Starks' Puerto Rico Hearing an 'Opportunity' Even Amid 'Short Notice'
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’s planned Puerto Rico field hearing on disaster preparation and response in Puerto Rico is a chance to draw attention to issues on the island, but the short lead time between the event’s announcement Thursday and its Feb. 21 date have caught some stakeholders by surprise, they told us (see 2002130012). “We’re playing catch-up to this announcement,” said Reuben Jusino, who consults on FCC matters for the Puerto Rico Radio Broadcasters Association. “We’re trying to get a turn at the table,” he said. “It’s an important opportunity.”
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“We are happy Commissioner Starks will be traveling to Puerto Rico and meeting with various stakeholders to talk about resilient communications networks,” emailed Free Press Senior Director-Strategy and Engagement Joseph Torres. “We are also concerned that the short notice for this field hearing will prevent the people most impacted by the islands' communications crisis -- and by the industry's and the FCC's slow response to it -- from being able to attend."
T-Mobile, AT&T, several Puerto Rico ISPs and the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board didn’t comment.
A Starks aide told us the event had been in the works for some time, the timing prompted by the island’s recent earthquakes and planning considerations that allowed the commissioner to schedule the trip now. Starks hasn't been to Puerto Rico, and had been planning an official visit for a while, the aide said.
The field hearing is open to the public, but there are currently no plans to livestream it or make it possible to participate via conference call, the aide said. Though no attendee list was released, the event is to involve carriers, local officials, public safety and public health professionals, and communications entities from a variety of industries, the aide said. Starks is seeking to gather information from a broad swath of stakeholders on a variety of emergency preparedness and communications concerns afflicting the territory. Firsthand information about how commission rules affect those on the ground can better inform future policies, the aide said.
Starks’ Democratic colleague Jessica Rosenworcel has long sought an FCC field hearing on disaster preparedness in Puerto Rico. She says the agency should hold a full field hearing there and prepare a detailed report on the issues there similar to after 2012’s Hurricane Sandy (see 1909260032). She and Chairman Ajit Pai each visited Puerto Rico after the 2017 storms. “After Hurricane Maria, I toured both the city of San Juan and rural areas inland,” Rosenworcel said in a statement to us now. “I saw firsthand the devastation that Mother’s Nature’s wrath can do to essential communications. I am really glad that others at this agency can do so too.” The agency declined to comment.
One FCC official told us only the chairman can officially hold field hearings. Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council Senior Adviser David Honig noted former Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps held field hearings on media ownership when they were at the agency. “It’s not important what you call it,” said Starks’ aide. “What’s important is for the commissioner to hear from people on the ground about how their communications networks are performing under pressure and how the FCC can help.”
One issue the FCC should address in Puerto Rico is the ineffectiveness of the disaster information reporting system, said Jean Paul Vissepo, a lawyer on the island who has represented the territory’s broadcaster association and sits on several station boards. The lack of power and communications after Maria made it extremely difficult for broadcasters to report their status to the agency, leading to inaccurate disaster information reporting system reports during the disaster. After the most recent earthquakes, it was found that the island’s tsunami warning system -- which is connected with the emergency alert system -- wasn’t fully operational, Jusino said.
The FCC’s use of old, pre-disaster census data for the territory is also a problem, said Fletcher Heald's Frank Montero, who represents broadcast and telecom companies with business in Puerto Rico. FCC calculations of 2019 regulatory fees were based on 2010 census data, but after post-storm depopulation and economic devastation, that data is drastically out of date, he said. “Half of that island is in Orlando now.”
Starks’ visit doesn’t forestall the FCC from eventually holding a full field hearing, Honig said. It wasn’t unusual for the commission in the past to send an emissary ahead before eventually holding a full hearing, Honig noted. The information Starks brings back could influence the policies of the full agency, Honig said. “It’s certainly better than doing nothing,” Honig said of the one-commissioner hearing. “It draws attention to the problem.” Jusino said that since Pai already visited, he doesn’t see the Starks hearing as a lesser alternative to a full hearing. He welcomes the chance to give the FCC information about the situation, he said.