76948 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 237 / Friday, December 8, 2000 / Rules and Regulations

Federal Communications Commission.

Barbara A. Kreisman,

Chief, Video Services Division, Mass Media

Bureau.

[FR Doc. 00–30972 Filed 12–7–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–U

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 73 and 76

[MM Docket Nos. 98–204 and 96–16, FCC

00–338]

Revision of Broadcast and Cable EEO

Rules and Policies

AGENCY: Federal Communications

Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; clarification; petition

for partial reconsideration.

SUMMARY: This document grants in part,

and denies in part, both one petition for

partial reconsideration and clarification

and one petition for expedited

clarification of the Commission’s new

broadcast and cable Equal Employment

Opportunity (EEO) rules and policies.

The document also considers certain

issues pertaining to the EEO rules on the

motion of the Commission, primarily as

a result of informal inquiries from the

public. In addition, the document

amends the EEO rules to clarify that

data concerning the gender, race and

ethnicity of a broadcaster’s or cable

entity’s workforce will not be used to

assess its compliance with the rules.

The intended effect is to clarify the

Commission’s EEO rules for the

broadcasting and cable industries.

DATE: Effective January 8, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: EEO

Staff, (202) 418–1450.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 1. This is

a synopsis of the Commission’s

Memorandum Opinion and Order

(MO&O) in MM Docket Nos. 98–204 and

96–16, adopted September 11, 2000, and

released November 22, 2000. The

complete text of this MO&O is available

for inspection and copying during

normal business hours in the FCC

Reference Information, Courtyard Level,

445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC,

and also may be purchased from the

Commission’s copy contractor,

International Transcription Services,

Inc., at 202–857–3800, CY–B400, 445

12th St., SW., Washington, D.C.

Synopsis of Memorandum Opinion and

Order

2. In this MO&O, the Commission

addresses petitions for reconsideration

and clarification of the Report and

Order in this proceeding, 65 FR 7448,

February 15, 2000, in which it adopted

new broadcast and cable EEO rules and

policies consistent with the D.C.

Circuit’s decision in Lutheran Church—

Missouri Synod v. FCC, 141 F.3d 344

(D.C. Cir. 1998), pet. for reh’g denied,

154 F.3d 487, pet. for reh’g en banc

denied, 154 F.3d 494 (D.C. Cir. 1998).

The EEO rules include broad and

inclusive outreach requirements

designed to ensure that all qualified

applicants have the opportunity to

compete for jobs in the broadcast and

cable industries on an equal basis.

3. Under Option A of the

Commission’s EEO rules, broadcasters

are required to implement two

supplemental recruitment measures: (1)

Notification of job vacancies to any

recruitment organization that requests

such notification; and (2) outreach

activities such as job fairs, internship

programs, training programs,

scholarship programs, mentoring

programs, and participation in

educational and community activities

relating to broadcast employment.

Broadcasters with five to ten full-time

employees must perform two activities

every two years, while larger

broadcasters must perform four

activities every two years. The MO&O

clarifies that broadcasters may

implement half of two activities and

combine the two halves to count as one

of the four required activities (or two in

the case of stations with five to ten

employees), e.g., by combining

attendance at two (rather than four) job

fairs and sponsorship of one (rather than

two) community events.

4. The MO&O reiterates that a

broadcaster may use the internet as one

of several recruitment tools, but not as

its only recruitment source. It also

retains the requirement that

broadcasters with web sites post their

public file report on those sites, and

clarifies that there is no requirement

that the public file report include the

names of interviewees or applicants.

5. The MO&O clarifies the filing

schedule for the initial statement of

compliance (FCC Form 397) so that

beginning in 2001, all radio and

television stations will file a statement

of compliance on the second, fourth or

sixth anniversary of the filing of their

last renewal application. Beginning

February 1, 2001, low power television

stations and Class A television stations

with five or more full-time employees

will file statements of compliance in

accordance with the schedule for

television stations.

6. The MO&O also clarifies that

broadcasters and cable entities have the

discretion of electing either Option A or

B of the Commission’s EEO rules, and

any state law interpreted as removing

that discretion would be inconsistent

with the rules. The MO&O further

clarifies the extent to which

broadcasters may engage in joint

recruitment measures under Option A.

In addition, the MO&O clarifies that

broadcasters have good faith discretion

in defining what constitutes an

applicant and their market/community

under the EEO rules. The MO&O also

addresses how the Commission will

monitor religious broadcasters’

compliance with the EEO rules.

7. Finally, the MO&O retains the

requirement that broadcasting and cable

entities file annual employment reports

which include data on the gender, race

and ethnic status of the entity’s

workforce. The MO&O reiterates that the

data will be used only for purposes of

analyzing industry trends and reporting

to Congress, and not for assessing an

entity’s compliance with the

Commission’s EEO rules. Accordingly,

the MO&O amends the rules to reflect

this fact.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

Analysis

The actions contained in this

Memorandum Opinion and Order have

been duly analyzed with respect to the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and

found to impose no new or modified

information collection requirements.

Final Regulatory Flexibility

Certification

The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980

(RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., as amended

by the Contract with America

Advancement Act of 1996 (CWAAA),

Public Law 104–121, 110 Stat. 847

(1996), requires that a final regulatory

flexibility analysis be prepared for

rulemaking proceedings, unless the

agency certifies that ‘‘the rule will not,

if promulgated, have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities.’’ (Title II of the

CWAAA is the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of

1996). The RFA generally defines the

term ‘‘small entity’’ as having the same

meaning as the terms ‘‘small business’’

‘‘small organization,’’ and ‘‘small

governmental jurisdiction.’’ In addition,

the term ‘‘small business’’ has the same

meaning as the term ‘‘small business

concern’’ under the Small Business Act,

15 U.S.C. 632. A small business concern

is one which: (1) Is independently

owned and operated; (2) is not

dominant in its field of operation; and

(3) satisfies any additional criteria

established by the Small Business

Administration. In addition to stating

various clarifications to the

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 237 / Friday, December 8, 2000 / Rules and Regulations 76949

Commission’s EEO rules, this MO&O

incorporates into the rules a policy

announced in the Report and Order that

data concerning the gender, race and

ethnicity of a broadcaster’s or cable

entity’s workforce will not be used to

assess compliance with our EEO rules.

This rule change merely retains the

status quo, and for clarity restates the

existing policy in a Note to the rules.

Therefore, we certify that the rule

change adopted in this MO&O will not

have a significant economic impact on

a substantial number of small business

entities.

Report to Congress: The Commission

will send a copy of the MO&O,

including this final certification, in a

report to Congress pursuant to the Small

Business Regulatory Enforcement

Fairness Act of 1996, 5 U.S.C.

801(a)(1)(A). In addition, the

Commission’s Consumer Information

Bureau, Reference Information Center,

will send a copy of the MO&O,

including this certification, to the Chief

Counsel for Advocacy of the Small

Business Administration. A summary of

the MO&O and certification will also be

published in the Federal Register.

List of Subjects

47 CFR Part 73

Radio, Equal employment

opportunity, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements, Television.

47 CFR Part 76

Cable television, Equal employment

opportunity, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

Federal Communications Commission.

Magalie Roman Salas,

Secretary.

Rule Changes

For the reasons discussed in the

preamble, the Federal Communications

Commission amends 47 CFR parts 73

and 76 as follows:

PART 73—RADIO BROADCAST

SERVICES

1. The authority citation for part 73

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 303, 334 and 336.

2. Add Note to § 73.3612 to read as

follows:

§ 73.3612 Annual employment report.

* * * * *

Note to § 73.3612: Data concerning the

gender, race and ethnicity of a broadcast

station’s workforce collected in the annual

employment report will be used only for

purposes of analyzing industry trends and

making reports to Congress. Such data will

not be used for the purpose of assessing any

aspect of an individual broadcast licensee’s

compliance with the equal employment

opportunity requirements of § 73.2080.

PART 76—MULTICHANNEL VIDEO

AND CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE

3. The authority citation for part 76

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 153, 154,

301, 302, 303, 303a, 307, 308, 309, 312, 315,

317, 325, 503, 521, 522, 531, 532, 533, 534,

535, 536, 537, 543, 544, 544a, 545, 548, 549,

552, 554, 556, 558, 560, 561, 571, 572, 573.

4. Section 76.77 is amended by:

(a) Adding a note to paragraph (a).

(b) Designating the note following

paragraph (d)(1) as ‘‘Note to paragraph

(d)(1).’’

(c) Designating the note following

paragraph (d)(6) as ‘‘Note to paragraph

(d)(6).’’

(d) Designating the note following

paragraph (d)(13) as ‘‘Note to paragraph

(d)(13).’’

(e) Designating the note following

paragraph (d)(15) as ‘‘Note to paragraph

(d)(15).’’

The addition reads as follows:

§ 76.77 Reporting requirements.

* * * * *

Note to paragraph (a): Data concerning the

gender, race and ethnicity of a cable entity’s

workforce collected in the annual

employment report will be used only for

purposes of analyzing industry trends and

making reports to Congress. Such data will

not be used for the purpose of assessing any

aspect of an individual cable entity’s

compliance with the equal employment

opportunity requirements of §§ 76.73 and

76.75.

[FR Doc. 00–31308 Filed 12–7–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–U