FCC Chief, Commissioner Suggest "Sunshine Act" Impairs Decision Making
The ARRL Letter
FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell has told a US Senate committee that the open-meeting requirements of the "Sunshine Act" constitute "a barrier to the substantive exchange of ideas" among FCC members and hamper commissioners' decision making. The Sunshine Act's open-meeting provisions require essentially every part of every FCC meeting to be open to public observation when a quorum of Commissioners is handling official business. A February 2 letter from Powell and Commissioner Michael J. Copps to Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK), chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, supports changes in the act to permit "closed deliberations among Commissioners in appropriate circumstances." Powell and Copps cite bipartisan support for such a change--Copps is one of the FCC's two Democrats--as well as a body of scholarship favoring reforms.
"Due to the prohibition on private collective deliberations, we rely on written communications, staff or one-on-one meetings with each other," the commissioners told Stevens. "These indirect methods of communicating clearly do not foster frank, open discussion, and they are less efficient than in-person interchange among three or more commissioners would be."
As a result, Powell and Copps conclude, FCC decisions "are in some cases less well informed and well explained than they would be if we each had the benefit of the others' expertise and perspective." The letter to Stevens noted plans in Congress to revise US telecommunication laws. Powell has announced plans to step down as FCC chairman.
The ARRL's recent Petition for Reconsideration in the BPL proceeding, ET 03-104 and ET 04-37, charged that Powell had violated Sunshine Act requirements prior to casting his vote in favor of adopting new Part 15 rules to govern Access BPL.
"Based on the Commission chairman's action preceding the BPL decision, what the FCC needs is more sunshine, not less," ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, commented this week.
Just two days before the FCC's unanimous October 14 BPL vote, the ARRL asserts in its petition, Powell violated the Commission's own ex parte rules by attending a BPL provider's demonstration during the so-called "Sunshine Agenda" period, thus tainting the proceeding. The League had called on Powell to recuse himself from taking part in the BPL vote, but he declined.
The ARRL petition also noted the League's extensive efforts through the Freedom of Information Act to get the FCC to release studies and reports it said it had relied upon in making its favorable decision on BPL but had not made public. The Commission ultimately released hundreds of pages of material, some of it heavily redacted. The League's petition maintains that the FCC adopted the BPL rules even though it already possessed information suggesting BPL was technologically unsuitable and a spectrum polluter.
In their letter to Stevens, Powell and Copps say they are "in complete agreement with the Sunshine Act's goal of providing the public with reliable information about the basis for Commission decisions." But they say they support amending the Act because experience has shown that the FCC "can satisfy this goal through other means that better serve the public interest." One method posed was a requirement that brief summaries of topics decision makers discuss at non-public meetings "be recorded and placed in relevant administrative records."
Source: The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 07, February 18, 2005
FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell has told a US Senate committee that the open-meeting requirements of the "Sunshine Act" constitute "a barrier to the substantive exchange of ideas" among FCC members and hamper commissioners' decision making. The Sunshine Act's open-meeting provisions require essentially every part of every FCC meeting to be open to public observation when a quorum of Commissioners is handling official business. A February 2 letter from Powell and Commissioner Michael J. Copps to Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK), chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, supports changes in the act to permit "closed deliberations among Commissioners in appropriate circumstances." Powell and Copps cite bipartisan support for such a change--Copps is one of the FCC's two Democrats--as well as a body of scholarship favoring reforms.
"Due to the prohibition on private collective deliberations, we rely on written communications, staff or one-on-one meetings with each other," the commissioners told Stevens. "These indirect methods of communicating clearly do not foster frank, open discussion, and they are less efficient than in-person interchange among three or more commissioners would be."
As a result, Powell and Copps conclude, FCC decisions "are in some cases less well informed and well explained than they would be if we each had the benefit of the others' expertise and perspective." The letter to Stevens noted plans in Congress to revise US telecommunication laws. Powell has announced plans to step down as FCC chairman.
The ARRL's recent Petition for Reconsideration in the BPL proceeding, ET 03-104 and ET 04-37, charged that Powell had violated Sunshine Act requirements prior to casting his vote in favor of adopting new Part 15 rules to govern Access BPL.
"Based on the Commission chairman's action preceding the BPL decision, what the FCC needs is more sunshine, not less," ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, commented this week.
Just two days before the FCC's unanimous October 14 BPL vote, the ARRL asserts in its petition, Powell violated the Commission's own ex parte rules by attending a BPL provider's demonstration during the so-called "Sunshine Agenda" period, thus tainting the proceeding. The League had called on Powell to recuse himself from taking part in the BPL vote, but he declined.
The ARRL petition also noted the League's extensive efforts through the Freedom of Information Act to get the FCC to release studies and reports it said it had relied upon in making its favorable decision on BPL but had not made public. The Commission ultimately released hundreds of pages of material, some of it heavily redacted. The League's petition maintains that the FCC adopted the BPL rules even though it already possessed information suggesting BPL was technologically unsuitable and a spectrum polluter.
In their letter to Stevens, Powell and Copps say they are "in complete agreement with the Sunshine Act's goal of providing the public with reliable information about the basis for Commission decisions." But they say they support amending the Act because experience has shown that the FCC "can satisfy this goal through other means that better serve the public interest." One method posed was a requirement that brief summaries of topics decision makers discuss at non-public meetings "be recorded and placed in relevant administrative records."
Source: The ARRL Letter, Vol. 24, No. 07, February 18, 2005
posted by RadioIntel.com Annex at 9:10 PM
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