Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and the entire committee “both privately and publicly” and is working to build bill support among Republican colleagues, the spokesman said. Rockefeller issued a statement in December after the House bill’s committee clearance saying Congress should seek the FCC’s guidance before embarking on any FCC operation overhauls. Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., signed on as a co-sponsor since the bill’s introduction, the spokesman said.