McDowell Seeks Enhanced FCC Coordination, Administrative Probes
Commissioner Robert McDowell’s “geeky FCC reform wish list” includes enhanced communication, administrative audits and agency restructuring, the Republican said at a lunch Monday hosted by the Federal Communications Bar Association. He gave more details on ideas pitched in a letter sent last week to Acting Chairman Michael Copps (CD Jan 28 p1). Copps and Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein also attended the event, but didn’t comment on their colleague’s suggestions. The three have agreed to boost FCC staff morale, promote transparency, encourage meaningful public comment and create “a more informed, collaborative and considerate decision- making process,” McDowell said.
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McDowell praised Copps for acting “swiftly to open up lines of communication” among all commission staff. The action has boosted morale, he said. Commissioners are working to enhance coordination on all agency actions, he said. “No commissioner should learn of official actions though the trade press,” he said. “We could call this our ‘leave no commissioner behind’ program.” As part of the effort, eighth-floor aides met Monday morning with senior staff, he noted.
McDowell urged more advance notice and information on agency business. Notices of proposed rulemakings should “actually contain proposed rules, he said. Within 30 days of a comment period closing, all commissioners should receive “the same comment summaries,” and two to three months later they should receive “options memos with policy, legal, technical, and economic analysis,” he said. Commissioners should also receive briefing materials at least five business days before legislative hearings and FCC en banc hearings and meetings, he said.
The commission should revamp how the eighth floor approves adopted FCC documents, McDowell said. Also, the agency should rewrite its internal procedures guide to reduce paper usage, he said. Today, commissioner offices unnecessarily receive eight copies of every document on circulation, while the press office gets 30 paper copies of released FCC documents, he said.
Much can be done to improve external communications, too, McDowell said. The FCC should update its licensing databases, and add a table to its Web site listing the status of all pending proceedings, including matters being addressed on delegated authority, he said. The FCC should post a release schedule for “all statistical reports and analyses regularly conducted by the Commission,” and update it annually, he said. And the General Counsel Web page should include litigation calendars and access to pleadings filed by all parties, he said.
When crafting rules, the FCC should reach out more to untapped sources in and outside the agency, McDowell said. Rulemakers should more frequently consult engineers and economists on issues involving technical questions like network management, he said. To improve the FCC’s “track record” in court appeals, the agency could require bureaus and offices to seek the General Counsel office’s help, McDowell said. And commissioners should work to build rapport with other government bodies, “especially in the consumer protection, homeland security, and technology areas,” he said.
McDowell clarified the intent of audits he proposed for the FCC, Universal Service Administrative Co. and the federal advisory committees. The audit would not take the form of a “witch hunt against anyone or anything,” he said. McDowell would like to see “something akin to a due diligence review of a company as part of a proposed M&A or after a change in top management,” he said. It should include comment from the public and FCC staff, and the FCC should hold a series of town-hall meetings at the FCC’s Washington headquarters, field offices and a few cities around the nation, he said.
The audit should probe the FCC’s contracting process and assessment of regulatory and administrative fees, McDowell said. “It appears that we may have over-collected [regulatory fees] by more than $10 million for each of the last two years.” Collection of regulatory fees calls into question why the FCC also collects administrative fees, he said. The regulator annually collects about $25 million in administrative fees from the industries it oversees, even though the agency “has fully funded its operations through regulatory fees,” he said. “That money goes straight to the Treasury and is not used to fund the agency.”
The financial management of the Universal Service Fund must also be examined, McDowell said. He cited an Inspector General report last year estimating $971.2 million in erroneous high-cost fund payments between July 2006 and June 2007. “How and why did that happen?” he asked.
Also, McDowell urged the FCC to update its strategic plan and consider restructuring the agency. Copps, in a letter last week to McDowell, has said he'd like to wait on restructuring until a new chairperson is in place. McDowell said he “understand[s]” Copps’s preference, but believes the agency can at least “start talking about such tasks now.”
McDowell spoke briefly on potential delays to the DTV transition. “It is important for all of us to stay focused on Feb. 17 regardless of what Congress does or does not do,” he said. If Congress votes to delay to June 12, McDowell hopes Congress will give the FCC appropriate resources, as well as “some flexibility” to allow broadcasters to go digital on Feb. 17 or before June 12, he said.