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 PRESS RELEASE                                   May 15, 2015   

 

Contact: Randolph J. May at 202-285-9926 or 301-984-8253

 



 

FSF President Randolph May Testifies in Support of FCC Process Reform Measures     

 

ROCKVILLE, MD - Free State Foundation President Randolph May is testifying today a hearing on "FCC Reauthorization: Improving Commission Transparency Part II" before the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Committee on Energy and Commerce. In his testimony, Mr. May supports the FCC process and transparency reforms in the proposals that the Committee is considering, and he urges Congress to adopt some key measures promptly without waiting for the FCC to act on its own.

 

In his testimony, Mr. May says:

 

"Since becoming Chairman of the Commission, Tom Wheeler has often touted his desire to reform the agency's processes, including increasing transparency. For example, at a May 20, 2014, oversight hearing before this Committee, Mr. Wheeler said process reform was a priority, and added: 'In order to keep up with the rapid pace of change in the industries that we oversee, we must hold ourselves to a high standard to be as agile, efficient, and
transparent as possible.' I could cite other of his statements to this same effect. Without belaboring the point here, I will say this: While I applaud Mr. Wheeler's sentiment, and while he is correct that sound process impacts the ability of the agency to reach good decisions in an efficient manner, in my view the Commission's own process reform efforts have fallen far short of what needs to be done."

 

 

Mr. May focuses specifically on the draft bills proposed by Representatives Latta, Kinzinger, and Ellmers, and in particular commends these efforts which would require advance release to the public of items to be voted on by the Commission at so-called Sunshine meetings, prompt posting online of the text of rules adopted by the Commission, and posting online the identity and description of all items which the staff proposes to dispose of on delegated authority.

 

According to Mr. May, these bills, "by increasing the transparency of the Commission's processes, would promote rule of law and due process norms, enhance public confidence in the integrity of the agency's decision-making, and increase the Commission's efficiency."

 

With regard to Mr. Kinzinger's bill which would require advance publication of draft orders to be considered at Sunshine meetings, Mr. May said: "It should seem odd that at, and in advance of, a so-called Sunshine meeting, the text of the document the Commission is voting on is kept out of the public's hands - in the dark."      

      

A PDF of Mr. May's prepared testimony is here .

 

The Free State Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan free market-oriented think tank located in Rockville, Maryland.

    
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Randolph J. May, President of the Free State Foundation, is a former FCC Associate General Counsel and a former Chairman of the American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Mr. May is a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and a Fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration.

Mr. May is a nationally recognized expert in communications law, Internet law and policy, and administrative law and regulatory practice. He is the author of more than 150 scholarly articles and essays on communications law and policy, administrative law, and constitutional law. Most recently, Mr. May is the editor of the book, Communications Law and Policy in the Digital Age: The Next Five Years. He is the author of A Call for a Radical New Communications Policy: Proposals for Free Market Reform. And he is the editor of the book, New Directions in Communications Policy and co-editor of other two books on communications law and policy: Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Internet Services Be Regulated? and Communications Deregulation and FCC Reform.

 

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