II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 421 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2015 

Mr. HELLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

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) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) AMENDMENT.—The term ‘amendment’ in8 cludes, when used with respect to an existing rule, 

9 the deletion of the rule. 

10 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION FOR REVIEW.—The term 

11 ‘application for review’ means an application for re12 view filed under section 1.115 of title 47, Code of 

13 Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto. 

14 ‘‘(3) BIPARTISAN MAJORITY.—The term ‘bipar15 tisan majority’ means, when used with respect to a 

16 group of Commissioners, that the group— 

17 ‘‘(A) is a group of 3 or more Commis18 sioners; and 

19 ‘‘(B) includes— 

20 ‘‘(i) for each political party of which 

21 any Commissioner is a member, not less 

22 than 1 Commissioner who is a member of 

23 the political party; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) if any Commissioner has no po25 litical party affiliation, not less than 1 un26 affiliated Commissioner. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PERFORMANCE MEASURE.—The term ‘per2 formance measure’ means an objective and quantifi3 able outcome measure or output measure (as those 

4 defined in section 1115 of title 31, United States 

5 Code). 

6 ‘‘(5) ECONOMICALLY SIGNIFICANT IMPACT.— 

7 The term ‘economically significant impact’ means an 

8 effect on the economy of $100,000,000 or more an9 nually or a material adverse effect on the economy, 

10 a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, 

11 jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or 

12 State, local, or tribal governments or communities. 

13 ‘‘(6) PETITION FOR DECLARATORY RULING.— 

14 The term ‘petition for declaratory ruling’ means a 

15 petition for declaratory ruling filed under section 1.2 

16 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc17 cessor thereto. 

18 ‘‘(7) PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION.—The 

19 term ‘petition for reconsideration’ means a petition 

20 for reconsideration filed under section 1.106 or 

21 1.429 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or 

22 any successor thereto. 

23 ‘‘(8) PETITION FOR RULEMAKING.—The term 

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1 making filed under section 1.401 of title 47, Code of 

2 Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto. 

3 ‘‘(9) PROGRAM ACTIVITY.—The term ‘program 

4 activity’— 

5 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 

6 section 1115 of title 31, United States Code; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(B) includes any annual collection or dis9 tribution or related series of collections or dis10 tributions by the Commission of an amount not 

11 less than $100,000,000. 

12 ‘‘(10) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘adju13 dication’, ‘agency action’, ‘ex parte communication’, 

14 ‘rule’, and ‘rulemaking’ have the meanings given the 

15 terms in section 551 of title 5, United States Code. 

16 ‘‘(b) INITIAL RULEMAKING AND INQUIRY.— 

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

18 after the date of enactment of the Federal Commu19 nications Commission Process Reform Act of 2015, 

20 the Commission shall complete a rulemaking pro21 ceeding and adopt procedural changes to the rules of 

22 the Commission to maximize opportunities for public 

23 participation and efficient decision making. 

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

25 rules adopted under paragraph (1) shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) set minimum comment periods for 

2 comment and reply comment, subject to a de3 termination by the Commission that good cause 

4 exists for departing from the minimum com5 ment periods, for— 

6 ‘‘(i) significant regulatory actions, as 

7 defined in Executive Order 12866 (5 

8 U.S.C. 601 note; relating to regulatory 

9 planning and review); 

10 ‘‘(ii) all other rulemaking proceedings; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(iii) petitions for forbearance filed 

13 under section 10(c) of the Communications 

14 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 160(c)); 

15 ‘‘(B) establish policies concerning the sub16 mission of extensive new comments, data, or re17 ports towards the end of a comment period; 

18 ‘‘(C) establish policies regarding treatment 

19 of comments, ex parte communications, and 

20 data or reports (including statistical reports 

21 and reports to Congress) submitted after a 

22 comment period to ensure that the public has 

23 adequate notice of and opportunity to respond 

24 to the submissions before the Commission relies 


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1 on the submissions in any order, decision, re2 port, or action; 

3 ‘‘(D) establish procedures for publishing 

4 the status of open rulemaking proceedings and 

5 proposed orders, decisions, reports, or actions 

6 on circulation for review by the Commissioners, 

7 including which Commissioners have not cast a 

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

9 has been on circulation for more than 60 days; 

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

11 date of filing) for issuing a public notice of— 

12 ‘‘(i) a petition for declaratory ruling; 

13 ‘‘(ii) a petition for rulemaking; 

14 ‘‘(iii) a petition for reconsideration; or 

15 ‘‘(iv) an application for review; 

16 ‘‘(F) require each notice of proposed rule17 making to include the specific language of the 

18 proposed rule or the proposed amendment of an 

19 existing rule; 

20 ‘‘(G) require each petition filed with the 

21 Commission to be— 

22 ‘‘(i) put out for public notice, subject 

23 to the minimum comment and reply com24 ment periods established under subpara25 graph (A); or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) disposed of pursuant to an order 

2 of dismissal; 

3 ‘‘(H) require each new notice of proposed 

4 rulemaking or order adopting a rule or amend5 ing an existing rule that creates (or proposes to 

6 create) a program activity to contain perform7 ance measures for evaluating the effectiveness 

8 of the program activity; 

9 ‘‘(I) require each notice of proposed rule10 making or order adopting a rule or amending 

11 an existing rule that substantially changes (or 

12 proposes to substantially change) a program ac13 tivity to contain— 

14 ‘‘(i) performance measures for evalu15 ating the effectiveness of the program ac16 tivity as changed (or proposed to be 

17 changed); or 

18 ‘‘(ii) a finding that existing perform19 ance measures will effectively evaluate the 

20 program activity as changed (or proposed 

21 to be changed); 

22 ‘‘(J) require each notice of proposed rule23 making to include— 

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1 making, or a notice on a petition for rule2 making, issued by the Commission during 

3 the 3-year period preceding the date on 

4 which the notice of proposed rulemaking 

5 concerned is issued and of which such no6 tice is a logical outgrowth; 

7 ‘‘(ii) an order of a court reviewing ac8 tion by the Commission or otherwise di9 recting the Commission to act that the 

10 court issued during the 3-year period pre11 ceding the date on which the notice of pro12 posed rulemaking concerned is issued and 

13 in response to which such notice is being 

14 issued; or 

15 ‘‘(iii) a finding (together with a brief 

16 statement of reasons therefor)— 

17 ‘‘(I) that the proposed rule or the 

18 proposed amendment of an existing 

19 rule will not impose additional bur20 dens on industry or consumers; and 

21 ‘‘(II) for good cause, that a no22 tice of inquiry is impracticable, unnec23 essary, or contrary to the public inter24 est; 


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1 ‘‘(K) require each notice of proposed rule2 making or order adopting a rule or amending 

3 an existing rule that may have an economically 

4 significant impact, to contain— 

5 ‘‘(i) an identification and analysis of 

6 the specific market failure, actual con7 sumer harm, burden of existing regulation, 

8 or failure of public institutions that war9 rants the adoption or amendment; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) a reasoned determination that 

11 the benefits of the adoption or amendment 

12 justify the costs (recognizing that some 

13 benefits and costs are difficult to quan14 tify), taking into account alternative forms 

15 of regulation and the need to tailor regula16 tion to impose the least burden on society, 

17 consistent with obtaining regulatory objec18 tives; 

19 ‘‘(L) establish procedures under which a 

20 Commissioner, with respect to an order, deci21 sion, report, or action of a bureau or office of 

22 the Commission, may require the entire Com23 mission to vote on whether to— 

24 ‘‘(i) affirm, modify, or set aside the 

25 order, decision, report, or action; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) order a rehearing upon the order, 

2 decision, report, or action in accordance 

3 with section 405; and 

4 ‘‘(M) establish procedures for publishing 

5 the language of a rule or amendment of an ex6 isting rule for a period of not fewer than 21 

7 days before the date on which a vote on the rule 

8 or amendment to an existing rule begins. 

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

10 date of enactment of the Federal Communications 

11 Commission Process Reform Act of 2015, the Com12 mission shall complete an inquiry to seek public 

13 comment on whether and how the Commission 

14 should— 

15 ‘‘(A) establish procedures for informing all 

16 Commissioners of a reasonable number of op17 tions available to the Commission for resolving 

18 a petition, complaint, application, rulemaking, 

19 or other proceeding; 

20 ‘‘(B) establish procedures for ensuring that 

21 all Commissioners have adequate time, prior to 

22 being required to decide a petition, complaint, 

23 application, rulemaking, or other proceeding 

24 (including at a meeting held under section 

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1 sion document, including the specific language 

2 of any proposed rule or any proposed amend3 ment of an existing rule; 

4 ‘‘(C) establish deadlines (relative to the 

5 date of filing) for disposition of applications for 

6 a license under section 1.913 of title 47, Code 

7 of Federal Regulations; 

8 ‘‘(D) assign resources needed to meet the 

9 deadlines described in subparagraph (C), in10 cluding whether the ability of the Commission 

11 to meet those deadlines would be enhanced by 

12 assessing a fee from applicants for a license de13 scribed in subparagraph (C); and 

14 ‘‘(E) publish each order, decision, report, 

15 or action not later than 30 days after the date 

16 of the adoption of the order, decision, report, or 

17 action. 

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

19 The Commission shall develop a performance meas20 ure or proposed performance measure required 

21 under this subsection to rely, where possible, on data 

22 already collected by the Commission. 

23 ‘‘(c) PERIODIC REVIEW.—On the date that is 5 years 

24 after the completion of the rulemaking proceeding under 

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1 mission shall initiate a new rulemaking proceeding to con2 tinue to consider any procedural changes to the rules of 

3 the Commission that may be in the public interest to maxi4 mize opportunities for public participation and efficient 

5 decisionmaking. 

6 ‘‘(d) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 

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

8 552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan 

9 majority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that 

10 is closed to the public to discuss official business 

11 if— 

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

13 not taken at the meeting; 

14 ‘‘(B) each person present at the meeting is 

15 a Commissioner, an employee of the Commis16 sion, a member of a joint board or conference 

17 established under section 410, or a person on 

18 the staff of such a joint board or conference or 

19 of a member of such a joint board or con20 ference; and 

21 ‘‘(C) an attorney from the Office of Gen22 eral Counsel of the Commission is present at 

23 the meeting. 

24 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABO25 RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business 


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1 days after the conclusion of a meeting held under 

2 paragraph (1), the Commission shall publish a dis3 closure of the meeting, including— 

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

5 meeting; and 

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

7 at the meeting, except for any matters that the 

8 Commission determines may be withheld under 

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

10 ‘‘(3) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS RE11 QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 

12 subsection shall limit the applicability of section 

13 552b of title 5, United States Code, with respect to 

14 a meeting of Commissioners other than that de15 scribed in paragraph (1). 

16 ‘‘(e) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION ON COMMIS17 SION’S WEBSITE.—The Commission shall provide direct 

18 access from the homepage of the website of the Commis19 sion to— 

20 ‘‘(1) detailed information regarding— 

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

22 current fiscal year; 

23 ‘‘(B) the appropriations for the Commis24 sion for the current fiscal year; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) the total number of full-time equiva2 lent employees of the Commission; and 

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

4 available by the Commission under section 1115(b) 

5 of title 31, United States Code. 

6 ‘‘(f) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any docu8 ment adopted by the Commission that the Commis9 sion is required, under any provision of law, to pub10 lish in the Federal Register, the Commission shall, 

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

12 complete all Commission actions necessary for the 

13 document to be so published. 

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

15 this paragraph is the earlier of— 

16 ‘‘(A) the date that is 60 days after the 

17 date of the release of the document described in 

18 paragraph (1); or 

19 ‘‘(B) the date by which the actions de20 scribed in paragraph (1) must be completed to 

21 comply with any deadline under any other pro22 vision of law. 

23 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON DEADLINES FOR PUBLICA24 TION IN OTHER FORM.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a dead2 line that does not specify that the form of pub3 lication is publication in the Federal Register, 

4 the Commission may comply with the deadline 

5 by publishing the document in another form. 

6 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL REG7 ISTER PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Publica8 tion of a document in another form as described 

9 in subparagraph (A) shall not relieve the Com10 mission of any Federal Register publication re11 quirement applicable to the document, including 

12 the requirement under paragraph (1). 

13 ‘‘(g) FORM OF PUBLICATION.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In complying with a re15 quirement under this section to publish a document, 

16 the Commission shall publish the document on the 

17 website of the Commission, in addition to publishing 

18 the document in any other form that the Commis19 sion is required to use or is permitted to and chooses 

20 to use. 

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

22 rule establish procedures for redacting documents 

23 required to be published under this section so that 

24 the published versions of the 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 the 

10 performance and efficiency of the Commission in meeting 

11 the disclosure and other requirements under section 552 

12 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as 

13 the ‘Freedom of Information Act’), including by— 

14 ‘‘(1) publishing on the website of the Commis15 sion the logs used by the Commission for tracking, 

16 responding to, and managing requests submitted 

17 under such section, including the Commission’s fee 

18 estimates, fee categories, and fee request determina19 tions; 

20 ‘‘(2) releasing to the public all decisions made 

21 by the Commission (including decisions made by the 

22 Bureaus and Offices of the Commission) granting or 

23 denying requests filed under such section, including 

24 any such decisions pertaining to the estimate and 

25 application of fees assessed under such section; 


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1 ‘‘(3) publishing on the website of the Commis2 sion electronic copies of documents released under 

3 such section; and 

4 ‘‘(4) presenting, in the annual budget estimates 

5 of the Commission submitted to Congress and the 

6 annual performance and financial reports of the 

7 Commission, information about the handling by the 

8 Commission of requests under such section, includ9 ing— 

10 ‘‘(A) the number of requests under such 

11 section the Commission received during the 

12 most recent fiscal year; 

13 ‘‘(B) the number of requests described in 

14 subparagraph (A) granted and denied; 

15 ‘‘(C) a comparison of the processing of re16 quests described in subparagraph (A) by the 

17 Commission during a period of not less than 

18 the 3 preceding fiscal years; and 

19 ‘‘(D) a comparison of the results of the 

20 Commission in processing requests described in 

21 subparagraph (A) with the most recent average 

22 for the United States Government as published 

23 on www.foia.gov. 

24 ‘‘(i) PROMPT RELEASE OF STATISTICAL REPORTS

25 AND REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than January 15 


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1 of each year, the Commission shall identify, catalog, and 

2 publish an anticipated release schedule for all statistical 

3 reports and reports to Congress that are regularly or 

4 intermittently released by the Commission and will be re5 leased during the year. 

6 ‘‘(j) ANNUAL SCORE CARD REPORTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the 1-year period be8 ginning on January 1 of each year, the Commission 

9 shall prepare a report on the performance of the 

10 Commission in conducting proceedings and meeting 

11 the guidelines established under subsection 

12 (b)(2)(E). 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under 

14 paragraph (1) shall contain detailed statistics on the 

15 performance of the Commission as described in 

16 paragraph (1), including, with respect to each bu17 reau or office of the Commission— 

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

19 specified in subsection (b)(2)(E)— 

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

21 pending on the last day of the period cov22 ered by the report; 

23 ‘‘(ii) the number of filings described 

24 in clause (i) for which each applicable 

25 deadline or guideline established under 


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1 such subsection was not met and the aver2 age length of time those filings have been 

3 pending; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) for filings that were resolved 

5 during the period covered by the report, 

6 the average time between initiation and 

7 resolution and the percentage for which 

8 each applicable deadline or guideline estab9 lished under such subsection was met; 

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

11 administrative law judge— 

12 ‘‘(i) the number of proceedings com13 pleted during the period covered by the re14 port; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) the number of proceedings pend16 ing on the last day of the period covered 

17 by the report; and 

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

19 analyses published by the Commission during 

20 the period covered by the report. 

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

22 Commission shall publish and submit to the Com23 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

24 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce 

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1 port required under paragraph (1) not later than the 

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

3 covered by the report.’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES AND IMPLEMENTING

5 RULES.— 

6 (1) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

7 (A) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUS8 SIONS.—Subsection (d) of section 13 of the 

9 Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub10 section (a), shall apply beginning on the first 

11 date on which all of the procedural changes to 

12 the rules of the Federal Communications Com13 mission required under subsection (b)(1) of 

14 such section have taken effect. 

15 (B) SCHEDULES AND REPORTS.—Sub16 sections (j) and (k) of section 13 of the Com17 munications Act of 1934, as added by sub18 section (a), shall apply with respect to 2015 

19 and any year thereafter. 

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

21 section 13 of the Communications Act of 1934, as 

22 added by subsection (a), the Federal Communica23 tions Commission shall promulgate any rules nec24 essary to carry out such section not later than 1 

25 year after the date of 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. PROVISION OF EMERGENCY WEATHER INFORMA18 TION; COMMUNICATIONS OF FIRST RESPOND19 ERS. 

20 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

21 Act shall be construed to impede the Federal Communica22 tions Commission from acting in times of emergency to 

23 ensure the availability of efficient and effective commu24 nications systems— 

25 (1) to alert the public to imminent dangerous 

26 weather conditions; or 


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1 (2) for State and local first responders. 

Æ 


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