FCC Should Track, Reduce Paperwork Burdens, Says O'Rielly

Budget, “as of the end of February, the FCC has 423 active collections demanding 457,355,706 responses each year requiring a total of 73,200,049 hours to complete at a total cost of $798,204,803.” The agency with the next highest such cost is the Department of Agriculture with $397,848,225, O’Rielly said. “While I support data driven decision making and the need to ensure accountability, I have to question how much of this cost is truly justified,” O’Rielly said. “I’ve observed that every new FCC policy seems to require a brand new data collection.” The commission should act to remove paperwork burdens that it knows are duplicative or unnecessary, O’Rielly said. The FCC also should “complete a holistic data review” to determine which collections are needed or could be streamlined. “I am also troubled that the Commission does not currently track burdens by industry segment or even by size,” O’Rielly said. The Office of Communications Business Opportunities doesn’t track the paperwork burden on each type of small business regulated by the FCC, and that data should be tracked going forward, O’Rielly said. The FCC should also “enthusiastically embrace -- whether required to do so or voluntarily” a White House Executive Order that would create regulatory reform officers and task forces, O’Rielly said. “While seemingly repetitive of efforts already underway, it has some unique proprieties that could generate new reform ideas not considered or explored before.” The FCC "must be careful not to place undue burdens on companies whether in specific rulemakings, or as the product of cumulative Commission actions,” O'Rielly said.