Carr: FCC Will Avoid Notice-and-Comment for Some Deregulatory Steps

President Donald Trump in April urged regulatory agencies to revoke rules without using the notice-and-comment process that the Administrative Procedure Act generally requires. Speaking at the FCBA's annual seminar here, Carr said the speed of the good-cause exception "is going to be a useful tool for us.” It could be particularly useful in situations where rules have been wiped out by a court decision but never removed from the books, he added.

Carr indicated he doesn't think the FCC is barred by statute from changing the broadcast industry's 39% ownership cap. The American public's huge distrust of the media is typically focused on the national press, and there's still significant trust in local news and local broadcasts, he said. Carr said he therefore wants to empower local broadcasters serving their local communities, especially in the face of a sizable concentration of power within national programmers and networks due to affiliation agreements. Changes to ownership rules could help prevent broadcasters from seeing the kind of downturn that has hammered the newspaper industry, he said, and implementation of ATSC 3.0 could also help. He also said an AWS-3 auction order could come this summer.

While Elon Musk’s SpaceX gets particular attention publicly, "the entire space economy is going to be important for us," he said. An FCC Space Bureau goal is greater automation of some of its processes vs. the current system where every application requires one-off review. Some of that may require commission-level votes, he said.

Sara Rahmjoo, an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington, said the next few months could see communications going through a "stress test” as competing interests from 5G and 6G to satellite all seek more spectrum. U.S. Supreme Court decisions, meanwhile, could force the agency to use its statutory authority in different ways, she said.

Justin Faulb, an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said a very uncertain enforcement environment is arising from court cases. He said even if UCF survives before SCOTUS, there will be questions about the fate of the Universal Service Administrative Co. or high-cost programs.

Commissioners' aides participating on a panel said their offices' policy perspectives and priorities remain the same as they were just after the 2024 election, but there are differences in power. For example, Rahmjoo said instead of passively watching spectrum proceedings when the GOP was in the minority, now there’s an ability to more actively seek reform. Simington remains focused on the midband spectrum “drought” and the need for more.

Faulb said his boss had a good relationship with Carr’s office when Starks, a Democrat, was in the majority. He said the two officials have a “buddy cop energy” and see eye to eye on national security and broadband deployment streamlining. Carr aide Callie Coker said the chairman's priorities -- such as national security and spectrum -- remain the same as when he was a minority commissioner.

Faulb said Starks’ biggest accomplishments in his six years on the commission include work that led to rip-and-replace. Starks also spent substantial time trying to get the affordable connectivity program extended, Faulb noted. He said Starks also made climate change and sustainability a focus when dealing with regulated entities.