Established by the Communications Act, FCC is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The Telecommunications Act, which substantially revised the Communications Act, established that FCC should promote competition and reduce regulation to secure lower prices and higher- quality services for American telecommunications consumers and should encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies. The law grants FCC broad authority to execute its functions. FCC implements its policy initiatives through a process known as rulemaking, which is the agency process for implementing, interpreting, or prescribing law or policy. Figure 1 shows some common communications services affected by FCC rulemaking. FCC is an independent regulatory agency that must follow many, but not all, federal laws related to rulemaking. Under the Communications Act, the commission is composed of five commissioners appointed by the President with Senate confirmation. The President designates one of the commissioners as chairman. The chairman derives authority from provisions in the act and FCC’s rules, which define the chairman’s duties to include (1) presiding at all meetings and sessions of the commission, (2) representing the commission in all matters relating to legislation and before other government offices, and (3) generally coordinating and organizing the work of the commission. The commissioners delegate many of FCC’s day-to-day responsibilities to the agency’s 7 bureaus and 10 offices (see fig. 2). While this report focuses on the rulemaking process, FCC also makes decisions on many other issues, such as enforcement actions and issuing licenses for communications devices. Between 2002 and 2006, FCC data show that the agency made 1,835 decisions by FCC commissioners and 17,406 decisions within FCC bureaus and offices. APA is the principal law governing how agencies make rules. The law prescribes uniform standards for rulemaking, requires agencies to inform the public about their rules, and provides opportunities for public participation in the rulemaking process. Most federal rules are promulgated using the APA-established informal rulemaking process, also known as “notice and comment” rulemaking. APA outlines a multistep process to initiate and develop rules and includes provisions for parties to challenge them, which FCC must follow. Many steps require agencies to provide public notice of proposed or final actions as well as provide a period for interested parties to comment on the notices—hence the “notice and comment” label. APA does not generally address time frames for informal rulemaking actions, limits on contacts between agency officials and stakeholders, or requirements for “closing” dockets. The Communications Act outlines procedures for addressing petitions for reconsideration by FCC and appeals to federal court for FCC rules. The act states that a petition for reconsideration may be filed within 30 days of the date of public notice. The U.S. Courts of Appeals have jurisdiction to review all final FCC rules. Other laws and orders also apply to FCC rulemakings, including but not limited to the following: Regulatory Flexibility Act. This act requires federal agencies to assess the impact of their forthcoming regulations on small businesses, small governmental jurisdictions, and certain small not-for-profit organizations. The act also requires rulemaking agencies to publish a “regulatory flexibility agenda” in the Federal Register each October and April, listing regulations that the agency expects to propose or promote and that are likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. This requirement, as well as a similar requirement in Executive Order 12866, is generally met with entries in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The Unified Agenda is published twice a year in the Federal Register and provides uniform reporting of data on regulatory activities under development throughout the federal government. Congressional Review Act. This act requires agencies to submit final rules to Congress and GAO before they can take effect. We compile and make available on our Web site basic information about the rules we receive through an on-line database, including the rule’s priority, listed as either “significant/substantive” or “routine/info/other” as indicated by the agency’s submission. According to the GAO database, 240 significant/substantive FCC rules were published in the Federal Register between January 2002 and December 2006. The Government in the Sunshine Act of 1976 (Sunshine Act). This act requires federal agencies headed by a collegial body composed of two or more individual members, such as FCC, to hold regular public meetings with sufficient public notice that the meeting will take place. The agency must release the meeting’s agenda, known as the Sunshine Agenda, no later than 1 week before the meeting. In addition, the act prohibits more than two of the five FCC commissioners from deliberating with one another to conduct agency business outside the context of the public meeting. E-Government Act of 2002. This act requires agencies, to the extent practicable, to accept public comments on proposed rules by electronic means and to ensure that a publicly accessible Web site contains electronic dockets for their proposed rules. Paperwork Reduction Act. This act seeks to minimize the paperwork burden imposed by government on the public and requires an agency to seek clearance from the Office of Management and Budget if it proposes to collect information from 10 or more people on a particular matter. For example, this requirement would apply to an agency’s proposed rule that might seek information from the public. APA places no restriction on “off-the record” or “ex parte” communication between agency decision makers and other persons during informal rulemaking. However, FCC has rules about such contacts to protect the fairness of its proceedings by providing an assurance that FCC decisions are not influenced by off-the-record communications between decision makers and others. The rules also give FCC the flexibility to obtain the information it needs for making decisions. Under its ex parte rules, FCC generally classifies its rulemaking proceedings as “permit-but-disclose,” meaning that outside parties are allowed to present information to FCC either in writing or in person, but are required to disclose such communications in the public record. The rules require a person making an oral ex parte presentation that includes data or arguments not already reflected in that person’s other filings to submit a disclosure to the record summarizing the new data and arguments. The rules state that the summary should generally be “more than a one or two sentence description” and not just a listing of the subjects discussed. When there is ambiguity about whether data or arguments are already in the public record, FCC encourages parties to briefly summarize the matters discussed at a meeting. FCC’s ex parte rules also establish the Sunshine Period, which begins when FCC releases the Sunshine Agenda of items scheduled for a vote at a public meeting and ends when those items are released to the public after the vote or are removed from the agenda before the meeting. During the Sunshine Period, the public may not contact the agency to discuss any matters that appear on the Sunshine Agenda unless there is a specific exemption. The Sunshine Period does not apply to items that are voted on by circulation. FCC rules state that staff must not directly or indirectly disclose nonpublic information outside the agency without authorization by the chairman. Nonpublic information includes the content of public meeting agenda items, except for as required to comply with the Sunshine Act, and actions or decisions made by the commission at closed meetings or by circulation prior to the public release of such information. FCC’s rulemaking process includes multiple steps as outlined by law with opportunities for the public to participate during each step. FCC initiates rulemaking in response to statutes, petitions for rulemaking, or its own initiative. Any person may petition FCC to amend or create new rules. After FCC releases an NPRM, it develops and analyzes the public record to support a rule, leading to a final rule for the commission to adopt. Anyone may participate in the development of the public record through electronic filings and meetings with FCC officials. The FCC chairman has the flexibility to decide what proposed and final rules the commission will consider for adoption. At the chairman’s discretion, the commission may adopt final rules either at a monthly public meeting or by circulating written items to each commissioner. Stakeholders unsatisfied with an FCC rule may file a petition for reconsideration with the commission or seek federal judicial review. FCC initiates rulemaking in response to statutes, petitions for rulemaking, or its own initiative. FCC may propose rules under its broad regulatory authority granted by the Communications Act or in response to a specific statutory requirement. Congress may also impose a time frame or conditions for rulemaking. FCC may also propose rules in response to petitions for rulemaking filed by outside parties. FCC puts petitions for rulemaking out for public comment and, after reviewing any comments, may initiate rulemaking on the issue or deny the petition. FCC does not have to respond to a rulemaking petition within a set time frame, so a petition for rulemaking can remain open indefinitely. When initiating a new rulemaking, FCC has the flexibility to organize the public record in the manner that it deems most appropriate. FCC may establish a new docket to house the rule’s supporting documents or initiate the proceeding in an existing docket, particularly if the filings already in that docket would be germane to the new proceeding. As we have previously discussed, there were 240 significant/substantive rules in our database published in the Federal Register between 2002 and 2006. Among these recent rules, 47 were initiated in response to a petition for rulemaking, 172 were initiated on FCC’s own authority or in response to a specific legal requirement, and 21 were initiated for a combination of these reasons. The commission’s release of an NPRM signals the beginning of a rulemaking; the NPRM may or may not contain the text of the proposed new or revised rules. The NPRM provides an opportunity for comment on the proposal and indicates the length of the comment and reply comment periods, which stakeholders can use to submit comments and reply to other comments. These periods begin once the NPRM is published in the Federal Register.