II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1989 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for greater transparency and efficiency in the procedures followed by the Federal Communications Commission, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2014 

Mr. HELLER (for himself and Mr. COATS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 

greater transparency and efficiency in the procedures 

followed by 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Communica5 tions Commission Process Reform Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FCC PROCESS REFORM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Communications Act 

3 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding 

4 at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 13. TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY. 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) AMENDMENT.—The term ‘amendment’ in8 cludes, when used with respect to an existing rule, 

9 the deletion of the rule. 

10 ‘‘(2) BIPARTISAN MAJORITY.—The term ‘bipar11 tisan majority’ means, when used with respect to a 

12 group of Commissioners, that the group— 

13 ‘‘(A) is a group of 3 or more Commis14 sioners; and 

15 ‘‘(B) includes— 

16 ‘‘(i) for each political party of which 

17 any Commissioner is a member, not less 

18 than 1 Commissioner who is a member of 

19 that political party; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) if any Commissioner has no po21 litical party affiliation, not less than 1 un22 affiliated Commissioner. 

23 ‘‘(3) PERFORMANCE MEASURE.—The term ‘per24 formance measure’ means an objective and quantifi25 able outcome measure or output measure (as those 


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1 terms are defined in section 1115 of title 31, United 

2 States Code). 

3 ‘‘(4) PROGRAM ACTIVITY.—The term ‘program 

4 activity’— 

5 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 

6 section 1115 of title 31, United States Code; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(B) includes any annual collection or dis9 tribution or related series of collections or dis10 tributions by the Commission of an amount 

11 that is not less than $100,000,000. 

12 ‘‘(5) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘agency 

13 action’, ‘ex parte communication’, and ‘rule’ have 

14 the meanings given the terms in section 551 of title 

15 5, United States Code. 

16 ‘‘(b) INITIAL RULEMAKING AND INQUIRY.— 

17 ‘‘(1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year 

18 after the date of enactment of the Federal Commu19 nications Commission Process Reform Act of 2014, 

20 the Commission shall complete a rulemaking pro21 ceeding and adopt procedural changes to the rules of 

22 the Commission to maximize opportunities for public 

23 participation and efficient decisionmaking. 

24 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR RULEMAKING.—The 

25 rules adopted under paragraph (1) shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) set minimum comment periods for 

2 comment and reply comment, subject to a de3 termination by the Commission that good cause 

4 exists for departing from the minimum com5 ment periods, for— 

6 ‘‘(i) significant regulatory actions, as 

7 defined in Executive Order 12866 (5 

8 U.S.C. 601 note; relating to regulatory 

9 planning and review); and 

10 ‘‘(ii) all other rulemaking proceedings; 

11 ‘‘(B) establish policies concerning the sub12 mission of extensive new comments, data, or re13 ports towards the end of a comment period; 

14 ‘‘(C) establish policies regarding treatment 

15 of comments, ex parte communications, and 

16 data or reports (including statistical reports 

17 and reports to Congress) submitted after a 

18 comment period to ensure that the public has 

19 adequate notice of and opportunity to respond 

20 to the submissions before the Commission relies 

21 on the submissions in any order, decision, re22 port, or action; 

23 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for publishing 

24 the status of open rulemaking proceedings and 

25 proposed orders, decisions, reports, or actions 


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1 on circulation for review by the Commissioners, 

2 including which Commissioners have not cast a 

3 vote on an order, decision, report, or action that 

4 has been on circulation for more than 60 days; 

5 ‘‘(E) establish deadlines (relative to the 

6 date of filing) for— 

7 ‘‘(i) in the case of a petition for a de8 claratory ruling under section 1.2 of title 

9 47, Code of Federal Regulations, issuing a 

10 public notice of the petition; 

11 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a petition for rule12 making under section 1.401 of title 47, 

13 Code of Federal Regulations, issuing a 

14 public notice of the petition; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a petition for re16 consideration under section 1.106 or 1.429 

17 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or 

18 an application for review under section 

19 1.115 of such title, issuing a public notice 

20 of a decision on the petition or application 

21 by the Commission or under delegated au22 thority (as the case may be); 

23 ‘‘(F) establish guidelines (relative to the 

24 date of filing) for the disposition of petitions 


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1 filed under section 1.2 of title 47, Code of Fed2 eral Regulations; 

3 ‘‘(G) establish procedures for the inclusion 

4 of the specific language of the proposed rule or 

5 the proposed amendment of an existing rule in 

6 a notice of proposed rulemaking; 

7 ‘‘(H) require each notice of proposed rule8 making or order adopting a rule or amending 

9 an existing rule that creates (or proposes to 

10 create) a program activity to contain perform11 ance measures for evaluating the effectiveness 

12 of the program activity; and 

13 ‘‘(I) require each notice of proposed rule14 making or order adopting a rule or amending 

15 an existing rule that substantially changes (or 

16 proposes to substantially change) a program ac17 tivity to contain— 

18 ‘‘(i) performance measures for evalu19 ating the effectiveness of the program ac20 tivity as changed (or proposed to be 

21 changed); or 

22 ‘‘(ii) a finding that existing perform23 ance measures will effectively evaluate the 

24 program activity as changed (or proposed 

25 to be changed). 


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1 ‘‘(3) INQUIRY.—Not later than 1 year after the 

2 date of enactment of the Federal Communications 

3 Commission Process Reform Act of 2014, the Com4 mission shall complete an inquiry to seek public 

5 comment on whether and how the Commission 

6 should— 

7 ‘‘(A) establish procedures for allowing a bi8 partisan majority of Commissioners to place an 

9 order, decision, report, or action on the agenda 

10 of an open meeting; 

11 ‘‘(B) establish procedures for informing all 

12 Commissioners of a reasonable number of op13 tions available to the Commission for resolving 

14 a petition, complaint, application, rulemaking, 

15 or other proceeding; 

16 ‘‘(C) establish procedures for ensuring that 

17 all Commissioners have adequate time, prior to 

18 being required to decide a petition, complaint, 

19 application, rulemaking, or other proceeding 

20 (including at a meeting held under section 

21 5(d)), to review the proposed Commission deci22 sion document, including the specific language 

23 of any proposed rule or any proposed amend24 ment of an existing rule; 


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1 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for publishing 

2 the text of agenda items to be voted on at an 

3 open meeting in advance of the meeting so that 

4 the public has the opportunity to read the text 

5 before a vote is taken; 

6 ‘‘(E) establish deadlines (relative to the 

7 date of filing) for disposition of applications for 

8 a license under section 1.913 of title 47, Code 

9 of Federal Regulations; 

10 ‘‘(F) assign resources needed to meet the 

11 deadlines described in subparagraph (E), in12 cluding whether the ability of the Commission 

13 to meet those deadlines would be enhanced by 

14 assessing a fee from applicants for a license de15 scribed in subparagraph (E); and 

16 ‘‘(G) publish each order, decision, report, 

17 or action not later than 30 days after the date 

18 of the adoption of the order, decision, report, or 

19 action. 

20 ‘‘(4) DATA FOR PERFORMANCE MEASURES.— 

21 The Commission shall develop a performance meas22 ure or proposed performance measure required 

23 under this subsection to rely, where possible, on data 

24 already collected by the Commission. 


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1 ‘‘(c) PERIODIC REVIEW.—On the date that is 5 years 

2 after the completion of the rulemaking proceeding under 

3 subsection (b)(1), and every 5 years thereafter, the Com4 mission shall initiate a new rulemaking proceeding to con5 tinue to consider any procedural changes to the rules of 

6 the Commission that may be in the public interest to maxi7 mize opportunities for public participation and efficient 

8 decisionmaking. 

9 ‘‘(d) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 

11 552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan 

12 majority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that 

13 is closed to the public to discuss official business 

14 if— 

15 ‘‘(A) a vote or any other agency action is 

16 not taken at the meeting; 

17 ‘‘(B) each person present at the meeting is 

18 a Commissioner, an employee of the Commis19 sion, a member of a joint board or conference 

20 established under section 410, or a person on 

21 the staff of such a joint board or conference or 

22 of a member of such a joint board or con23 ference; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) an attorney from the Office of Gen2 eral Counsel of the Commission is present at 

3 the meeting. 

4 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABO5 RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business 

6 days after the conclusion of a meeting held under 

7 paragraph (1), the Commission shall publish a dis8 closure of the meeting, including— 

9 ‘‘(A) a list of the persons who attended the 

10 meeting; and 

11 ‘‘(B) a summary of the matters discussed 

12 at the meeting, except for any matters that the 

13 Commission determines may be withheld under 

14 section 552b(c) of title 5, United States Code. 

15 ‘‘(3) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS RE16 QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 

17 subsection shall limit the applicability of section 

18 552b of title 5, United States Code, with respect to 

19 a meeting of Commissioners other than that de20 scribed in paragraph (1). 

21 ‘‘(e) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION ON COMMIS22 SION’S WEBSITE.—The Commission shall provide direct 

23 access from the homepage of the website of the Commis24 sion to— 

25 ‘‘(1) detailed information regarding— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the budget of the Commission for the 

2 current fiscal year; 

3 ‘‘(B) the appropriations for the Commis4 sion for the current fiscal year; and 

5 ‘‘(C) the total number of full-time equiva6 lent employees of the Commission; and 

7 ‘‘(2) the performance plan most recently made 

8 available by the Commission under section 1115(b) 

9 of title 31, United States Code. 

10 ‘‘(f) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any docu12 ment adopted by the Commission that the Commis13 sion is required, under any provision of law, to pub14 lish in the Federal Register, the Commission shall, 

15 not later than the date described in paragraph (2), 

16 complete all Commission actions necessary for the 

17 document to be so published. 

18 ‘‘(2) DATE DESCRIBED.—The date described in 

19 this paragraph is the earlier of— 

20 ‘‘(A) the date that is 45 days after the 

21 date of the release of the document described in 

22 paragraph (1); or 

23 ‘‘(B) the date by which the actions de24 scribed in paragraph (1) must be completed to 


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1 comply with any deadline under any other pro2 vision of law. 

3 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON DEADLINES FOR PUBLICA4 TION IN OTHER FORM.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a dead6 line that does not specify that the form of pub7 lication is publication in the Federal Register, 

8 the Commission may comply with the deadline 

9 by publishing the document in another form. 

10 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL REG11 ISTER PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Publica12 tion of a document in another form as described 

13 in subparagraph (A) shall not relieve the Com14 mission of any Federal Register publication re15 quirement applicable to the document, including 

16 the requirement under paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(g) CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In evaluating and proc19 essing consumer complaints, the Commission shall 

20 present information about the complaints in a pub21 licly available, searchable database on the website of 

22 the Commission that— 

23 ‘‘(A) facilitates easy use by consumers; and 

24 ‘‘(B) to the extent practicable, is sortable 

25 and accessible by— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the date of the filing of the com2 plaint; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the topic of the complaint; 

4 ‘‘(iii) the party complained of; and 

5 ‘‘(iv) other elements that the Commis6 sion considers in the public interest. 

7 ‘‘(2) DUPLICATIVE COMPLAINTS.—In the case 

8 of multiple complaints arising from the same alleged 

9 misconduct, the Commission may satisfy the require10 ment under paragraph (1) by including information 

11 concerning only 1 such complaint in the database 

12 described in paragraph (1). 

13 ‘‘(h) FORM OF PUBLICATION.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In complying with a re15 quirement under this section to publish a document, 

16 the Commission shall publish the document on the 

17 website of the Commission, in addition to publishing 

18 the document in any other form that the Commis19 sion is required to use or is permitted to and chooses 

20 to use. 

21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The Commission shall by 

22 rule establish procedures for redacting documents 

23 required to be published under this section so that 

24 the published versions of the documents do not con25 tain— 


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1 ‘‘(A) information the publication of which 

2 would be detrimental to national security, 

3 homeland security, law enforcement, or public 

4 safety; or 

5 ‘‘(B) information that is proprietary or 

6 confidential. 

7 ‘‘(i) TRANSPARENCY RELATING TO PERFORMANCE IN

8 MEETING FOIA REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission shall 

9 take additional steps to inform the public about the per10 formance and efficiency of the Commission in meeting the 

11 disclosure and other requirements under section 552 of 

12 title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the 

13 ‘Freedom of Information Act’), including by— 

14 ‘‘(1) publishing on the website of the Commis15 sion the logs used by the Commission for tracking, 

16 responding to, and managing requests submitted 

17 under such section, including the Commission’s fee 

18 estimates, fee categories, and fee request determina19 tions; 

20 ‘‘(2) releasing to the public all decisions made 

21 by the Commission (including decisions made by the 

22 Bureaus and Offices of the Commission) granting or 

23 denying requests filed under such section, including 

24 any such decisions pertaining to the estimate and 

25 application of fees assessed under such section; 


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1 ‘‘(3) publishing on the website of the Commis2 sion electronic copies of documents released under 

3 such section; and 

4 ‘‘(4) presenting, in the annual budget estimates 

5 of the Commission submitted to Congress and the 

6 annual performance and financial reports of the 

7 Commission, information about the handling by the 

8 Commission of requests under such section, includ9 ing— 

10 ‘‘(A) the number of requests under such 

11 section the Commission received during the 

12 most recent fiscal year; 

13 ‘‘(B) the number of requests described in 

14 subparagraph (A) granted and denied; 

15 ‘‘(C) a comparison of the processing of re16 quests described in subparagraph (A) by the 

17 Commission during a period of not less than 

18 the 3 preceding fiscal years; and 

19 ‘‘(D) a comparison of the results of the 

20 Commission in processing requests described in 

21 subparagraph (A) with the most recent average 

22 for the United States Government as published 

23 on www.foia.gov. 

24 ‘‘(j) PROMPT RELEASE OF STATISTICAL REPORTS

25 AND REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than January 15 


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1 of each year, the Commission shall identify, catalog, and 

2 publish an anticipated release schedule for all statistical 

3 reports and reports to Congress that are regularly or 

4 intermittently released by the Commission and will be re5 leased during the year. 

6 ‘‘(k) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the 1-year period be8 ginning on January 1 of each year, the Commission 

9 shall prepare a report on the performance of the 

10 Commission in conducting proceedings and meeting 

11 the deadlines established under subsection (b)(2)(E) 

12 and the guidelines established under subsection 

13 (b)(2)(F). 

14 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under 

15 paragraph (1) shall contain detailed statistics on the 

16 performance of the Commission as described in 

17 paragraph (1), including, with respect to each Bu18 reau of the Commission— 

19 ‘‘(A) with respect to each type of filing 

20 specified in subsection (b)(2)(E) or (b)(2)(F)— 

21 ‘‘(i) the number of filings that were 

22 pending on the last day of the period cov23 ered by the report; 

24 ‘‘(ii) the number of filings described 

25 in clause (i) for which each applicable 


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1 deadline or guideline established under 

2 such subsection was not met and the aver3 age length of time those filings have been 

4 pending; and 

5 ‘‘(iii) for filings that were resolved 

6 during the period covered by the report, 

7 the average time between initiation and 

8 resolution and the percentage for which 

9 each applicable deadline or guideline estab10 lished under such subsection was met; 

11 ‘‘(B) with respect to proceedings before an 

12 administrative law judge— 

13 ‘‘(i) the number of proceedings com14 pleted during the period covered by the re15 port; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) the number of proceedings pend17 ing on the last day of the period covered 

18 by the report; and 

19 ‘‘(C) the number of independent studies or 

20 analyses published by the Commission during 

21 the period covered by the report. 

22 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION AND SUBMISSION.—The 

23 Commission shall publish and submit to the Com24 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

25 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 


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1 Science, and Transportation of the Senate each re2 port required under paragraph (1) not later than the 

3 date that is 30 days after the last day of the period 

4 covered by the report.’’. 

5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES AND IMPLEMENTING

6 RULES.— 

7 (1) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

8 (A) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUS9 SIONS.—Subsection (d) of section 13 of the 

10 Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub11 section (a), shall apply beginning on the first 

12 date on which all of the procedural changes to 

13 the rules of the Federal Communications Com14 mission required under subsection (b)(1) of 

15 such section have taken effect. 

16 (B) SCHEDULES AND REPORTS.—Sub17 sections (j) and (k) of section 13 of the Com18 munications Act of 1934, as added by sub19 section (a), shall apply with respect to 2015 

20 and any year thereafter. 

21 (2) RULES.—Except as otherwise provided in 

22 section 13 of the Communications Act of 1934, as 

23 added by subsection (a), the Federal Communica24 tions Commission shall promulgate any rules necVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:17 Feb 05, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1989.IS S1989

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1 essary to carry out such section not later than 1 

2 year after the date of enactment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 3. CATEGORIZATION OF TCPA INQUIRIES AND COM4 PLAINTS IN QUARTERLY REPORT. 

5 In compiling its quarterly report with respect to in6 formal consumer inquiries and complaints, the Federal 

7 Communications Commission may not categorize an in8 quiry or complaint with respect to section 227 of the Com9 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) as being a 

10 wireline inquiry or complaint or a wireless inquiry or com11 plaint unless the party whose conduct is the subject of 

12 the inquiry or complaint is a wireline carrier or a wireless 

13 carrier, respectively. 

14 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

15 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

16 Act shall relieve the Federal Communications Commission 

17 from any obligations under title 5, United States Code, 

18 except where otherwise expressly provided. 

19 SEC. 5. APPLICATION OF ANTIDEFICIENCY ACT TO UNI20 VERSAL SERVICE PROGRAM. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 254 of the Communica22 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding 

23 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(m) APPLICATION OF ANTIDEFICIENCY ACT.—Sec2 tion 1341 and subchapter II of chapter 15 of title 31, 

3 United States Code, shall not apply to— 

4 ‘‘(1) any amount collected or received as Fed5 eral universal service contributions required under 

6 this section, including any interest earned on such 

7 contributions; or 

8 ‘‘(2) the expenditure or obligation of amounts 

9 attributable to contributions described in paragraph 

10 (1) for universal service support programs estab11 lished under this section.’’. 

12 (b) REPEAL OF TEMPORARY PROVISION.—The Uni13 versal Service Antideficiency Temporary Suspension Act 

14 (title III of Public Law 108–494; 118 Stat. 3997) is re15 pealed. 

Æ 


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