IB 

Union Calendar No. 251 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3675 

[Report No. 113–338] 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 9, 2013 

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

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

JANUARY 31, 2014 

Reported with amendments, 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 December 9, 2013] 


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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. 


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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 2013’’. 

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 inserting 

9 after section 12 the following new section: 

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 2013, 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 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 publishing the 

17 status of open rulemaking proceedings and pro18 posed orders, decisions, reports, or actions on cir19 culation for review by the Commissioners, in20 cluding which Commissioners have not cast a 

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

22 has been on circulation for more than 60 days; 

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

24 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; and 

8 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a petition for re9 consideration under section 1.106 or 1.429 

10 of such title or an application for review 

11 under section 1.115 of such title, issuing a 

12 public notice of a decision on the petition or 

13 application by the Commission or under 

14 delegated authority (as the case may be); 

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

16 date of filing) for the disposition of petitions 

17 filed under section 1.2 of such title; 

18 ‘‘(G) establish procedures for the inclusion 

19 of the specific language of the proposed rule or 

20 the proposed amendment of an existing rule in 

21 a notice of proposed rulemaking; and 

22 ‘‘(H) require notices of proposed rulemaking 

23 and orders adopting a rule or amending an ex24 isting rule that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) create (or propose to create) a pro2 gram activity to contain performance meas3 ures for evaluating the effectiveness of the 

4 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 Communications 

18 Commission Process Reform Act of 2013, the Commis19 sion shall complete an inquiry to seek public comment 

20 on whether and how the Commission should— 

21 ‘‘(A) establish procedures for allowing a bi22 partisan majority of Commissioners to place an 

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

24 of an open meeting; 


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1 ‘‘(B) establish procedures for informing all 

2 Commissioners of a reasonable number of options 

3 available to the Commission for resolving a peti4 tion, complaint, application, rulemaking, or 

5 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 (in10 cluding at a meeting held pursuant to section 

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

13 any proposed rule or any proposed amendment 

14 of an existing rule; 

15 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for publishing the 

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

17 meeting in advance of such meeting so that the 

18 public has the opportunity to read the text before 

19 a vote is taken; 

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

21 of filing) for disposition of applications for a li22 cense under section 1.913 of title 47, Code of 

23 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 as3 sessing a fee from applicants for such a license; 

4 and 

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

6 action not later than 30 days after the date of 

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

8 action. 

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

10 Commission shall develop a performance measure or 

11 proposed performance measure required by this sub12 section to rely, where possible, on data already col13 lected by the Commission. 

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

15 after the completion of the rulemaking proceeding under 

16 subsection (a)(1), and every 5 years thereafter, the Commis17 sion shall initiate a new rulemaking proceeding to continue 

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

19 in the public interest to maximize opportunities for public 

20 participation and efficient decisionmaking. 

21 ‘‘(c) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 

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

23 552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan ma24 jority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that is 

25 closed to the public to discuss official business 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 is 

4 a Commissioner, an employee of the Commission, 

5 a member of a joint board or conference estab6 lished under section 410, or a person on the staff 

7 of such a joint board or conference or of a mem8 ber of such a joint board or conference; and 

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

10 Counsel of the Commission is present at such 

11 meeting. 

12 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABO13 RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business days 

14 after the conclusion of a meeting held under para15 graph (1), the Commission shall publish a disclosure 

16 of such meeting, including— 

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

18 meeting; and 

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

20 such meeting, except for such matters as the 

21 Commission determines may be withheld under 

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

23 ‘‘(3) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS RE24 QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 

25 subsection shall limit the applicability of section 552b 


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1 of title 5, United States Code, with respect to a meet2 ing of Commissioners other than that described in 

3 paragraph (1). 

4 ‘‘(d) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION ON COMMIS5 SION’S WEBSITE.—The Commission shall provide direct ac6 cess from the homepage of its website to— 

7 ‘‘(1) detailed information regarding— 

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

9 current fiscal year; 

10 ‘‘(B) the appropriations for the Commission 

11 for such fiscal year; and 

12 ‘‘(C) the total number of full-time equiva13 lent employees of the Commission; and 

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

15 available by the Commission under section 1115(b) of 

16 title 31, United States Code. 

17 ‘‘(e) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.— 

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

19 adopted by the Commission that the Commission is 

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

21 the Federal Register, the Commission shall, not later 

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

23 Commission actions necessary for such document to be 

24 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 be 

6 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 that 

10 does not specify that the form of publication is publi11 cation in the Federal Register, the Commission may 

12 comply with such deadline by publishing the docu13 ment in another form. Such other form of publication 

14 does not relieve the Commission of any Federal Reg15 ister publication requirement applicable to such docu16 ment, including the requirement of paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(f) CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE.— 

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

19 consumer complaints, the Commission shall present 

20 information about such complaints in a publicly 

21 available, searchable database on its website that— 

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

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

24 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 of 

8 multiple complaints arising from the same alleged 

9 misconduct, the Commission shall be required to in10 clude only information concerning one such com11 plaint in the database described in paragraph (1). 

12 ‘‘(g) FORM OF PUBLICATION.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In complying with a re14 quirement of this section to publish a document, the 

15 Commission shall publish such document on its 

16 website, in addition to publishing such document in 

17 any other form that the Commission is required to use 

18 or is permitted to and chooses to use. 

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

20 establish procedures for redacting documents required 

21 to be published by this section so that the published 

22 versions of such documents do not contain— 

23 ‘‘(A) information the publication of which 

24 would be detrimental to national security, homeVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:01 Jan 31, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3675.RH H3675

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1 land security, law enforcement, or public safety; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(B) information that is proprietary or 

4 confidential. 

5 ‘‘(h) TRANSPARENCY RELATING TO PERFORMANCE IN

6 MEETING FOIA REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission shall 

7 take additional steps to inform the public about its perform8 ance and efficiency in meeting the disclosure and other re9 quirements of section 552 of title 5, United States Code 

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

11 including by doing the following: 

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

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

14 managing requests submitted under such section, in15 cluding the Commission’s fee estimates, fee categories, 

16 and fee request determinations. 

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

18 by the Commission (including decisions made by the 

19 Commission’s Bureaus and Offices) granting or deny20 ing requests filed under such section, including any 

21 such decisions pertaining to the estimate and applica22 tion of fees assessed under such section. 

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

24 electronic copies of documents released under such sec25 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(4) Presenting information about the Commis2 sion’s handling of requests under such section in the 

3 Commission’s annual budget estimates submitted to 

4 Congress and the Commission’s annual performance 

5 and financial reports. Such information shall include 

6 the number of requests under such section the Com7 mission received in the most recent fiscal year, the 

8 number of such requests granted and denied, a com9 parison of the Commission’s processing of such re10 quests over at least the previous 3 fiscal years, and 

11 a comparison of the Commission’s results with the 

12 most recent average for the United States Government 

13 as published on www.foia.gov. 

14 ‘‘(i) PROMPT RELEASE OF STATISTICAL REPORTS AND

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

16 each year, the Commission shall identify, catalog, and pub17 lish an anticipated release schedule for all statistical reports 

18 and reports to Congress that are regularly or intermittently 

19 released by the Commission and will be released during such 

20 year. 

21 ‘‘(j) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the 1-year period begin23 ning on January 1st of each year, the Commission 

24 shall prepare a report on the performance of the Com25 mission in conducting its proceedings and meeting 


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

2 and the guidelines established under subsection 

3 (a)(2)(F). 

4 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required by para5 graph (1) shall contain detailed statistics on such 

6 performance, including, with respect to each Bureau 

7 of the Commission— 

8 ‘‘(A) with respect to each type of filing spec9 ified in subsection (a)(2)(E) or (a)(2)(F)— 

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

11 pending on the last day of the period cov12 ered by such report; 

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

14 clause (i) for which each applicable deadline 

15 or guideline established under such sub16 section was not met and the average length 

17 of time such filings have been pending; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) for filings that were resolved dur19 ing such period, the average time between 

20 initiation and resolution and the percentage 

21 for which each applicable deadline or guide22 line established under such subsection was 

23 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 Com9 mission shall publish and submit to the Committee on 

10 Energy and Commerce of the House of Representa11 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

12 Transportation of the Senate each report required by 

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

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

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

16 ‘‘(1) AMENDMENT.—The term ‘amendment’ in17 cludes, when used with respect to an existing rule, the 

18 deletion of such rule. 

19 ‘‘(2) BIPARTISAN MAJORITY.—The term ‘bipar20 tisan majority’ means, when used with respect to a 

21 group of Commissioners, that such group— 

22 ‘‘(A) is a group of 3 or more Commis23 sioners; and 

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

25 which any Commissioner is a member, at least 


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1 1 Commissioner who is a member of such polit2 ical party, and, if any Commissioner has no po3 litical party affiliation, at least one unaffiliated 

4 Commissioner. 

5 ‘‘(3) PERFORMANCE MEASURE.—The term ‘per6 formance measure’ means an objective and quantifi7 able outcome measure or output measure (as such 

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

9 States Code). 

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

11 activity’ has the meaning given such term in section 

12 1115 of title 31, United States Code, except that such 

13 term also includes any annual collection or distribu14 tion or related series of collections or distributions by 

15 the Commission of an amount that is greater than or 

16 equal to $100,000,000. 

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

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

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

20 United States Code.’’. 

21 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES AND IMPLEMENTING RULES.— 

22 (1) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

23 (A) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUS24 SIONS.—Subsection (c) of section 13 of the Com25 munications Act of 1934, as added by subsection 


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

2 which all of the procedural changes to the rules 

3 of the Federal Communications Commission re4 quired by subsection (a)(1) of such section have 

5 taken effect. 

6 (B) SCHEDULES AND REPORTS.—Sub7 sections (i) and (j) of such section 13 shall apply 

8 with respect to 2014 and any year thereafter. 

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

10 such section 13, the Federal Communications Com11 mission shall promulgate any rules necessary to carry 

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

13 of the enactment of this Act. 

14 SEC. 3. CATEGORIZATION OF TCPA INQUIRIES AND COM15 PLAINTS IN QUARTERLY REPORT. 

16 In compiling its quarterly report with respect to infor17 mal consumer inquiries and complaints, the Federal Com18 munications Commission may not categorize an inquiry or 

19 complaint with respect to section 227 of the Communica20 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) as being a wireline in21 quiry or complaint or a wireless inquiry or complaint un22 less the party whose conduct is the subject of the inquiry 

23 or complaint is a wireline carrier or a wireless carrier, re24 spectively. 


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1 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

2 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

3 Act shall relieve the Federal Communications Commission 

4 from any obligations under title 5, United States Code, ex5 cept where otherwise expressly provided. 

6 SEC. 5. APPLICATION OF ANTIDEFICIENCY ACT TO UNI7 VERSAL SERVICE PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 254 of the Communications 

9 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the 

10 end the following: 

11 ‘‘(m) APPLICATION OF ANTIDEFICIENCY ACT.—Section 

12 1341 and subchapter II of chapter 15 of title 31, United 

13 States Code, do not apply— 

14 ‘‘(1) to any amount collected or received as Fed15 eral universal service contributions required by this 

16 section, including any interest earned on such con17 tributions; or 

18 ‘‘(2) to the expenditure or obligation of amounts 

19 attributable to such contributions for universal service 

20 support programs established pursuant to this sec21 tion.’’. 

22 (b) REPEAL OF TEMPORARY PROVISION.—Title III of 

23 Public Law 108–494 (118 Stat. 3997) is repealed. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to amend the 

Communications Act of 1934 to provide for greater 

transparency and efficiency in the procedures followed by 


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the Federal Communications Commission, and for other 

purposes.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 251 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3675 

[Report No. 113–338] 

A BILL 

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

JANUARY 31, 2014 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 

dered to be printed of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and orVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:01 Jan 31, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H3675.RH H3675

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