IB 

Union Calendar No. 286 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3309 

[Report No. 112–414] 

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 

NOVEMBER 2, 2011 

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

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

MARCH 19, 2012 

Additional sponsors: Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. TERRY, Mr. BASS of New 

Hampshire, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. LATTA, Mr. KLINE, 

and Mr. STEARNS

MARCH 19, 2012 

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 November 2, 2011] 


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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 2012’’. 

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) RULEMAKING REQUIREMENTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS FOR NOTICES OF PROPOSED

13 RULEMAKING.—The Commission may not issue a no14 tice of proposed rulemaking unless the Commission 

15 provides for a period of not less than 30 days for the 

16 submission of comments and an additional period of 

17 not less than 30 days for the submission of reply com18 ments on such notice and the Commission includes in 

19 such notice the following: 

20 ‘‘(A) Either— 

21 ‘‘(i) an identification of— 

22 ‘‘(I) a notice of inquiry, a prior 

23 notice of proposed rulemaking, or a no24 tice on a petition for rulemaking 

25 issued by the Commission during the 


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1 3-year period preceding the issuance of 

2 the notice of proposed rulemaking con3 cerned and of which such notice is a 

4 logical outgrowth; or 

5 ‘‘(II) an order of a court review6 ing action by the Commission or other7 wise directing the Commission to act 

8 that was issued by the court during the 

9 3-year period preceding the issuance of 

10 the notice of proposed rulemaking con11 cerned and in response to which such 

12 notice is being issued; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) a finding (together with a brief 

14 statement of reasons therefor)— 

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

16 proposed amendment of an existing 

17 rule will not impose additional bur18 dens on industry or consumers; or 

19 ‘‘(II) for good cause, that a notice 

20 of inquiry is impracticable, unneces21 sary, or contrary to the public interest. 

22 ‘‘(B) The specific language of the proposed 

23 rule or the proposed amendment of an existing 

24 rule. 


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1 ‘‘(C) In the case of a proposal to create a 

2 program activity, proposed performance meas3 ures for evaluating the effectiveness of the pro4 gram activity. 

5 ‘‘(D) In the case of a proposal to substan6 tially change a program activity— 

7 ‘‘(i) proposed performance measures for 

8 evaluating the effectiveness of the program 

9 activity as proposed to be changed; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) a proposed finding that existing 

11 performance measures will effectively evalu12 ate the program activity as proposed to be 

13 changed. 

14 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR RULES.—Except as 

15 provided in the 3rd sentence of section 553(b) of title 

16 5, United States Code, the Commission may not 

17 adopt or amend a rule unless— 

18 ‘‘(A) the specific language of the adopted 

19 rule or the amendment of an existing rule is a 

20 logical outgrowth of the specific language of a 

21 proposed rule or a proposed amendment of an 

22 existing rule included in a notice of proposed 

23 rulemaking, as described in subparagraph (B) of 

24 paragraph (1); 

25 ‘‘(B) such notice of proposed rulemaking— 


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1 ‘‘(i) was issued in compliance with 

2 such paragraph and during the 3-year pe3 riod preceding the adoption of the rule or 

4 the amendment of an existing rule; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) is identified in the order making 

6 the adoption or amendment; 

7 ‘‘(C) in the case of the adoption of a rule 

8 or the amendment of an existing rule that may 

9 have an economically significant impact, the 

10 order contains— 

11 ‘‘(i) an identification and analysis of 

12 the specific market failure, actual consumer 

13 harm, burden of existing regulation, or fail14 ure of public institutions that warrants the 

15 adoption or amendment; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) a reasoned determination that the 

17 benefits of the adopted rule or the amend18 ment of an existing rule justify its costs 

19 (recognizing that some benefits and costs are 

20 difficult to quantify), taking into account 

21 alternative forms of regulation and the need 

22 to tailor regulation to impose the least bur23 den on society, consistent with obtaining 

24 regulatory objectives; 


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1 ‘‘(D) in the case of the adoption of a rule 

2 or the amendment of an existing rule that creates 

3 a program activity, the order contains perform4 ance measures for evaluating the effectiveness of 

5 the program activity; and 

6 ‘‘(E) in the case of the adoption of a rule 

7 or the amendment of an existing rule that sub8 stantially changes a program activity, the order 

9 contains— 

10 ‘‘(i) performance measures for evalu11 ating the effectiveness of the program activ12 ity as changed; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) a finding that existing perform14 ance measures will effectively evaluate the 

15 program activity as changed. 

16 ‘‘(3) DATA FOR PERFORMANCE MEASURES.—The 

17 Commission shall develop a performance measure or 

18 proposed performance measure required by this sub19 section to rely, where possible, on data already col20 lected by the Commission. 

21 ‘‘(b) ADEQUATE DELIBERATION BY COMMIS22 SIONERS.—The Commission shall by rule establish proce23 dures for— 

24 ‘‘(1) informing all Commissioners of a reason25 able number of options available to the Commission 


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1 for resolving a petition, complaint, application, rule2 making, or other proceeding; 

3 ‘‘(2) ensuring that all Commissioners have ade4 quate time, prior to being required to decide a peti5 tion, complaint, application, rulemaking, or other 

6 proceeding (including at a meeting held pursuant to 

7 section 5(d)), to review the proposed Commission de8 cision document, including the specific language of 

9 any proposed rule or any proposed amendment of an 

10 existing rule; and 

11 ‘‘(3) publishing the text of agenda items to be 

12 voted on at an open meeting in advance of such meet13 ing so that the public has the opportunity to read the 

14 text before a vote is taken. 

15 ‘‘(c) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 

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

17 552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan ma18 jority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that is 

19 closed to the public to discuss official business if— 

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

21 not taken at such meeting; 

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

23 a Commissioner, an employee of the Commission, 

24 a member of a joint board established under secVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:11 Mar 19, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3309.RH H3309

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1 tion 410, or a person on the staff of such a joint 

2 board; and 

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

4 Counsel of the Commission is present at such 

5 meeting. 

6 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABO7 RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business days 

8 after the conclusion of a meeting held under para9 graph (1), the Commission shall publish a disclosure 

10 of such meeting, including— 

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

12 meeting; and 

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

14 such meeting, except for such matters as the 

15 Commission determines may be withheld under 

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

17 ‘‘(3) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS RE18 QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 

19 subsection shall limit the applicability of section 552b 

20 of title 5, United States Code, with respect to a meet21 ing of Commissioners other than that described in 

22 paragraph (1). 

23 ‘‘(d) INITIATION OF ITEMS BY BIPARTISAN MAJOR24 ITY.—The Commission shall by rule establish procedures for 

25 allowing a bipartisan majority of Commissioners to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) direct Commission staff to draft an order, 

2 decision, report, or action for review by the Commis3 sion; 

4 ‘‘(2) require Commission approval of an order, 

5 decision, report, or action with respect to a function 

6 of the Commission delegated under section 5(c)(1); 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(3) place an order, decision, report, or action 

9 on the agenda of an open meeting. 

10 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC REVIEW OF CERTAIN REPORTS AND EX

11 PARTE COMMUNICATIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para13 graph (2), the Commission may not rely, in any 

14 order, decision, report, or action, on— 

15 ‘‘(A) a statistical report or report to Con16 gress, unless the Commission has published and 

17 made such report available for comment for not 

18 less than a 30-day period prior to the adoption 

19 of such order, decision, report, or action; or 

20 ‘‘(B) an ex parte communication or any fil21 ing with the Commission, unless the public has 

22 been afforded adequate notice of and opportunity 

23 to respond to such communication or filing, in 

24 accordance with procedures to be established by 

25 the Commission by rule. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) does not apply 

2 when the Commission for good cause finds (and incor3 porates the finding and a brief statement of reasons 

4 therefor in the order, decision, report, or action) that 

5 publication or availability of a report under subpara6 graph (A) of such paragraph or notice of and oppor7 tunity to respond to an ex parte communication 

8 under subparagraph (B) of such paragraph are im9 practicable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public in10 terest. 

11 ‘‘(f) PUBLICATION OF STATUS OF CERTAIN PRO12 CEEDINGS AND ITEMS.—The Commission shall by rule es13 tablish procedures for publishing the status of all open rule14 making proceedings and all proposed orders, decisions, re15 ports, or actions on circulation for review by the Commis16 sioners, including which Commissioners have not cast a 

17 vote on an order, decision, report, or action that has been 

18 on circulation for more than 60 days. 

19 ‘‘(g) DEADLINES FOR ACTION.—The Commission shall 

20 by rule establish deadlines for any Commission order, deci21 sion, report, or action for each of the various categories of 

22 petitions, applications, complaints, and other filings seek23 ing Commission action, including filings seeking action 

24 through authority delegated under section 5(c)(1). 


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1 ‘‘(h) PROMPT RELEASE OF CERTAIN REPORTS AND

2 DECISION DOCUMENTS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) STATISTICAL REPORTS AND REPORTS TO

4 CONGRESS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) RELEASE SCHEDULE.—Not later than 

6 January 15th of each year, the Commission shall 

7 identify, catalog, and publish an anticipated re8 lease schedule for all statistical reports and re9 ports to Congress that are regularly or intermit10 tently released by the Commission and will be re11 leased during such year. 

12 ‘‘(B) PUBLICATION DEADLINES.—The Com13 mission shall publish each report identified in a 

14 schedule published under subparagraph (A) not 

15 later than the date indicated in such schedule for 

16 the anticipated release of such report. 

17 ‘‘(2) DECISION DOCUMENTS.—The Commission 

18 shall publish each order, decision, report, or action 

19 not later than 7 days after the date of the adoption 

20 of such order, decision, report, or action. 

21 ‘‘(3) EFFECT IF DEADLINES NOT MET.— 

22 ‘‘(A) NOTIFICATION OF CONGRESS.—If the 

23 Commission fails to publish an order, decision, 

24 report, or action by a deadline described in 

25 paragraph (1)(B) or (2), the Commission shall, 


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1 not later than 7 days after such deadline and 

2 every 14 days thereafter until the publication of 

3 the order, decision, report, or action, notify by 

4 letter the chairpersons and ranking members of 

5 the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

6 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

7 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

8 Senate. Such letter shall identify such order, de9 cision, report, or action, specify the deadline, 

10 and describe the reason for the delay. The Com11 mission shall publish such letter. 

12 ‘‘(B) NO IMPACT ON EFFECTIVENESS.—The 

13 failure of the Commission to publish an order, 

14 decision, report, or action by a deadline de15 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) or (2) shall not 

16 render such order, decision, report, or action in17 effective when published. 

18 ‘‘(i) BIANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the 6-month period be20 ginning on January 1st of each year and the 6-month 

21 period beginning on July 1st of each year, the Com22 mission shall prepare a report on the performance of 

23 the Commission in conducting its proceedings and 

24 meeting the deadlines established under subsections 

25 (g), (h)(1)(B), and (h)(2). 


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1 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required by para2 graph (1) shall contain detailed statistics on such 

3 performance, including, with respect to each Bureau 

4 of the Commission— 

5 ‘‘(A) in the case of performance in meeting 

6 the deadlines established under subsection (g), 

7 with respect to each category established under 

8 such subsection— 

9 ‘‘(i) the number of petitions, applica10 tions, complaints, and other filings seeking 

11 Commission action that were pending on 

12 the last day of the period covered by such 

13 report; 

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

15 clause (i) that were not resolved by the 

16 deadlines established under such subsection 

17 and the average length of time such filings 

18 have been pending; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) for petitions, applications, com20 plaints, and other filings seeking Commis21 sion action that were resolved during such 

22 period, the average time between initiation 

23 and resolution and the percentage resolved 

24 by the deadlines established under such sub25 section; 


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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of proceedings before an 

2 administrative law judge— 

3 ‘‘(i) the number of such proceedings 

4 completed during such period; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) the number of such proceedings 

6 pending on the last day of such period; and 

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

8 analyses published by the Commission during 

9 such period. 

10 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION AND SUBMISSION.—The Com11 mission shall publish and submit to the Committee on 

12 Energy and Commerce of the House of Representa13 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

14 Transportation of the Senate each report required by 

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

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

17 ‘‘(j) TRANSACTION REVIEW STANDARDS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall condi19 tion its approval of a transfer of lines, a transfer of 

20 licenses, or any other transaction under section 214, 

21 309, or 310 or any other provision of this Act only 

22 if— 

23 ‘‘(A) the imposed condition is narrowly tai24 lored to remedy a harm that arises as a direct 

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1 action that this Act empowers the Commission to 

2 review; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the Commission could impose a simi4 lar requirement under the authority of a specific 

5 provision of law other than a provision empow6 ering the Commission to review a transfer of 

7 lines, a transfer of licenses, or other transaction. 

8 ‘‘(2) EXCLUSIONS.—In reviewing a transfer of 

9 lines, a transfer of licenses, or any other transaction 

10 under section 214, 309, or 310 or any other provision 

11 of this Act, the Commission may not consider a vol12 untary commitment of a party to such transfer or 

13 transaction unless the Commission could adopt that 

14 voluntary commitment as a condition under para15 graph (1). 

16 ‘‘(k) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION ON COMMIS17 SION’S WEBSITE.—The Commission shall provide direct ac18 cess from the homepage of its website to— 

19 ‘‘(1) detailed information regarding— 

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

21 current fiscal year; 

22 ‘‘(B) the appropriations for the Commission 

23 for such fiscal year; and 

24 ‘‘(C) the total number of full-time equiva25 lent employees of the Commission; and 


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

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

3 title 31, United States Code. 

4 ‘‘(l) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.— 

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

6 adopted by the Commission that the Commission is 

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

8 the Federal Register, the Commission shall, not later 

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

10 Commission actions necessary for such document to be 

11 so published. 

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

13 this paragraph is the earlier of— 

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

15 of the release of the document; or 

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

17 completed to comply with any deadline under 

18 any other provision of law. 

19 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON DEADLINES FOR PUBLICA20 TION IN OTHER FORM.—In the case of a deadline that 

21 does not specify that the form of publication is publi22 cation in the Federal Register, the Commission may 

23 comply with such deadline by publishing the docu24 ment in another form. Such other form of publication 

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1 ister publication requirement applicable to such docu2 ment, including the requirement of paragraph (1). 

3 ‘‘(m) CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE.— 

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

5 consumer complaints, the Commission shall present 

6 information about such complaints in a publicly 

7 available, searchable database on its website that— 

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

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

10 and accessible by— 

11 ‘‘(i) the date of the filing of the com12 plaint; 

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

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

15 ‘‘(iv) other elements that the Commis16 sion considers in the public interest. 

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

18 multiple complaints arising from the same alleged 

19 misconduct, the Commission shall be required to in20 clude only information concerning one such com21 plaint in the database described in paragraph (1). 

22 ‘‘(n) FORM OF PUBLICATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In complying with a re24 quirement of this section to publish a document, the 

25 Commission shall publish such document on its 


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1 website, in addition to publishing such document in 

2 any other form that the Commission is required to use 

3 or is permitted to and chooses to use. 

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

5 establish procedures for redacting documents required 

6 to be published by this section so that the published 

7 versions of such documents do not contain— 

8 ‘‘(A) information the publication of which 

9 would be detrimental to national security, home10 land security, law enforcement, or public safety; 

11 or 

12 ‘‘(B) information that is proprietary or 

13 confidential. 

14 ‘‘(o) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) AMENDMENT.—The term ‘amendment’ in16 cludes, when used with respect to an existing rule, the 

17 deletion of such rule. 

18 ‘‘(2) BIPARTISAN MAJORITY.—The term ‘bipar19 tisan majority’ means, when used with respect to a 

20 group of Commissioners, that such group— 

21 ‘‘(A) is a group of 3 or more Commis22 sioners; and 

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

24 which any Commissioner is a member, at least 

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1 ical party, and, if any Commissioner has no po2 litical party affiliation, at least 1 unaffiliated 

3 Commissioner. 

4 ‘‘(3) ECONOMICALLY SIGNIFICANT IMPACT.—The 

5 term ‘economically significant impact’ means an ef6 fect on the economy of $100,000,000 or more annually 

7 or a material adverse effect on the economy, a sector 

8 of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the 

9 environment, public health or safety, or State, local, 

10 or tribal governments or communities. 

11 ‘‘(4) PERFORMANCE MEASURE.—The term ‘per12 formance measure’ means an objective and quantifi13 able outcome measure or output measure (as such 

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

15 States Code). 

16 ‘‘(5) PROGRAM ACTIVITY.—The term ‘program 

17 activity’ has the meaning given such term in section 

18 1115 of title 31, United States Code, except that such 

19 term also includes any annual collection or distribu20 tion or related series of collections or distributions by 

21 the Commission of an amount that is greater than or 

22 equal to $100,000,000. 

23 ‘‘(6) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘agency 

24 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 DATE AND IMPLEMENTING RULES.— 

4 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The requirements of sec6 tion 13 of the Communications Act of 1934, as 

7 added by subsection (a), shall apply beginning 

8 on the date that is 6 months after the date of the 

9 enactment of this Act. 

10 (B) PRIOR NOTICES OF PROPOSED RULE11 MAKING.—If the Federal Communications Com12 mission identifies under paragraph (2)(B)(ii) of 

13 subsection (a) of such section 13 a notice of pro14 posed rulemaking issued prior to the date of the 

15 enactment of this Act— 

16 (i) such notice shall be deemed to have 

17 complied with paragraph (1) of such sub18 section; and 

19 (ii) if such notice did not contain the 

20 specific language of a proposed rule or a 

21 proposed amendment of an existing rule, 

22 paragraph (2)(A) of such subsection shall be 

23 satisfied if the adopted rule or the amend24 ment of an existing rule is a logical out25 growth of such notice. 


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1 (C) SCHEDULES AND REPORTS.—Notwith2 standing subparagraph (A), subsections (h)(1) 

3 and (i) of such section shall apply with respect 

4 to 2013 and any year thereafter. 

5 (2) RULES.—The Federal Communications Com6 mission shall promulgate the rules necessary to carry 

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

8 of the enactment of this Act. 

9 (3) PROCEDURES FOR ADOPTING RULES.—Not10 withstanding paragraph (1)(A), in promulgating 

11 rules to carry out such section, the Federal Commu12 nications Commission shall comply with the require13 ments of subsections (a) and (h)(2) of such section. 

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 amendment 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. 


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Union Calendar No. 286 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3309 

[Report No. 112–414] 

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 

MARCH 19, 2012 

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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