I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2583 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 29, 2015 

Mr. WALDEN (for himself and Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois) introduced the 

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

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 2015’’. 


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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) INITIAL RULEMAKING AND INQUIRY.— 

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

8 after the date of the enactment of the Federal Com9 munications Commission Process Reform Act of 

10 2015, the Commission shall complete a rulemaking 

11 proceeding and adopt procedural changes to its rules 

12 to maximize opportunities for public participation 

13 and efficient decisionmaking. 

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

15 rules adopted under paragraph (1) shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) set minimum comment periods for 

17 comment and reply comment, subject to a de18 termination by the Commission that good cause 

19 exists for departing from such minimum com20 ment periods, for— 

21 ‘‘(i) significant regulatory actions, as 

22 defined in Executive Order No. 12866; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) all other rulemaking proceedings; 

24 ‘‘(B) establish policies concerning the sub25 mission of extensive new comments, data, or re26 ports towards the end of the comment period; 


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1 ‘‘(C) establish policies regarding treatment 

2 of comments, ex parte communications, and 

3 data or reports (including statistical reports 

4 and reports to Congress) submitted after the 

5 comment period to ensure that the public has 

6 adequate notice of and opportunity to respond 

7 to such submissions before the Commission re8 lies on such submissions in any order, decision, 

9 report, or action; 

10 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for publishing 

11 the status of open rulemaking proceedings and 

12 proposed orders, decisions, reports, or actions 

13 on circulation for review by the Commissioners, 

14 including which Commissioners have not cast a 

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

16 has been on circulation for more than 60 days; 

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

18 date of filing) for— 

19 ‘‘(i) in the case of a petition for a de20 claratory ruling under section 1.2 of title 

21 47, Code of Federal Regulations, issuing a 

22 public notice of such petition; 

23 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a petition for rule24 making under section 1.401 of such title, 


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1 issuing a public notice of such petition; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a petition for re4 consideration under section 1.106 or 1.429 

5 of such title or an application for review 

6 under section 1.115 of such title, issuing a 

7 public notice of a decision on the petition 

8 or application by the Commission or under 

9 delegated authority (as the case may be); 

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

11 date of filing) for the disposition of petitions 

12 filed under section 1.2 of such title; 

13 ‘‘(G) establish procedures for the inclusion 

14 of the specific language of the proposed rule or 

15 the proposed amendment of an existing rule in 

16 a notice of proposed rulemaking; and 

17 ‘‘(H) require notices of proposed rule18 making and orders adopting a rule or amending 

19 an existing rule that— 

20 ‘‘(i) create (or propose to create) a 

21 program activity to contain performance 

22 measures for evaluating the effectiveness of 

23 the program activity; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) substantially change (or propose 

2 to substantially change) a program activity 

3 to contain— 

4 ‘‘(I) performance measures for 

5 evaluating the effectiveness of the pro6 gram activity as changed (or proposed 

7 to be changed); or 

8 ‘‘(II) a finding that existing per9 formance measures will effectively 

10 evaluate the program activity as 

11 changed (or proposed to be changed). 

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

13 date of the enactment of the Federal Communica14 tions Commission Process Reform Act of 2015, the 

15 Commission shall complete an inquiry to seek public 

16 comment on whether and how the Commission 

17 should— 

18 ‘‘(A) establish procedures for allowing a bi19 partisan majority of Commissioners to place an 

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

21 of an open meeting; 

22 ‘‘(B) establish procedures for informing all 

23 Commissioners of a reasonable number of op24 tions available to the Commission for resolving 


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1 a petition, complaint, application, rulemaking, 

2 or other proceeding; 

3 ‘‘(C) establish procedures for ensuring that 

4 all Commissioners have adequate time, prior to 

5 being required to decide a petition, complaint, 

6 application, rulemaking, or other proceeding 

7 (including at a meeting held pursuant to section 

8 5(d)), to review the proposed Commission deci9 sion document, including the specific language 

10 of any proposed rule or any proposed amend11 ment of an existing rule; 

12 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for publishing 

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

14 open meeting in advance of such meeting so 

15 that the public has the opportunity to read the 

16 text before a vote is taken; 

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

18 date of filing) for disposition of applications for 

19 a license under section 1.913 of title 47, Code 

20 of Federal Regulations; 

21 ‘‘(F) assign resources needed in order to 

22 meet the deadlines described in subparagraph 

23 (E), including whether the Commission’s ability 

24 to meet such deadlines would be enhanced by 


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1 assessing a fee from applicants for such a li2 cense; and 

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

4 or action not later than 30 days after the date 

5 of the adoption of such order, decision, report, 

6 or action. 

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

8 The Commission shall develop a performance meas9 ure or proposed performance measure required by 

10 this subsection to rely, where possible, on data al11 ready collected by the Commission. 

12 ‘‘(b) PERIODIC REVIEW.—On the date that is 5 years 

13 after the completion of the rulemaking proceeding under 

14 subsection (a)(1), and every 5 years thereafter, the Com15 mission shall initiate a new rulemaking proceeding to con16 tinue to consider such procedural changes to its rules as 

17 may be in the public interest to maximize opportunities 

18 for public participation and efficient decisionmaking. 

19 ‘‘(c) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 

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

21 552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan 

22 majority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that 

23 is closed to the public to discuss official business 

24 if— 


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

2 not taken at such meeting; 

3 ‘‘(B) each person present at such meeting 

4 is a Commissioner, an employee of the Commis5 sion, a member of a joint board or conference 

6 established under section 410, or a person on 

7 the staff of such a joint board or conference or 

8 of a member of such a joint board or con9 ference; and 

10 ‘‘(C) an attorney from the Office of Gen11 eral Counsel of the Commission is present at 

12 such meeting. 

13 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABO14 RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business 

15 days after the conclusion of a meeting held under 

16 paragraph (1), the Commission shall publish a dis17 closure of such meeting, including— 

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

19 such meeting; and 

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

21 at such meeting, except for such matters as the 

22 Commission determines may be withheld under 

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

24 ‘‘(3) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS RE25 QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 


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1 subsection shall limit the applicability of section 

2 552b of title 5, United States Code, with respect to 

3 a meeting of Commissioners other than that de4 scribed in paragraph (1). 

5 ‘‘(d) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION ON COMMIS6 SION’S WEBSITE.—The Commission shall provide direct 

7 access from the homepage of its website to— 

8 ‘‘(1) detailed information regarding— 

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

10 current fiscal year; 

11 ‘‘(B) the appropriations for the Commis12 sion for such fiscal year; and 

13 ‘‘(C) the total number of full-time equiva14 lent employees of the Commission; and 

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

16 available by the Commission under section 1115(b) 

17 of title 31, United States Code. 

18 ‘‘(e) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any docu20 ment adopted by the Commission that the Commis21 sion is required, under any provision of law, to pub22 lish in the Federal Register, the Commission shall, 

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

24 complete all Commission actions necessary for such 

25 document to be so published. 


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

2 this paragraph is the earlier of— 

3 ‘‘(A) the day that is 45 days after the date 

4 of the release of the document; or 

5 ‘‘(B) the day by which such actions must 

6 be completed to comply with any deadline under 

7 any other provision of law. 

8 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON DEADLINES FOR PUBLICA9 TION IN OTHER FORM.—In the case of a deadline 

10 that does not specify that the form of publication is 

11 publication in the Federal Register, the Commission 

12 may comply with such deadline by publishing the 

13 document in another form. Such other form of publi14 cation does not relieve the Commission of any Fed15 eral Register publication requirement applicable to 

16 such document, including the requirement of para17 graph (1). 

18 ‘‘(f) CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In evaluating and proc20 essing consumer complaints, the Commission shall 

21 present information about such complaints in a pub22 licly available, searchable database on its website 

23 that— 

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


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

2 and accessible by— 

3 ‘‘(i) the date of the filing of the com4 plaint; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the topic of the complaint; 

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

7 ‘‘(iv) other elements that the Commis8 sion considers in the public interest. 

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

10 of multiple complaints arising from the same alleged 

11 misconduct, the Commission shall be required to in12 clude only information concerning one such com13 plaint in the database described in paragraph (1). 

14 ‘‘(g) FORM OF PUBLICATION.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In complying with a re16 quirement of this section to publish a document, the 

17 Commission shall publish such document on its 

18 website, in addition to publishing such document in 

19 any other form that the Commission is required to 

20 use or is permitted to and chooses to use. 

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

22 rule establish procedures for redacting documents 

23 required to be published by this section so that the 

24 published versions of such 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 ‘‘(h) TRANSPARENCY RELATING TO PERFORMANCE

8 IN MEETING FOIA REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission 

9 shall take additional steps to inform the public about its 

10 performance and efficiency in meeting the disclosure and 

11 other requirements of section 552 of title 5, United States 

12 Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Informa13 tion Act), including by doing the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) Publishing on the Commission’s website 

15 the Commission’s logs for tracking, responding to, 

16 and managing requests submitted under such sec17 tion, including the Commission’s fee estimates, fee 

18 categories, and fee request determinations. 

19 ‘‘(2) Releasing to the public all decisions made 

20 by the Commission (including decisions made by the 

21 Commission’s Bureaus and Offices) granting or de22 nying requests filed under such section, including 

23 any such decisions pertaining to the estimate and 

24 application of fees assessed under such section. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Publishing on the Commission’s website 

2 electronic copies of documents released under such 

3 section. 

4 ‘‘(4) Presenting information about the Commis5 sion’s handling of requests under such section in the 

6 Commission’s annual budget estimates submitted to 

7 Congress and the Commission’s annual performance 

8 and financial reports. Such information shall include 

9 the number of requests under such section the Com10 mission received in the most recent fiscal year, the 

11 number of such requests granted and denied, a com12 parison of the Commission’s processing of such re13 quests over at least the previous 3 fiscal years, and 

14 a comparison of the Commission’s results with the 

15 most recent average for the United States Govern16 ment as published on www.foia.gov. 

17 ‘‘(i) PROMPT RELEASE OF STATISTICAL REPORTS

18 AND REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than January 

19 15th of each year, the Commission shall identify, catalog, 

20 and publish an anticipated release schedule for all statis21 tical reports and reports to Congress that are regularly 

22 or intermittently released by the Commission and will be 

23 released during such year. 

24 ‘‘(j) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the 1-year period be2 ginning on January 1st of each year, the Commis3 sion shall prepare a report on the performance of 

4 the Commission in conducting its proceedings and 

5 meeting the deadlines established under subsection 

6 (a)(2)(E) and the guidelines established under sub7 section (a)(2)(F). 

8 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required by 

9 paragraph (1) shall contain detailed statistics on 

10 such performance, including, with respect to each 

11 Bureau of the Commission— 

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

13 specified in subsection (a)(2)(E) or (a)(2)(F)— 

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

15 pending on the last day of the period cov16 ered by such report; 

17 ‘‘(ii) the number of filings described 

18 in clause (i) for which each applicable 

19 deadline or guideline established under 

20 such subsection was not met and the aver21 age length of time such filings have been 

22 pending; and 

23 ‘‘(iii) for filings that were resolved 

24 during such period, the average time be25 tween initiation and resolution and the 


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1 percentage for which each applicable dead2 line or guideline established under such 

3 subsection was met; 

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

5 administrative law judge— 

6 ‘‘(i) the number of such proceedings 

7 completed during such period; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) the number of such proceedings 

9 pending on the last day of such period; and 

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

11 analyses published by the Commission during 

12 such period. 

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

14 Commission shall publish and submit to the Com15 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

16 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

17 Science, and Transportation of the Senate each re18 port required by paragraph (1) not later than the 

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

20 covered by such report. 

21 ‘‘(k) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 ‘‘(1) AMENDMENT.—The term ‘amendment’ in23 cludes, when used with respect to an existing rule, 

24 the deletion of such rule. 


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1 ‘‘(2) BIPARTISAN MAJORITY.—The term ‘bipar2 tisan majority’ means, when used with respect to a 

3 group of Commissioners, that such group— 

4 ‘‘(A) is a group of 3 or more Commis5 sioners; and 

6 ‘‘(B) includes, for each political party of 

7 which any Commissioner is a member, at least 

8 1 Commissioner who is a member of such polit9 ical party, and, if any Commissioner has no po10 litical party affiliation, at least one unaffiliated 

11 Commissioner. 

12 ‘‘(3) PERFORMANCE MEASURE.—The term ‘per13 formance measure’ means an objective and quantifi14 able outcome measure or output measure (as such 

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

16 States Code). 

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

18 activity’ has the meaning given such term in section 

19 1115 of title 31, United States Code, except that 

20 such term also includes any annual collection or dis21 tribution or related series of collections or distribu22 tions by the Commission of an amount that is great23 er than or equal to $100,000,000. 

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

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


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1 the meanings given such terms in section 551 of title 

2 5, United States Code.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES AND IMPLEMENTING

4 RULES.— 

5 (1) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

6 (A) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUS7 SIONS.—Subsection (c) of section 13 of the 

8 Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub9 section (a), shall apply beginning on the first 

10 date on which all of the procedural changes to 

11 the rules of the Federal Communications Com12 mission required by subsection (a)(1) of such 

13 section have taken effect. 

14 (B) REPORT RELEASE SCHEDULES.—Sub15 section (i) of such section 13 shall apply with 

16 respect to 2016 and any year thereafter. 

17 (C) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.—Sub18 section (j) of such section 13 shall apply with 

19 respect to 2015 and any year thereafter. 

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

21 such section 13, the Federal Communications Com22 mission shall promulgate any rules necessary to 

23 carry out such section not later than 1 year after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. CATEGORIZATION OF TCPA INQUIRIES AND COM2 PLAINTS IN QUARTERLY REPORT. 

3 In compiling its quarterly report with respect to in4 formal consumer inquiries and complaints, the Federal 

5 Communications Commission may not categorize an in6 quiry or complaint with respect to section 227 of the Com7 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) as being a 

8 wireline inquiry or complaint or a wireless inquiry or com9 plaint unless the party whose conduct is the subject of 

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

11 carrier, respectively. 

12 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

13 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

14 Act shall relieve the Federal Communications Commission 

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

16 except where otherwise expressly provided. 

17 SEC. 5. APPLICATION OF ANTIDEFICIENCY ACT TO UNI18 VERSAL SERVICE PROGRAM. 

19 Section 302 of Public Law 108–494 (118 Stat. 3998) 

20 is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2016’’ each place 

21 it appears and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2020’’. 

Æ 


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