IB 
Union Calendar No. 231 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2583 
[Report No. 114–305] 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for greater trans-
parency and efficiency in the procedures followed by the Federal Commu-
nications Commission, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 29, 2015 
Mr. WALDEN (for himself and Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
OCTOBER 22, 2015 
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 May 29, 2015] 
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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, 
and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Communica-
tions Commission Process Reform Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FCC PROCESS REFORM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Communications Act 
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 13. TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY. 
‘‘(a) INITIAL RULEMAKING AND INQUIRY.— 
‘‘(1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of the Federal Communica-
tions Commission Process Reform Act of 2015, the 
Commission shall complete a rulemaking proceeding 
and adopt procedural changes to its rules to maxi-
mize opportunities for public participation and effi-
cient decisionmaking. 
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
RULEMAKING.—The 
rules adopted under paragraph (1) shall— 
‘‘(A) set minimum comment periods for 
comment and reply comment, subject to a deter-
mination by the Commission that good cause ex-
ists for departing from such minimum comment 
periods, for— 
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‘‘(i) significant regulatory actions, as 
defined in Executive Order No. 12866; and 
‘‘(ii) all other rulemaking proceedings; 
‘‘(B) establish policies concerning the sub-
mission of extensive new comments, data, or re-
ports towards the end of the comment period; 
‘‘(C) establish policies regarding treatment 
of comments, ex parte communications, and data 
or reports (including statistical reports and re-
ports to Congress) submitted after the comment 
period to ensure that the public has adequate no-
tice of and opportunity to respond to such sub-
missions before the Commission relies on such 
submissions in any order, decision, report, or ac-
tion; 
‘‘(D) establish procedures for, not later than 
14 days after the end of each quarter of a cal-
endar year (or more frequently, as the Commis-
sion considers appropriate), publishing on the 
Internet website of the Commission and submit-
ting to Congress a report that contains— 
‘‘(i) the status of open rulemaking pro-
ceedings and proposed orders, decisions, re-
ports, or actions on circulation for review 
by the Commissioners, including which 
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order, decision, report, or action on the agenda 
of an open meeting; 
‘‘(B) establish procedures for informing all 
Commissioners of a reasonable number of options 
available to the Commission for resolving a peti-
tion, complaint, application, rulemaking, or 
other proceeding; 
‘‘(C) establish procedures for ensuring that 
all Commissioners have adequate time, prior to 
being required to decide a petition, complaint, 
application, rulemaking, or other proceeding (in-
cluding at a meeting held pursuant to section 
5(d)), to review the proposed Commission deci-
sion document, including the specific language of 
any proposed rule or any proposed amendment 
of an existing rule; 
‘‘(D) establish deadlines (relative to the date 
of filing) for disposition of applications for a li-
cense under section 1.913 of title 47, Code of 
Federal Regulations; 
‘‘(E) assign resources needed in order to 
meet the deadlines described in subparagraph 
(D), including whether the Commission’s ability 
to meet such deadlines would be enhanced by as-
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sessing a fee from applicants for such a license; 
and 
‘‘(F) publish each order, decision, report, or 
action not later than 30 days after the date of 
the adoption of such order, decision, report, or 
action. 
‘‘(4) DATA FOR PERFORMANCE MEASURES.—The 
Commission shall develop a performance measure or 
proposed performance measure required by this sub-
section to rely, where possible, on data already col-
lected by the Commission. 
‘‘(5) GAO AUDIT.—Not less frequently than every 
6 months, the Comptroller General of the United 
States shall audit the cost estimates provided by the 
Commission under paragraph (2)(D)(iii) during the 
preceding 6-month period. 
‘‘(b) PERIODIC REVIEW.—On the date that is 5 years 
after the completion of the rulemaking proceeding under 
subsection (a)(1), and every 5 years thereafter, the Commis-
sion shall initiate a new rulemaking proceeding to continue 
to consider such procedural changes to its rules as may be 
in the public interest to maximize opportunities for public 
participation and efficient decisionmaking. 
‘‘(c) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 
552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan ma-
jority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that is 
closed to the public to discuss official business if— 
‘‘(A) a vote or any other agency action is 
not taken at such meeting; 
‘‘(B) each person present at such meeting is 
a Commissioner, an employee of the Commission, 
a member of a joint board or conference estab-
lished under section 410, or a person on the staff 
of such a joint board or conference or of a mem-
ber of such a joint board or conference; and 
‘‘(C) an attorney from the Office of General 
Counsel of the Commission is present at such 
meeting. 
‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE
OF
NONPUBLIC
COLLABO-
RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business days 
after the conclusion of a meeting held under para-
graph (1), the Commission shall publish a disclosure 
of such meeting, including— 
‘‘(A) a list of the persons who attended such 
meeting; and 
‘‘(B) a summary of the matters discussed at 
such meeting, except for such matters as the 
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Commission determines may be withheld under 
section 552b(c) of title 5, United States Code. 
‘‘(3) PRESERVATION
OF
OPEN
MEETINGS
RE-
QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 
subsection shall limit the applicability of section 552b 
of title 5, United States Code, with respect to a meet-
ing of Commissioners other than that described in 
paragraph (1). 
‘‘(d) PUBLICATION OF DOCUMENTS IN ADVANCE OF 
FCC VOTING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may not 
adopt any order, decision, report, or action by vote of 
the Commission, unless the Chairman causes the 
Commission to publish on the Internet website of the 
Commission the text of such order, decision, report, or 
action— 
‘‘(A) not later than 24 hours after the time 
such text is placed on circulation for review by 
the Commissioners; or 
‘‘(B) not later than 21 days before the date 
on which the vote is to occur. 
‘‘(2) TEXT
TO
BE
PUBLISHED; EFFECT.—The 
text published pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be the 
text intended at the time of the publishing to be sub-
ject to a vote. Nothing in this subsection may be con-
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strued to prevent the Commission from making 
changes to the text after the publishing. 
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—This subsection shall not 
apply to a portion of any order, decision, report, or 
action if the publishing of such portion is likely to 
lead to a result described in a paragraph of section 
552b(c) of title 5, United States Code. 
‘‘(4) NOT AGENCY ACTION.—Publication pursu-
ant to this subsection shall not constitute ‘agency ac-
tion’ as defined in section 551 of title 5, United 
States Code. 
‘‘(e) TIMELY AVAILABILITY OF CHANGES TO RULES OF 
THE COMMISSION.—Not later than 24 hours after adopting 
a provision that will appear in the Code of Federal Regula-
tions, or an amendment to or repeal of a provision that 
appears in the Code of Federal Regulations, the Commis-
sion shall publish on the Internet website of the Commission 
the text of the provision adopted or repealed, or the text 
indicating how the provision is being amended, as the case 
may be. 
‘‘(f) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION ON COMMIS-
SION’S WEBSITE.—The Commission shall provide direct ac-
cess from the homepage of its website to— 
‘‘(1) detailed information regarding— 
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