Eighth Floor Somewhat Active During Shutdown

Commissioner Brendan Carr told us he spent much of the time plotting goals and priorities for this year, and also was on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers from both parties about theirs. He said he also worked on proceedings, reviewing circulated items, and had at least one ex parte meeting. He issued news releases without any staff, he said.

Carr said his 2019 priorities include more 5G infrastructure work by continuing the regulatory relief actions taken in 2018. He hopes to follow 2018's telehealth pilot program notice of inquiry approved in August (see 1808020034) with an NPRM. He wants to help on workforce development issues for 5G deployment. He said the FCC likely doesn't have a direct regulatory role in the workforce issue. Carr said the U.S. doesn't necessarily have the skilled workforce it needs for the rollout and the agency could help coordinate among industry groups and community colleges about what basic training is needed. The shutdown shouldn't hurt 5G rollout, given the actions the agency took in 2018, leaving the U.S. "in good shape," he said.

Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly didn't comment. For more details on what occurred during the shutdown at the regulator, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request Wednesday.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a news conference Wednesday that due to the shutdown cutting off the FCC’s consumer complaint infrastructure, she received more direct consumer inquiries than at any other time as a commissioner. She spent time dealing with those as she came into the agency “just about every day.” Rosenworcel said she responded to news inquiries and also had meetings during the shutdown on non-docketed proceedings and broad topics, but there weren’t many of those. She also responded to Hill inquiries and “called out issues” on social media, she said. We received several statements from her during the closure.

Tweeting Still

Rosenworcel tweeted Jan. 22 about taking part in a talk about the homework gap (see here), a Next Century Cities discussion on Jan. 15 (see here). She tweeted more than once (for example, here) about FCC functions not going on because of the shutdown. O'Rielly didn't tweet during the shutdown, tweeting on Jan. 28 that he was returning after "a hiatus."

A prolific tweeter anyway, Pai remained active on blurbs on history, news and popular culture -- including multiple cheers for the Kansas City Chiefs (see here). He did include some FCC business, such as a Jan. 18 tweet about the agency reactivating its equipment authorization system, a Jan. 17 tweet thanking its field office personnel who remained at work and a Jan. 11 tweet thanking a departing FCC security staffer.

For the lawyers dealing with the agency, the partial shutdown meant pushed deadlines and delayed proceedings but didn't have a big effect on daily work, said FCBA President-elect Joshua Turner, a Wiley Rein wireless and wireline lawyer. "People were starting to get a little bit nervous" about transactions they wanted to do, but there was "plenty of day-to-day work and prep work" for when the agency reopened, he said.

Rosenworcel and Carr each had ex parte phone calls with Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council Senior Adviser David Honig during the shutdown (see 1901110036). That came after emails to the commissioners, who were acting as their own schedulers, Honig recalled. He said the commissioners get more meeting requests than they could fulfill, regardless of whether the agency is open, but his request was different in that it was about errors on an item to be voted on during the now-item-free January meeting. "We should all strive for 'clean'" orders, he said.

Few Meetings

LucidTech CEO Deirdre Menard met Dec. 28 with agency Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger about robocalls, according to a docket 17-59 ex parte filing posted this week.

Menard said now that the meeting's date turned out in hindsight to be important because it was "pretty crucial" to be able to get to work after New Year's Day on the issue, and at the time, she had thought the shutdown would be shorter. She said the threat of the anticipated shutdown was "a pall hanging over everything" and Burger was "particularly generous" in offering that date during a week many people at the agency are usually on vacation, thus trying to mitigate the effects of the shutdown. Another government rampdown “is absolutely a concern” because of the inability to access FTC data and because momentum on the robocalls proceeding could stumble without FCC involvement and the ability to get clarifications on questions, Menard said.

NAB met Jan. 10 with Media Bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force staff about the repack (see here). It told us timing and content of the meeting was unaffected by the shutdown. IATF is one of the few FCC functions that remained operational then.

Mignon Clyburn, acting chairwoman during a 2013 shutdown, said now that "was harder" because the commission was working on a "way more strict" Office of Management and Budget direction that the agency had to be completely shut down, including websites. "It was a hard stop ... no ambiguity," she said, though the incentive auction team continued working. IATF worked on that now-completed auction.

Clyburn said she came into the office daily during the 2013 shutdown and "probably stayed there longer than normal." She called it "eerie," and said it was a jolt having to do tasks like taking out one's own trash. She said she was told she couldn't do any FCC-related business, but she attended one public speaking engagement. "Hopefully the statute of limitations has passed," she emailed. The shutdown meant being able to catch up on some reading about items and industry issues, she said. Once the federal government resumed, "we didn't have the luxury of time" and were busy with "a slew of meetings," Clyburn said.