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Calendar No. 521 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2881 

[Report No. 111–251] 

To provide greater technical resources to FCC Commissioners. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2009 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mr. WARNER, Mr. KAUFMAN, and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

AUGUST 5, 2010 

Reported by Mr. ROCKEFELLER, with an amendment 

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

A BILL 

To provide greater technical resources to FCC 

Commissioners. 

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 ‘‘FCC Commissioners’ 

5 Technical Resource Enhancement Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF TECHNICAL STAFF. 

2 Section 4(f)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 

3 (47 U.S.C. 154(f)(2)) is amended by inserting after the 

4 first sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘Each commis5 sioner may also appoint an electrical engineer or computer 

6 scientist to provide the commissioner technical consulta7 tion when appropriate and to interface with the Office of 

8 Engineering and Technology, Commission Bureaus, and 

9 other technical staff of the Commission for additional 

10 technical input and resources, provided that such engineer 

11 or scientist holds an undergraduate or graduate degree 

12 from an institution of higher education in their respective 

13 field of expertise.’’. 

14 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

15 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FCC Commissioners’ 

16 Technical Resource Enhancement Act’’. 

17 SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF TECHNICAL STAFF. 

18 Section 4(f)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

19 U.S.C. 154(f)(2)) is amended by inserting after the first 

20 sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘Each commissioner 

21 may also appoint an electrical engineer or computer sci22 entist to provide the commissioner technical consultation 

23 when appropriate and to interface with the Office of Engi24 neering and Technology, Commission Bureaus, and other 

25 technical staff of the Commission for additional technical 

26 input and resources, provided that such engineer or scimmaher on DSKD5P82C1PROD with BILLS

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1 entist holds an undergraduate or graduate degree from an 

2 institution of higher education in their respective field of 

3 expertise.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL POLICY AND PERSONNEL STUDY. 

5 (a) STUDY.— 

6 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Chairman of the Fed7 eral Communications Commission (hereafter in this 

8 section referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall enter 

9 into an arrangement with the National Academy of 

10 Sciences to complete a study of the technical policy 

11 decisionmaking and the technical personnel at the 

12 Commission. 

13 (2) CONTENTS.—The study required under para14 graph (1) shall— 

15 (A) review technical policy decision making 

16 of the Commission, including if the Commission 

17 has the adequate resources and processes in place 

18 to properly evaluate and account for the tech19 nical aspects and impact of the Commission’s 

20 regulatory rulemaking; 

21 (B) review— 

22 (i) the timeliness of the rulemaking 

23 process utilized by the Commission; and 

24 (ii) the impact of regulatory delay on 

25 telecommunications innovation; 

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1 (C) based upon the review undertaken pur2 suant to subparagraph (B), make recommenda3 tions for the Commission to streamline its rule4 making process; 

5 (D) evaluate the current staffing levels and 

6 skill sets of technical personnel at the Commis7 sion to determine if such staffing levels and skill 

8 sets are aligned with the current and future 

9 needs of the Commission, as well as with current 

10 and future issues that come or may come under 

11 the jurisdiction of the Commission; 

12 (E) examine the current technical staff and 

13 engineering recruiting procedures at the Com14 mission and make recommendations on how the 

15 Commission can improve its efforts to hire and 

16 retain engineers and other technical staff mem17 bers; 

18 (F) examine— 

19 (i) the reliance of the Commission on 

20 external contractors in the development of 

21 policy and in evaluating the technical as22 pects of services, devices, and issues that 

23 arise under the jurisdiction of the Commis24 sion; and 

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1 (ii) the potential costs and benefits of 

2 the development of ‘‘in-house’’ resources to 

3 perform the duties that are currently being 

4 outsourced to external contractors; and 

5 (G) compare the decisionmaking process of 

6 the Commission with the decisionmaking process 

7 used by similar regulatory authorities in other 

8 industrialized countries, including the European 

9 Union, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the 

10 United Kingdom. 

11 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the date 

12 of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall transmit a 

13 report describing the results of the study and recommenda14 tions required by subsection (a) to the Committee on Com15 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 

16 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep17 resentatives. 

18 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are 

19 authorized to be appropriated to the Chairman of the Com20 mission for carrying out this section $1,000,000 for fiscal 

21 years 2011 and 2012. 

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Calendar No. 521 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2881 

[Report No. 111–251] 

A BILL 

To provide greater technical resources to FCC 

A

Commissioners. 

UGUST 5, 2010 

Reported with an amendment 

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