IB 

Union Calendar No. 231 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2583 

[Report No. 114–305] 

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 

OCTOBER 22, 2015 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 29, 2015] 


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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. 


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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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FCC PROCESS REFORM. 

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

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

9 the end the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 13. TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY. 

11 ‘‘(a) INITIAL RULEMAKING AND INQUIRY.— 

12 ‘‘(1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year after 

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

15 Commission shall complete a rulemaking proceeding 

16 and adopt procedural changes to its rules to maxi17 mize opportunities for public participation and effi18 cient decisionmaking. 

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

20 rules adopted under paragraph (1) shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) set minimum comment periods for 

22 comment and reply comment, subject to a deter23 mination by the Commission that good cause ex24 ists for departing from such minimum comment 

25 periods, for— 


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1 ‘‘(i) significant regulatory actions, as 

2 defined in Executive Order No. 12866; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) all other rulemaking proceedings; 

4 ‘‘(B) establish policies concerning the sub5 mission of extensive new comments, data, or re6 ports towards the end of the comment period; 

7 ‘‘(C) establish policies regarding treatment 

8 of comments, ex parte communications, and data 

9 or reports (including statistical reports and re10 ports to Congress) submitted after the comment 

11 period to ensure that the public has adequate no12 tice of and opportunity to respond to such sub13 missions before the Commission relies on such 

14 submissions in any order, decision, report, or ac15 tion; 

16 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for, not later than 

17 14 days after the end of each quarter of a cal18 endar year (or more frequently, as the Commis19 sion considers appropriate), publishing on the 

20 Internet website of the Commission and submit21 ting to Congress a report that contains— 

22 ‘‘(i) the status of open rulemaking pro23 ceedings and proposed orders, decisions, re24 ports, or actions on circulation for review 

25 by the Commissioners, including which 


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1 Commissioners have not cast a vote on an 

2 order, decision, report, or action that has 

3 been on circulation for more than 60 days; 

4 ‘‘(ii) for the petitions, applications, 

5 complaints, and other requests for action by 

6 the Commission that were pending at the 

7 Commission on the last day of such quarter 

8 (or more frequent period, as the case may 

9 be)— 

10 ‘‘(I) the number of such requests, 

11 broken down by the bureau primarily 

12 responsible for action and, for each bu13 reau, the type of request (such as a pe14 tition, application, or complaint); and 

15 ‘‘(II) information regarding the 

16 amount of time for which such requests 

17 have been pending, broken down as de18 scribed in subclause (I); and 

19 ‘‘(iii) a list of the congressional inves20 tigations of the Commission that were pend21 ing on the last day of such quarter (or more 

22 frequent period, as the case may be) and the 

23 cost of such investigations, individually and 

24 in the aggregate; 


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1 ‘‘(E) establish deadlines (relative to the date 

2 of filing) for— 

3 ‘‘(i) in the case of a petition for a de4 claratory ruling under section 1.2 of title 

5 47, Code of Federal Regulations, issuing a 

6 public notice of such petition; 

7 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a petition for rule8 making under section 1.401 of such title, 

9 issuing a public notice of such petition; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a petition for re11 consideration under section 1.106 or 1.429 

12 of such title or an application for review 

13 under section 1.115 of such title, issuing a 

14 public notice of a decision on the petition or 

15 application by the Commission or under 

16 delegated authority (as the case may be); 

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

18 date of filing) for the disposition of petitions 

19 filed under section 1.2 of such title; 

20 ‘‘(G) establish procedures for the inclusion 

21 of the specific language of the proposed rule or 

22 the proposed amendment of an existing rule in 

23 a notice of proposed rulemaking; and 


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1 ‘‘(H) require notices of proposed rulemaking 

2 and orders adopting a rule or amending an ex3 isting rule that— 

4 ‘‘(i) create (or propose to create) a pro5 gram activity to contain performance meas6 ures for evaluating the effectiveness of the 

7 program activity; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) substantially change (or propose 

9 to substantially change) a program activity 

10 to contain— 

11 ‘‘(I) performance measures for 

12 evaluating the effectiveness of the pro13 gram activity as changed (or proposed 

14 to be changed); or 

15 ‘‘(II) a finding that existing per16 formance measures will effectively 

17 evaluate the program activity as 

18 changed (or proposed to be changed). 

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

20 date of the enactment of the Federal Communications 

21 Commission Process Reform Act of 2015, the Commis22 sion shall complete an inquiry to seek public comment 

23 on whether and how the Commission should— 

24 ‘‘(A) establish procedures for allowing a bi25 partisan majority of Commissioners to place an 


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

2 of an open meeting; 

3 ‘‘(B) establish procedures for informing all 

4 Commissioners of a reasonable number of options 

5 available to the Commission for resolving a peti6 tion, complaint, application, rulemaking, or 

7 other proceeding; 

8 ‘‘(C) establish procedures for ensuring that 

9 all Commissioners have adequate time, prior to 

10 being required to decide a petition, complaint, 

11 application, rulemaking, or other proceeding (in12 cluding at a meeting held pursuant to section 

13 5(d)), to review the proposed Commission deci14 sion document, including the specific language of 

15 any proposed rule or any proposed amendment 

16 of an existing rule; 

17 ‘‘(D) establish deadlines (relative to the date 

18 of filing) for disposition of applications for a li19 cense under section 1.913 of title 47, Code of 

20 Federal Regulations; 

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

22 meet the deadlines described in subparagraph 

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

24 to meet such deadlines would be enhanced by asVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Oct 22, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2583.RH H2583

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1 sessing a fee from applicants for such a license; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(F) publish each order, decision, report, or 

4 action not later than 30 days after the date of 

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

6 action. 

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

8 Commission shall develop a performance measure or 

9 proposed performance measure required by this sub10 section to rely, where possible, on data already col11 lected by the Commission. 

12 ‘‘(5) GAO AUDIT.—Not less frequently than every 

13 6 months, the Comptroller General of the United 

14 States shall audit the cost estimates provided by the 

15 Commission under paragraph (2)(D)(iii) during the 

16 preceding 6-month period. 

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

18 after the completion of the rulemaking proceeding under 

19 subsection (a)(1), and every 5 years thereafter, the Commis20 sion shall initiate a new rulemaking proceeding to continue 

21 to consider such procedural changes to its rules as may be 

22 in the public interest to maximize opportunities for public 

23 participation and efficient decisionmaking. 

24 ‘‘(c) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 


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

2 552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan ma3 jority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that is 

4 closed to the public to discuss official business if— 

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

6 not taken at such meeting; 

7 ‘‘(B) each person present at such meeting is 

8 a Commissioner, an employee of the Commission, 

9 a member of a joint board or conference estab10 lished under section 410, or a person on the staff 

11 of such a joint board or conference or of a mem12 ber of such a joint board or conference; and 

13 ‘‘(C) an attorney from the Office of General 

14 Counsel of the Commission is present at such 

15 meeting. 

16 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABO17 RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business days 

18 after the conclusion of a meeting held under para19 graph (1), the Commission shall publish a disclosure 

20 of such meeting, including— 

21 ‘‘(A) a list of the persons who attended such 

22 meeting; and 

23 ‘‘(B) a summary of the matters discussed at 

24 such meeting, except for such matters as the 


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1 Commission determines may be withheld under 

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

3 ‘‘(3) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS RE4 QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 

5 subsection shall limit the applicability of section 552b 

6 of title 5, United States Code, with respect to a meet7 ing of Commissioners other than that described in 

8 paragraph (1). 

9 ‘‘(d) PUBLICATION OF DOCUMENTS IN ADVANCE OF

10 FCC VOTING.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may not 

12 adopt any order, decision, report, or action by vote of 

13 the Commission, unless the Chairman causes the 

14 Commission to publish on the Internet website of the 

15 Commission the text of such order, decision, report, or 

16 action— 

17 ‘‘(A) not later than 24 hours after the time 

18 such text is placed on circulation for review by 

19 the Commissioners; or 

20 ‘‘(B) not later than 21 days before the date 

21 on which the vote is to occur. 

22 ‘‘(2) TEXT TO BE PUBLISHED; EFFECT.—The 

23 text published pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be the 

24 text intended at the time of the publishing to be sub25 ject to a vote. Nothing in this subsection may be conVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Oct 22, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2583.RH H2583

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1 strued to prevent the Commission from making 

2 changes to the text after the publishing. 

3 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—This subsection shall not 

4 apply to a portion of any order, decision, report, or 

5 action if the publishing of such portion is likely to 

6 lead to a result described in a paragraph of section 

7 552b(c) of title 5, United States Code. 

8 ‘‘(4) NOT AGENCY ACTION.—Publication pursu9 ant to this subsection shall not constitute ‘agency ac10 tion’ as defined in section 551 of title 5, United 

11 States Code. 

12 ‘‘(e) TIMELY AVAILABILITY OF CHANGES TO RULES OF

13 THE COMMISSION.—Not later than 24 hours after adopting 

14 a provision that will appear in the Code of Federal Regula15 tions, or an amendment to or repeal of a provision that 

16 appears in the Code of Federal Regulations, the Commis17 sion shall publish on the Internet website of the Commission 

18 the text of the provision adopted or repealed, or the text 

19 indicating how the provision is being amended, as the case 

20 may be. 

21 ‘‘(f) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION ON COMMIS22 SION’S WEBSITE.—The Commission shall provide direct ac23 cess from the homepage of its website to— 

24 ‘‘(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 Commission 

4 for such 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) of 

9 title 31, United States Code. 

10 ‘‘(g) INTERNET PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN FCC POLI11 CIES AND PROCEDURES.—The chairman of the Commission 

12 shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) publish on the Internet website of the Com14 mission any policies or procedures of the Commission 

15 that— 

16 ‘‘(A) are established by the chairman; and 

17 ‘‘(B) relate to the functioning of the Com18 mission or the handling of the agenda of the 

19 Commission; and 

20 ‘‘(2) update such publication not later than 48 

21 hours after the chairman makes changes to any such 

22 policies or procedures. 

23 ‘‘(h) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any document 

25 adopted by the Commission that the Commission is 


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1 required, under any provision of law, to publish in 

2 the Federal Register, the Commission shall, not later 

3 than the date described in paragraph (2), complete all 

4 Commission actions necessary for such document to be 

5 so published. 

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

7 this paragraph is the earlier of— 

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

9 of the release of the document; or 

10 ‘‘(B) the day by which such actions must be 

11 completed to comply with any deadline under 

12 any other provision of law. 

13 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON DEADLINES FOR PUBLICA14 TION IN OTHER FORM.—In the case of a deadline that 

15 does not specify that the form of publication is publi16 cation in the Federal Register, the Commission may 

17 comply with such deadline by publishing the docu18 ment in another form. Such other form of publication 

19 does not relieve the Commission of any Federal Reg20 ister publication requirement applicable to such docu21 ment, including the requirement of paragraph (1). 

22 ‘‘(i) CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In evaluating and processing 

24 consumer complaints, the Commission shall present 


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1 information about such complaints in a publicly 

2 available, searchable database on its website that— 

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

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

5 and accessible by— 

6 ‘‘(i) the date of the filing of the com7 plaint; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the topic of the complaint; 

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

10 ‘‘(iv) other elements that the Commis11 sion considers in the public interest. 

12 ‘‘(2) DUPLICATIVE COMPLAINTS.—In the case of 

13 multiple complaints arising from the same alleged 

14 misconduct, the Commission shall be required to in15 clude only information concerning one such com16 plaint in the database described in paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(j) FORM OF PUBLICATION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In complying with a re19 quirement of this section to publish a document, the 

20 Commission shall publish such document on its 

21 website, in addition to publishing such document in 

22 any other form that the Commission is required to use 

23 or is permitted to and chooses to use. 

24 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The Commission shall by rule 

25 establish procedures for redacting documents required 


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1 to be published by this section so that the published 

2 versions of such documents do not contain— 

3 ‘‘(A) information the publication of which 

4 would be detrimental to national security, home5 land security, law enforcement, or public safety; 

6 or 

7 ‘‘(B) information that is proprietary or 

8 confidential. 

9 ‘‘(k) TRANSPARENCY RELATING TO PERFORMANCE IN

10 MEETING FOIA REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission shall 

11 take additional steps to inform the public about its perform12 ance and efficiency in meeting the disclosure and other re13 quirements of section 552 of title 5, United States Code 

14 (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act), 

15 including by doing the following: 

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

17 Commission’s logs for tracking, responding to, and 

18 managing requests submitted under such section, in19 cluding the Commission’s fee estimates, fee categories, 

20 and fee request determinations. 

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

22 by the Commission (including decisions made by the 

23 Commission’s Bureaus and Offices) granting or deny24 ing requests filed under such section, including any 


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1 such decisions pertaining to the estimate and applica2 tion of fees assessed under such section. 

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

4 electronic copies of documents released under such sec5 tion. 

6 ‘‘(4) Presenting information about the Commis7 sion’s handling of requests under such section in the 

8 Commission’s annual budget estimates submitted to 

9 Congress and the Commission’s annual performance 

10 and financial reports. Such information shall include 

11 the number of requests under such section the Com12 mission received in the most recent fiscal year, the 

13 number of such requests granted and denied, a com14 parison of the Commission’s processing of such re15 quests over at least the previous 3 fiscal years, and 

16 a comparison of the Commission’s results with the 

17 most recent average for the United States Government 

18 as published on www.foia.gov. 

19 ‘‘(l) PROMPT RELEASE OF STATISTICAL REPORTS AND

20 REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than January 15th of 

21 each year, the Commission shall identify, catalog, and pub22 lish an anticipated release schedule for all statistical reports 

23 and reports to Congress that are regularly or intermittently 

24 released by the Commission and will be released during such 

25 year. 


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1 ‘‘(m) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the 1-year period begin3 ning on January 1st of each year, the Commission 

4 shall prepare a report on the performance of the Com5 mission in conducting its proceedings and meeting 

6 the deadlines established under subsection (a)(2)(E) 

7 and the guidelines established under subsection 

8 (a)(2)(F). 

9 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required by para10 graph (1) shall contain detailed statistics on such 

11 performance, including, with respect to each Bureau 

12 of the Commission— 

13 ‘‘(A) with respect to each type of filing spec14 ified in subsection (a)(2)(E) or (a)(2)(F)— 

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

16 pending on the last day of the period cov17 ered by such report; 

18 ‘‘(ii) the number of filings described in 

19 clause (i) for which each applicable deadline 

20 or guideline established under such sub21 section was not met and the average length 

22 of time such filings have been pending; and 

23 ‘‘(iii) for filings that were resolved dur24 ing such period, the average time between 

25 initiation and resolution and the percentage 


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1 for which each applicable deadline or guide2 line established under such subsection was 

3 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 Com14 mission shall publish and submit to the Committee on 

15 Energy and Commerce of the House of Representa16 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

17 Transportation of the Senate each report required by 

18 paragraph (1) not later than the date that is 30 days 

19 after the last day of the period covered by such report. 

20 ‘‘(n) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 ‘‘(1) AMENDMENT.—The term ‘amendment’ in22 cludes, when used with respect to an existing rule, the 

23 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 such 

20 term also includes any annual collection or distribu21 tion or related series of collections or distributions by 

22 the Commission of an amount that is greater than or 

23 equal to $100,000,000. 

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

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


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1 meanings given such terms in section 551 of title 5, 

2 United States Code.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES AND IMPLEMENTING RULES.— 

4 (1) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

5 (A) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUS6 SIONS.—Subsection (c) of section 13 of the Com7 munications Act of 1934, as added by subsection 

8 (a), shall apply beginning on the first date on 

9 which all of the procedural changes to the rules 

10 of the Federal Communications Commission re11 quired by subsection (a)(1) of such section have 

12 taken effect. 

13 (B) PUBLICATION OF DOCUMENTS IN AD14 VANCE OF FCC VOTING.—Subsection (d) of such 

15 section 13 shall apply with respect to an order, 

16 decision, report, or action the text of which is 

17 placed on circulation after the date that is 90 

18 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

19 (C) TIMELY AVAILABILITY OF CHANGES TO

20 RULES OF THE COMMISSION.—Subsection (e) of 

21 such section 13 shall apply with respect to a pro22 vision, or an amendment to or repeal of a provi23 sion, that is adopted after the date that is 30 

24 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (D) INTERNET PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN

2 FCC POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.—Subsection 

3 (g) of such section 13 shall apply beginning on 

4 the date that is 30 days after the date of the en5 actment of this Act. 

6 (E) REPORT RELEASE SCHEDULES.—Sub7 section (l) of such section 13 shall apply with re8 spect to 2016 and any year thereafter. 

9 (F) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.—Sub10 section (m) of such section 13 shall apply with 

11 respect to 2015 and any year thereafter. 

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

13 such section 13, the Federal Communications Com14 mission shall promulgate any rules necessary to carry 

15 out such section not later than 1 year after the date 

16 of the enactment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 3. CATEGORIZATION OF TCPA INQUIRIES AND COM18 PLAINTS IN QUARTERLY REPORT. 

19 In compiling its quarterly report with respect to infor20 mal consumer inquiries and complaints, the Federal Com21 munications Commission may not categorize an inquiry or 

22 complaint with respect to section 227 of the Communica23 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) as being a wireline in24 quiry or complaint or a wireless inquiry or complaint un25 less the party whose conduct is the subject of the inquiry 


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1 or complaint is a wireline carrier or a wireless carrier, re2 spectively. 

3 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

4 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

5 Act shall relieve the Federal Communications Commission 

6 from any obligations under title 5, United States Code, ex7 cept where otherwise expressly provided. 

8 SEC. 5. APPLICATION OF ANTIDEFICIENCY ACT TO UNI9 VERSAL SERVICE PROGRAM. 

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

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

12 appears and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2020’’. 

13 SEC. 6. REPORT ON IMPROVING SMALL BUSINESS PARTICI14 PATION IN FCC PROCEEDINGS. 

15 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

16 of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission, in 

17 consultation with the Administrator of the Small Business 

18 Administration, shall submit to Congress a report on— 

19 (1) actions that the Commission will take to im20 prove the participation of small businesses in the pro21 ceedings of the Commission; and 

22 (2) recommendations for any legislation that the 

23 Commission considers appropriate to improve such 

24 participation. 


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1 SEC. 7. IDENTIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS TO 

2 BE DECIDED ON AUTHORITY DELEGATED BY 

3 THE COMMISSION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5(c) of the Communications 

5 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 155(c)) is amended by adding at 

6 the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(10) Not later than 48 hours before the time when 

8 an order, decision, report, or action is made or taken pursu9 ant to delegation under paragraph (1), such order, decision, 

10 report, or action shall be identified and briefly described 

11 on the Internet website of the Commission, unless the au12 thority to which the delegation is made for good cause finds 

13 that such identification and description are likely to lead 

14 to a result described in a paragraph of section 552b(c) of 

15 title 5, United States Code. Identification and description 

16 pursuant to this paragraph shall not constitute ‘agency ac17 tion’ as defined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code. 

18 This paragraph shall not apply with respect to an order, 

19 decision, report, or action that— 

20 ‘‘(A) does not receive a delegated authority num21 ber pursuant to the procedures of the Commission; 

22 ‘‘(B) is made or taken on authority delegated to 

23 an administrative law judge; or 

24 ‘‘(C) is made or taken to address an immediate 

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1 gency requiring an expedited response from the Com2 mission.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by this 

4 section shall apply with respect to an order, decision, re5 port, or action made or taken after the date that is 90 days 

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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Union Calendar No. 231 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2583 

[Report No. 114–305] 

A BILL 

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

OCTOBER 22, 2015 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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