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 trans-
parency and efficiency in the procedures followed by the Federal Commu-
nications 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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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 2013’’. 
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 inserting 
after section 12 the following new section: 
‘‘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 2013, 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 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 publishing the 
status of open rulemaking proceedings and pro-
posed orders, decisions, reports, or actions on cir-
culation for review by the Commissioners, in-
cluding which Commissioners have not cast a 
vote on an order, decision, report, or action that 
has been on circulation for more than 60 days; 
‘‘(E) establish deadlines (relative to the date 
of filing) for— 
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‘‘(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 procedures for publishing the 
text of agenda items to be voted on at an open 
meeting in advance of such meeting so that the 
public has the opportunity to read the text before 
a vote is taken; 
‘‘(E) 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; 
‘‘(F) assign resources needed in order to 
meet the deadlines described in subparagraph 
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(E), including whether the Commission’s ability 
to meet such deadlines would be enhanced by as-
sessing a fee from applicants for such a license; 
and 
‘‘(G) 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. 
‘‘(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.— 
‘‘(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— 
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‘‘(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 
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 
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of title 5, United States Code, with respect to a meet-
ing of Commissioners other than that described in 
paragraph (1). 
‘‘(d) 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— 
‘‘(A) the budget of the Commission for the 
current fiscal year; 
‘‘(B) the appropriations for the Commission 
for such fiscal year; and 
‘‘(C) the total number of full-time equiva-
lent employees of the Commission; and 
‘‘(2) the performance plan most recently made 
available by the Commission under section 1115(b) of 
title 31, United States Code. 
‘‘(e) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any document 
adopted by the Commission that the Commission is 
required, under any provision of law, to publish in 
the Federal Register, the Commission shall, not later 
than the date described in paragraph (2), complete all 
Commission actions necessary for such document to be 
so published. 
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‘‘(2) DATE DESCRIBED.—The date described in 
this paragraph is the earlier of— 
‘‘(A) the day that is 45 days after the date 
of the release of the document; or 
‘‘(B) the day by which such actions must be 
completed to comply with any deadline under 
any other provision of law. 
‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON DEADLINES FOR PUBLICA-
TION IN OTHER FORM.—In the case of a deadline that 
does not specify that the form of publication is publi-
cation in the Federal Register, the Commission may 
comply with such deadline by publishing the docu-
ment in another form. Such other form of publication 
does not relieve the Commission of any Federal Reg-
ister publication requirement applicable to such docu-
ment, including the requirement of paragraph (1). 
‘‘(f) CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In evaluating and processing 
consumer complaints, the Commission shall present 
information about such complaints in a publicly 
available, searchable database on its website that— 
‘‘(A) facilitates easy use by consumers; and 
‘‘(B) to the extent practicable, is sortable 
and accessible by— 
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‘‘(i) the date of the filing of the com-
plaint; 
‘‘(ii) the topic of the complaint; 
‘‘(iii) the party complained of; and 
‘‘(iv) other elements that the Commis-
sion considers in the public interest. 
‘‘(2) DUPLICATIVE COMPLAINTS.—In the case of 
multiple complaints arising from the same alleged 
misconduct, the Commission shall be required to in-
clude only information concerning one such com-
plaint in the database described in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(g) FORM OF PUBLICATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—In complying with a re-
quirement of this section to publish a document, the 
Commission shall publish such document on its 
website, in addition to publishing such document in 
any other form that the Commission is required to use 
or is permitted to and chooses to use. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The Commission shall by rule 
establish procedures for redacting documents required 
to be published by this section so that the published 
versions of such documents do not contain— 
‘‘(A) information the publication of which 
would be detrimental to national security, home-
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land security, law enforcement, or public safety; 
or 
‘‘(B) information that is proprietary or 
confidential. 
‘‘(h) TRANSPARENCY RELATING TO PERFORMANCE IN 
MEETING FOIA REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission shall 
take additional steps to inform the public about its perform-
ance and efficiency in meeting the disclosure and other re-
quirements of section 552 of title 5, United States Code 
(commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act), 
including by doing the following: 
‘‘(1) Publishing on the Commission’s website the 
Commission’s logs for tracking, responding to, and 
managing requests submitted under such section, in-
cluding the Commission’s fee estimates, fee categories, 
and fee request determinations. 
‘‘(2) Releasing to the public all decisions made 
by the Commission (including decisions made by the 
Commission’s Bureaus and Offices) granting or deny-
ing requests filed under such section, including any 
such decisions pertaining to the estimate and applica-
tion of fees assessed under such section. 
‘‘(3) Publishing on the Commission’s website 
electronic copies of documents released under such sec-
tion. 
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‘‘(4) Presenting information about the Commis-
sion’s handling of requests under such section in the 
Commission’s annual budget estimates submitted to 
Congress and the Commission’s annual performance 
and financial reports. Such information shall include 
the number of requests under such section the Com-
mission received in the most recent fiscal year, the 
number of such requests granted and denied, a com-
parison of the Commission’s processing of such re-
quests over at least the previous 3 fiscal years, and 
a comparison of the Commission’s results with the 
most recent average for the United States Government 
as published on www.foia.gov. 
‘‘(i) PROMPT RELEASE OF STATISTICAL REPORTS AND 
REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than January 15th of 
each year, the Commission shall identify, catalog, and pub-
lish an anticipated release schedule for all statistical reports 
and reports to Congress that are regularly or intermittently 
released by the Commission and will be released during such 
year. 
‘‘(j) ANNUAL SCORECARD REPORTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the 1-year period begin-
ning on January 1st of each year, the Commission 
shall prepare a report on the performance of the Com-
mission in conducting its proceedings and meeting 
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the deadlines established under subsection (a)(2)(E) 
and the guidelines established under subsection 
(a)(2)(F). 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required by para-
graph (1) shall contain detailed statistics on such 
performance, including, with respect to each Bureau 
of the Commission— 
‘‘(A) with respect to each type of filing spec-
ified in subsection (a)(2)(E) or (a)(2)(F)— 
‘‘(i) the number of filings that were 
pending on the last day of the period cov-
ered by such report; 
‘‘(ii) the number of filings described in 
clause (i) for which each applicable deadline 
or guideline established under such sub-
section was not met and the average length 
of time such filings have been pending; and 
‘‘(iii) for filings that were resolved dur-
ing such period, the average time between 
initiation and resolution and the percentage 
for which each applicable deadline or guide-
line established under such subsection was 
met; 
‘‘(B) with respect to proceedings before an 
administrative law judge— 
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‘‘(i) the number of such proceedings 
completed during such period; and 
‘‘(ii) the number of such proceedings 
pending on the last day of such period; and 
‘‘(C) the number of independent studies or 
analyses published by the Commission during 
such period. 
‘‘(3) PUBLICATION AND SUBMISSION.—The Com-
mission shall publish and submit to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate each report required by 
paragraph (1) not later than the date that is 30 days 
after the last day of the period covered by such report. 
‘‘(k) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) AMENDMENT.—The term ‘amendment’ in-
cludes, when used with respect to an existing rule, the 
deletion of such rule. 
‘‘(2) BIPARTISAN MAJORITY.—The term ‘bipar-
tisan majority’ means, when used with respect to a 
group of Commissioners, that such group— 
‘‘(A) is a group of 3 or more Commis-
sioners; and 
‘‘(B) includes, for each political party of 
which any Commissioner is a member, at least 
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1 Commissioner who is a member of such polit-
ical party, and, if any Commissioner has no po-
litical party affiliation, at least one unaffiliated 
Commissioner. 
‘‘(3) PERFORMANCE MEASURE.—The term ‘per-
formance measure’ means an objective and quantifi-
able outcome measure or output measure (as such 
terms are defined in section 1115 of title 31, United 
States Code). 
‘‘(4) PROGRAM
ACTIVITY.—The term ‘program 
activity’ has the meaning given such term in section 
1115 of title 31, United States Code, except that such 
term also includes any annual collection or distribu-
tion or related series of collections or distributions by 
the Commission of an amount that is greater than or 
equal to $100,000,000. 
‘‘(5) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘agency 
action’, ‘ex parte communication’, and ‘rule’ have the 
meanings given such terms in section 551 of title 5, 
United States Code.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATES AND IMPLEMENTING RULES.— 
(1) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 
(A) NONPUBLIC
COLLABORATIVE
DISCUS-
SIONS.—Subsection (c) of section 13 of the Com-
munications Act of 1934, as added by subsection 
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(a), shall apply beginning on the first date on 
which all of the procedural changes to the rules 
of the Federal Communications Commission re-
quired by subsection (a)(1) of such section have 
taken effect. 
(B) 
SCHEDULES
AND
REPORTS.—Sub-
sections (i) and (j) of such section 13 shall apply 
with respect to 2014 and any year thereafter. 
(2) RULES.—Except as otherwise provided in 
such section 13, the Federal Communications Com-
mission shall promulgate any rules necessary to carry 
out such section not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. CATEGORIZATION OF TCPA INQUIRIES AND COM-
PLAINTS IN QUARTERLY REPORT. 
In compiling its quarterly report with respect to infor-
mal consumer inquiries and complaints, the Federal Com-
munications Commission may not categorize an inquiry or 
complaint with respect to section 227 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) as being a wireline in-
quiry or complaint or a wireless inquiry or complaint un-
less the party whose conduct is the subject of the inquiry 
or complaint is a wireline carrier or a wireless carrier, re-
spectively. 
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SEC. 4. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 
Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 
Act shall relieve the Federal Communications Commission 
from any obligations under title 5, United States Code, ex-
cept where otherwise expressly provided. 
SEC. 5. APPLICATION OF ANTIDEFICIENCY ACT TO UNI-
VERSAL SERVICE PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 254 of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(m) APPLICATION OF ANTIDEFICIENCY ACT.—Section 
1341 and subchapter II of chapter 15 of title 31, United 
States Code, do not apply— 
‘‘(1) to any amount collected or received as Fed-
eral universal service contributions required by this 
section, including any interest earned on such con-
tributions; or 
‘‘(2) to the expenditure or obligation of amounts 
attributable to such contributions for universal service 
support programs established pursuant to this sec-
tion.’’. 
(b) REPEAL OF TEMPORARY PROVISION.—Title III of 
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 pro-
vide for greater transparency and efficiency in 
the procedures followed by the Federal Commu-
nications Commission. 
JANUARY 31, 2014 
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 
of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and or-
dered to be printed 
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