I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2183 

To improve public participation and overall decisionmaking at the Federal 

Communications Commission, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2009 

Mr. BARTON of Texas (for himself and Mr. STEARNS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To improve public participation and overall decisionmaking 

at the Federal Communications Commission, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FCC REFORM. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Communications Act of 1934 

5 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by inserting after sec6 tion 5 the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 5A. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND COMMISSION DECI8 SIONMAKING. 

9 ‘‘(a) REFORM MEASURES.—The Commission shall 

10 promulgate regulations in accordance with the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Except as provided in the third sentence of 

2 section 553(b) of title 5, United States Code, before 

3 adopting, modifying, or deleting a final regulation, 

4 the Commission— 

5 ‘‘(A) shall publish the specific language of 

6 the proposed regulation, modification, or dele7 tion; 

8 ‘‘(B) shall provide at least 30 days for the 

9 submission of comments and an additional 30 

10 days for the submission of reply comments on 

11 such proposed regulation, modification, or dele12 tion; and 

13 ‘‘(C) shall provide at least 30 days fol14 lowing the deadline for the submission of reply 

15 comments for agency consideration on the 

16 record on such proposed regulation, modifica17 tion, or deletion. 

18 ‘‘(2) The Commission shall ensure that mem19 bers of the Commission have adequate time, prior to 

20 being required to decide an issue (including at a 

21 meeting held pursuant to section 5(d)), to review the 

22 proposed Commission decision document, including 

23 any specific language that is proposed to be adopted 

24 as, modified in, or deleted from a regulation. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The Commission shall establish deadlines 

2 for any Commission order, decision, report, or action 

3 for each of the various categories of petitions, appli4 cations, complaints, and other filings seeking Com5 mission action. 

6 ‘‘(4) The Commission shall publish any order, 

7 decision, report, or action of the Commission within 

8 30 days after the date of the adoption of such order, 

9 decision, report, or action. 

10 ‘‘(5) The Commission shall notify by letter the 

11 chairpersons and ranking members of the Committee 

12 on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep13 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

14 Science, and Transportation of the Senate— 

15 ‘‘(A) indicating that an order, decision, re16 port, or action of the Commission was not pub17 lished within 30 days after the date of the 

18 adoption of such order, decision, report, or ac19 tion; 

20 ‘‘(B) identifying such order, decision, re21 port, or action; and 

22 ‘‘(C) describing the reason for the delay. 

23 The Commission shall update by letter such chair24 persons and ranking members every 14 days until 


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1 the publication of such order, decision, report, or ac2 tion. 

3 ‘‘(6) For any year in which the Commission was 

4 required to provide a notice pursuant to paragraph 

5 (5), the Commission shall publish an annual report 

6 containing detailed statistics concerning the delay 

7 between the adoption and the publication of any 

8 such order, decision, report, or action. 

9 ‘‘(7) The Commission shall publish on a weekly 

10 basis a summary list of documents containing pro11 posed decisions pending review by the Commission. 

12 For all such decisions on such list for more than 60 

13 days, the Commission shall also name any Commis14 sioners who have not cast a vote on such decision. 

15 ‘‘(b) STATISTICAL REPORTS SCHEDULE.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall cata17 log, identify, and publish the anticipated release 

18 schedule for all statistical reports regularly or inter19 mittently published by the Commission and shall 

20 thereafter publish such schedule at least annually. 

21 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION OF DELAY.—The Commis22 sion shall notify by letter the chairpersons and rank23 ing members of the Committee on Energy and Com24 merce of the House of Representatives and the ComVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:18 May 01, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2183.IH H2183

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1 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

2 the Senate— 

3 ‘‘(A) indicating that a statistical report 

4 was not published within 60 days after the date 

5 specified in the anticipated release schedule 

6 published under paragraph (1); 

7 ‘‘(B) identifying such report; and 

8 ‘‘(C) describing the reason for such delay. 

9 The Commission shall update by letter such chair10 persons and ranking members every 30 days until 

11 the publication of such report. 

12 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For the purposes of this section, 

13 the term ‘regulation’ has the meaning given the term ‘rule’ 

14 in section 551(4) of title 5, United States Code.’’. 

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

16 (1) REFORM MEASURES.—The Federal Commu17 nications Commission shall carry out section 5A(a) 

18 of the Communications Act of 1934 (as added by 

19 subsection (a)) within 6 months after the date of en20 actment of this Act. 

21 (2) STATISTICAL REPORTS SCHEDULE.—The 

22 Federal Communications Commission shall carry out 

23 section 5A(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 

24 (as added by subsection (a)) within 3 months after 

25 the date of enactment of this Act. 


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1 (3) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 

2 (1), in promulgating rules to carry out section 5A(a) 

3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (as added by 

4 subsection (a)), the Federal Communications Com5 mission shall comply with the requirements of para6 graphs (1), (2), and (4) of section 5A(a) of the 

7 Communications Act of 1934 (as added by sub8 section (a)). 

9 SEC. 2. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

10 Nothing in this Act, including the amendments made 

11 by this Act, shall absolve the Federal Communications 

12 Commission from any obligations under title 5, United 

13 States Code. 

Æ 


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