IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2583 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2015 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Communica3 tions Commission Process Reform Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FCC PROCESS REFORM. 

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

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

7 at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 13. TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY. 

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

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

11 after the date of the enactment of the Federal Com12 munications Commission Process Reform Act of 

13 2015, the Commission shall complete a rulemaking 

14 proceeding and adopt procedural changes to its rules 

15 to maximize opportunities for public participation 

16 and efficient decisionmaking. 

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

18 rules adopted under paragraph (1) shall— 

19 ‘‘(A) set minimum comment periods for 

20 comment and reply comment, subject to a de21 termination by the Commission that good cause 

22 exists for departing from such minimum com23 ment periods, for— 

24 ‘‘(i) significant regulatory actions, as 

25 defined in Executive Order No. 12866; and 

26 ‘‘(ii) all other rulemaking proceedings; 


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1 ‘‘(B) establish policies concerning the sub2 mission of extensive new comments, data, or re3 ports towards the end of the comment period; 

4 ‘‘(C) establish policies regarding treatment 

5 of comments, ex parte communications, and 

6 data or reports (including statistical reports 

7 and reports to Congress) submitted after the 

8 comment period to ensure that the public has 

9 adequate notice of and opportunity to respond 

10 to such submissions before the Commission re11 lies on such submissions in any order, decision, 

12 report, or action; 

13 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for, not later 

14 than 14 days after the end of each quarter of 

15 a calendar year (or more frequently, as the 

16 Commission considers appropriate), publishing 

17 on the Internet website of the Commission and 

18 submitting to Congress a report that contains— 

19 ‘‘(i) the status of open rulemaking 

20 proceedings and proposed orders, decisions, 

21 reports, or actions on circulation for review 

22 by the Commissioners, including which 

23 Commissioners have not cast a vote on an 

24 order, decision, report, or action that has 

25 been on circulation for more than 60 days; 


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

2 complaints, and other requests for action 

3 by the Commission that were pending at 

4 the Commission on the last day of such 

5 quarter (or more frequent period, as the 

6 case may be)— 

7 ‘‘(I) the number of such requests, 

8 broken down by the bureau primarily 

9 responsible for action and, for each 

10 bureau, the type of request (such as a 

11 petition, application, or complaint); 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(II) information regarding the 

14 amount of time for which such re15 quests have been pending, broken 

16 down as described in subclause (I); 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(iii) a list of the congressional inves19 tigations of the Commission that were 

20 pending on the last day of such quarter (or 

21 more frequent period, as the case may be) 

22 and the cost of such investigations, individ23 ually and in the aggregate; 

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

25 date of filing) for— 


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1 ‘‘(i) in the case of a petition for a de2 claratory ruling under section 1.2 of title 

3 47, Code of Federal Regulations, issuing a 

4 public notice of such petition; 

5 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a petition for rule6 making under section 1.401 of such title, 

7 issuing a public notice of such petition; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a petition for re10 consideration under section 1.106 or 1.429 

11 of such title or an application for review 

12 under section 1.115 of such title, issuing a 

13 public notice of a decision on the petition 

14 or application by the Commission or under 

15 delegated authority (as the case may be); 

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

17 date of filing) for the disposition of petitions 

18 filed under section 1.2 of such title; 

19 ‘‘(G) establish procedures for the inclusion 

20 of the specific language of the proposed rule or 

21 the proposed amendment of an existing rule in 

22 a notice of proposed rulemaking; and 

23 ‘‘(H) require notices of proposed rule24 making and orders adopting a rule or amending 

25 an existing rule that— 


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

2 program activity to contain performance 

3 measures for evaluating the effectiveness of 

4 the program activity; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) substantially change (or propose 

6 to substantially change) a program activity 

7 to contain— 

8 ‘‘(I) performance measures for 

9 evaluating the effectiveness of the pro10 gram activity as changed (or proposed 

11 to be changed); or 

12 ‘‘(II) a finding that existing per13 formance measures will effectively 

14 evaluate the program activity as 

15 changed (or proposed to be changed). 

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

17 date of the enactment of the Federal Communica18 tions Commission Process Reform Act of 2015, the 

19 Commission shall complete an inquiry to seek public 

20 comment on whether and how the Commission 

21 should— 

22 ‘‘(A) establish procedures for allowing a bi23 partisan majority of Commissioners to place an 

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

25 of an open meeting; 


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1 ‘‘(B) establish procedures for informing all 

2 Commissioners of a reasonable number of op3 tions available to the Commission for resolving 

4 a petition, complaint, application, rulemaking, 

5 or other proceeding; 

6 ‘‘(C) establish procedures for ensuring that 

7 all Commissioners have adequate time, prior to 

8 being required to decide a petition, complaint, 

9 application, rulemaking, or other proceeding 

10 (including at a meeting held pursuant to section 

11 5(d)), to review the proposed Commission deci12 sion document, including the specific language 

13 of any proposed rule or any proposed amend14 ment of an existing rule; 

15 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for publishing 

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

17 open meeting in advance of such meeting so 

18 that the public has the opportunity to read the 

19 text before a vote is taken; 

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

21 date of filing) for disposition of applications for 

22 a license under section 1.913 of title 47, Code 

23 of Federal Regulations; 

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

25 meet the deadlines described in subparagraph 


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

2 to meet such deadlines would be enhanced by 

3 assessing a fee from applicants for such a li4 cense; and 

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

6 or action not later than 30 days after the date 

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

8 or action. 

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

10 The Commission shall develop a performance meas11 ure or proposed performance measure required by 

12 this subsection to rely, where possible, on data al13 ready collected by the Commission. 

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

15 every 6 months, the Comptroller General of the 

16 United States shall audit the cost estimates provided 

17 by the Commission under paragraph (2)(D)(iii) dur18 ing the preceding 6-month period. 

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

20 after the completion of the rulemaking proceeding under 

21 subsection (a)(1), and every 5 years thereafter, the Com22 mission shall initiate a new rulemaking proceeding to con23 tinue to consider such procedural changes to its rules as 

24 may be in the public interest to maximize opportunities 

25 for public participation and efficient decisionmaking. 


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1 ‘‘(c) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 

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

3 552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan 

4 majority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that 

5 is closed to the public to discuss official business 

6 if— 

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

8 not taken at such meeting; 

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

10 is a Commissioner, an employee of the Commis11 sion, a member of a joint board or conference 

12 established under section 410, or a person on 

13 the staff of such a joint board or conference or 

14 of a member of such a joint board or con15 ference; and 

16 ‘‘(C) an attorney from the Office of Gen17 eral Counsel of the Commission is present at 

18 such meeting. 

19 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABO20 RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business 

21 days after the conclusion of a meeting held under 

22 paragraph (1), the Commission shall publish a dis23 closure of such meeting, including— 

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

25 such meeting; and 


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

2 at such meeting, except for such matters as the 

3 Commission determines may be withheld under 

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

5 ‘‘(3) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS RE6 QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 

7 subsection shall limit the applicability of section 

8 552b of title 5, United States Code, with respect to 

9 a meeting of Commissioners other than that de10 scribed in paragraph (1). 

11 ‘‘(d) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION ON COMMIS12 SION’S WEBSITE.—The Commission shall provide direct 

13 access from the homepage of its website to— 

14 ‘‘(1) detailed information regarding— 

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

16 current fiscal year; 

17 ‘‘(B) the appropriations for the Commis18 sion for such fiscal year; and 

19 ‘‘(C) the total number of full-time equiva20 lent employees of the Commission; and 

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

22 available by the Commission under section 1115(b) 

23 of title 31, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘(e) INTERNET PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN FCC 

2 POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.—The chairman of the Com3 mission shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) publish on the Internet website of the 

5 Commission any policies or procedures of the Com6 mission that— 

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

8 ‘‘(B) relate to the functioning of the Com9 mission or the handling of the agenda of the 

10 Commission; and 

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

12 hours after the chairman makes changes to any such 

13 policies or procedures. 

14 ‘‘(f) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any docu16 ment adopted by the Commission that the Commis17 sion is required, under any provision of law, to pub18 lish in the Federal Register, the Commission shall, 

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

20 complete all Commission actions necessary for such 

21 document to be so published. 

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

23 this paragraph is the earlier of— 

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

25 of the release of the document; or 


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

2 be completed to comply with any deadline under 

3 any other provision of law. 

4 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON DEADLINES FOR PUBLICA5 TION IN OTHER FORM.—In the case of a deadline 

6 that does not specify that the form of publication is 

7 publication in the Federal Register, the Commission 

8 may comply with such deadline by publishing the 

9 document in another form. Such other form of publi10 cation does not relieve the Commission of any Fed11 eral Register publication requirement applicable to 

12 such document, including the requirement of para13 graph (1). 

14 ‘‘(g) CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In evaluating and proc16 essing consumer complaints, the Commission shall 

17 present information about such complaints in a pub18 licly available, searchable database on its website 

19 that— 

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

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

22 and accessible by— 

23 ‘‘(i) the date of the filing of the com24 plaint; 

25 ‘‘(ii) the topic of the complaint; 


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

2 ‘‘(iv) other elements that the Commis3 sion considers in the public interest. 

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

5 of multiple complaints arising from the same alleged 

6 misconduct, the Commission shall be required to in7 clude only information concerning one such com8 plaint in the database described in paragraph (1). 

9 ‘‘(h) FORM OF PUBLICATION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In complying with a re11 quirement of this section to publish a document, the 

12 Commission shall publish such document on its 

13 website, in addition to publishing such document in 

14 any other form that the Commission is required to 

15 use or is permitted to and chooses to use. 

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

17 rule establish procedures for redacting documents 

18 required to be published by this section so that the 

19 published versions of such documents do not con20 tain— 

21 ‘‘(A) information the publication of which 

22 would be detrimental to national security, 

23 homeland security, law enforcement, or public 

24 safety; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) information that is proprietary or 

2 confidential. 

3 ‘‘(i) TRANSPARENCY RELATING TO PERFORMANCE IN

4 MEETING FOIA REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission shall 

5 take additional steps to inform the public about its per6 formance and efficiency in meeting the disclosure and 

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

8 Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Informa9 tion Act), including by doing the following: 

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

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

12 and managing requests submitted under such sec13 tion, including the Commission’s fee estimates, fee 

14 categories, and fee request determinations. 

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

16 by the Commission (including decisions made by the 

17 Commission’s Bureaus and Offices) granting or de18 nying requests filed under such section, including 

19 any such decisions pertaining to the estimate and 

20 application of fees assessed under such section. 

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

22 electronic copies of documents released under such 

23 section. 

24 ‘‘(4) Presenting information about the Commis25 sion’s handling of requests under such section in the 


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1 Commission’s annual budget estimates submitted to 

2 Congress and the Commission’s annual performance 

3 and financial reports. Such information shall include 

4 the number of requests under such section the Com5 mission received in the most recent fiscal year, the 

6 number of such requests granted and denied, a com7 parison of the Commission’s processing of such re8 quests over at least the previous 3 fiscal years, and 

9 a comparison of the Commission’s results with the 

10 most recent average for the United States Govern11 ment as published on www.foia.gov. 

12 ‘‘(j) PROMPT RELEASE OF STATISTICAL REPORTS

13 AND REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than January 

14 15th of each year, the Commission shall identify, catalog, 

15 and publish an anticipated release schedule for all statis16 tical reports and reports to Congress that are regularly 

17 or intermittently released by the Commission and will be 

18 released during such year. 

19 ‘‘(k) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the 1-year period be21 ginning on January 1st of each year, the Commis22 sion shall prepare a report on the performance of 

23 the Commission in conducting its proceedings and 

24 meeting the deadlines established under subsection 


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1 (a)(2)(E) and the guidelines established under sub2 section (a)(2)(F). 

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

4 paragraph (1) shall contain detailed statistics on 

5 such performance, including, with respect to each 

6 Bureau of the Commission— 

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

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

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

10 pending on the last day of the period cov11 ered by such report; 

12 ‘‘(ii) the number of filings described 

13 in clause (i) for which each applicable 

14 deadline or guideline established under 

15 such subsection was not met and the aver16 age length of time such filings have been 

17 pending; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) for filings that were resolved 

19 during such period, the average time be20 tween initiation and resolution and the 

21 percentage for which each applicable dead22 line or guideline established under such 

23 subsection was met; 

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

25 administrative law judge— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the number of such proceedings 

2 completed during such period; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) the number of such proceedings 

4 pending on the last day of such period; and 

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

6 analyses published by the Commission during 

7 such period. 

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

9 Commission shall publish and submit to the Com10 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

11 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

12 Science, and Transportation of the Senate each re13 port required by paragraph (1) not later than the 

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

15 covered by such report. 

16 ‘‘(l) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 ‘‘(1) AMENDMENT.—The term ‘amendment’ in18 cludes, when used with respect to an existing rule, 

19 the deletion of such rule. 

20 ‘‘(2) BIPARTISAN MAJORITY.—The term ‘bipar21 tisan majority’ means, when used with respect to a 

22 group of Commissioners, that such group— 

23 ‘‘(A) is a group of three or more Commis24 sioners; and 


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

2 which any Commissioner is a member, at least 

3 one Commissioner who is a member of such po4 litical party, and, if any Commissioner has no 

5 political party affiliation, at least one unaffili6 ated Commissioner. 

7 ‘‘(3) PERFORMANCE MEASURE.—The term ‘per8 formance measure’ means an objective and quantifi9 able outcome measure or output measure (as such 

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

11 States Code). 

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

13 activity’ has the meaning given such term in section 

14 1115 of title 31, United States Code, except that 

15 such term also includes any annual collection or dis16 tribution or related series of collections or distribu17 tions by the Commission of an amount that is great18 er than or equal to $100,000,000. 

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

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

21 the meanings given such terms in section 551 of title 

22 5, United States Code.’’. 

23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES AND IMPLEMENTING

24 RULES.— 

25 (1) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 


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1 (A) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUS2 SIONS.—Subsection (c) of section 13 of the 

3 Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub4 section (a), shall apply beginning on the first 

5 date on which all of the procedural changes to 

6 the rules of the Federal Communications Com7 mission required by subsection (a)(1) of such 

8 section have taken effect. 

9 (B) REPORT RELEASE SCHEDULES.—Sub10 section (j) of such section 13 shall apply with 

11 respect to 2016 and any year thereafter. 

12 (C) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.—Sub13 section (k) of such section 13 shall apply with 

14 respect to 2015 and any year thereafter. 

15 (D) INTERNET PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN

16 FCC POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.—Subsection 

17 (e) of such section 13 shall apply beginning on 

18 the date that is 30 days after the date of the 

19 enactment of this Act. 

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’’. 

22 SEC. 6. REPORT ON IMPROVING SMALL BUSINESS PARTICI23 PATION IN FCC PROCEEDINGS. 

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

25 of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission, in 


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1 consultation with the Administrator of the Small Business 

2 Administration, shall submit to Congress a report on— 

3 (1) actions that the Commission will take to im4 prove the participation of small businesses in the 

5 proceedings of the Commission; and 

6 (2) recommendations for any legislation that 

7 the Commission considers appropriate to improve 

8 such participation. 

9 SEC. 7. EXCLUSION FROM PAYGO SCORECARDS. 

10 (a) STATUTORY PAY-AS-YOU-GO SCORECARDS.—The 

11 budgetary effects of this Act shall not be entered on either 

12 PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to section 4(d) of 

13 the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. 

14 (b) SENATE PAYGO SCORECARDS.—The budgetary 

15 effects of this Act shall not be entered on any PAYGO 

16 scorecard maintained for purposes of section 201 of S. 

17 Con. Res. 21 (110th Congress). 

Passed the House of Representatives November 16, 

2015. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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