FCC Working on Regulatory Lookback Plan, But House Commerce Wants ‘More’
The FCC is making “great progress” complying with an executive order asking independent agencies to submit regulatory lookback plans to review old regulations, an OMB spokeswoman said Tuesday. The White House on Tuesday posted final regulatory lookback plans by 26 federal departments and agencies, and preliminary plans from four independent agencies other than the FCC. House Commerce Committee Republicans applauded the commission Tuesday for recently removing the Fairness Doctrine and 82 other rules from its books (CD Aug 23 p1) but said process reform legislation is still necessary.
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The FCC is on track to release on its website its own lookback plan Nov. 8, an FCC spokesman said. House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., praised FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski for committing to release a plan. They also praised the FCC for taking “a step toward regulatory reform by striking obsolete rules from its books,” including lingering traces of the Fairness Doctrine.
"But real regulatory reform requires more,” Upton and Walden said. “Regulators should propose rules before adopting them, give the public adequate time to review those rules, and only adopt rules if the benefits outweigh the costs,” they said. “The FCC has not always followed these best practices, and that’s why we are moving forward on FCC process reform. Good government practices -- transparent government practices -- are a necessary ingredient for eliminating the regulatory overhang that deters the investment and job creation our economy so desperately needs."
While the House Commerce Committee continues to develop FCC reform legislation, Senate Democrats have shown little interest in the subject. But Commerce Committee member Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., recently said he supports FCC reform (CD Aug 22 p6).
Reforms proposed by administration agencies when implemented will save $10 billion over five years, OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Cass Sunstein said Tuesday. In one of the lookback plans released Tuesday, the Agriculture Department noted that it published new rules for the department’s broadband loans program in March. “The new broadband loan regulation incorporates ‘lessons learned’ under the Recovery Act’s Broadband Initiatives Program, along with revisions intended to strengthen the program, increase efficiencies, and better target limited resources to unserved and underserved areas,” Agriculture said. “The new regulations will allow [the Rural Development office] to fill the gaps that persist in rural broadband access.”