The National Academy of Sciences would scrutinize FCC process and...
The National Academy of Sciences would scrutinize FCC process and technical expertise under a bipartisan bill (S- 3042) introduced last week by Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Ted Kaufman, D-Del. The Academy would do a study and make recommendations…
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on the FCC’s technical policy decision- making process, current technical staff levels and agency recruiting and hiring processes. “The FCC must be better equipped and more agile to address the ever-changing technical landscape from a regulatory perspective,” Snowe said Monday. Kaufman said it’s “critical that we include engineers in our nation’s technical policy and decision making, at the FCC and across the government.” Since 1948, the number of engineers at the commission dropped 62 percent to fewer than 300. In its 2011 budget proposal last month, the regulator asked for $11.1 million to add 75 full-time employees (CD Feb 3 p7). Snowe introduced a related bill (S- 2881) in December with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., that would allow each FCC member to hire an additional technical staff member (CD Dec 15 p5). The new bill complements that legislation, with S-2881 addressing the eighth floor and S- 3042 tackling general technical staffing and FCC rulemaking processes, said a Senate aide. The bills could be consolidated into one at a future markup, the aide said.