The February Open Meeting at the FCC will feature an exploration of ways to increase the transparency of the ex parte process, and ways to improve organization and procedural rules – shades of the recent GAO report! And there will be the usual look at the National Broadband Plan.
The NBP was to have been released shortly after this 2/11/10 meeting, on the 17th, but has been delayed until 3/17/10.
The ex parte rules pertain to face-to-face meetings with commissioners or key FCC staff members. Generally, the public is informed that such a meeting has taken place, but usually gets very little information as to what was discussed.
The Government Accountability Office’s recently-released study of FCC operations, complete with recommendations for improvement, has likely had an influence on this particular agenda.
A fourth agenda item deals with the E-Rate program, specifically a proposal to allow schools participating in it to allow public to use their internet access.
