Pai Sets More FCC Process Reforms

In an announcement today, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced more procedural changes at the agency. He said: “Commissioner [Mignon] Clyburn and Commissioner [Michael] O’Rielly each have valuable ideas for reforming the agency’s processes and making the commission more transparent and accountable. And today, I am pleased to announce that the FCC will be implementing two additional process reform measures — each of which has been proposed by one of them. 

“First, Commissioner Clyburn has suggested that when the agency releases the text of meeting items, we should also release a one-page fact sheet that summarizes the proposal in question. She notes that this could make the item that we release accessible to more Americans. I agree. The FCC will do this beginning with the release of any items for the March meeting. 

Second, Commissioner O’Rielly has proposed that any substantive edits made to an item between the time it is circulated and the meeting at which we vote on it should have to be proposed by a commissioner, rather than staff. This reform will help promote accountability and allow commissioners to better understand where edits are coming from. We will therefore implement this reform immediately.

“With these changes and others that have been announced in the last few days, we are off to a strong start on the issue of process reform. But there is still much more to do. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on improving the commission’s operations.”