The House Energy and Commerce Committee has advanced (12/11) two pieces of legislation from the Communications and Technology Subcommittee that aim to improve FCC processes and improve federal spectrum use. The news follows Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden’s (R-OR) announcement on Monday that bipartisan agreements had been reached on both pieces of legislation.
The committee today approved H.R. 3675, the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act with an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Chairman Walden and Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA). The amendment represents a bipartisan compromise that presents the commission with a framework to bring additional transparency and predictability to the FCC. It also contains some statutory provisions including changes to the sunshine rules and a permanent exception to the Antideficiency Act for the federal Universal Service Fund.
