Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel moves Michele Ellison to acting general counsel and Joel Taubenblatt to Wireless Bureau acting chief; Tom Johnson steps down as general counsel and continues at FCC, now at Wireless Bureau, where outgoing Chief Don Stockdale moves to Office of Economics and Analytics; Rosenworcel also makes staff appointments and "special designations to the Office of the Chairwoman": acting Chief of Staff Travis Litman, acting Chief Policy Adviser Kate Black and acting Chief Counsel Umair Javed, all worked in her commissioner's office; acting Special Adviser to the Chairwoman D’wana Terry, who remains acting director, Office of Workplace Diversity; acting Special Adviser to the Chairwoman Sanford Williams, who remains director, Office of Communications Business Opportunities; acting Special Adviser to the Chairwoman Trent Harkrader, also remaining deputy chief, Wireline Bureau; acting Legal Adviser-Media Holly Saurer, joining from Media Bureau; acting Legal Adviser-Consumer, Enforcement and International David Strickland, from Enforcement Bureau; acting Legal Adviser-Wireline Ramesh Nagarajan, from Wireline Bureau; acting Legal Adviser-Wireless and Public Safety Ethan Lucarelli, from Wireless Bureau; acting Staff Assistant Aurelle Porter, from then-Commissioner Rosenworcel’s office; and acting Confidential Assistant Andi Roane, who worked for office of Commissioner Nathan Simington.
Public safety officials hope the FCC will reverse course on the 4.9 GHz band, reallocated to the states in September (see 2009300050), they told a Public Safety Spectrum Alliance webinar Thursday. Speakers endorsed petitions by PSSA and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council asking the FCC to reverse the change. Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented, but experts said the outlook is uncertain due to the split 2-2 commission. FCC officials told us the order is one of a large number that will have to be addressed under new leadership.
Regulators cleared three items circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai last week -- opening the 12 GHz band to 5G, proposing bidding procedures for a 2.5 GHz auction and unveiling the first round of selections for the agency's Connected Care pilot program (see 2101060061). Pai, who leaves next week, effectively forced a vote.
Chairman Ajit Pai’s final FCC commissioners' meeting Wednesday and its subsequent news conferences included condemnations of President Donald Trump by Republicans, speculation about future action on social media moderation, and presentations on staff work during Pai’s tenure. Pai said he had planned pre-election to leave the post after a single term, declining to comment on his plans or the second impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Chairman Ajit Pai’s final FCC commissioners' meeting Wednesday and its subsequent news conferences included condemnations of President Donald Trump by Republicans, speculation about future action on social media moderation, and presentations on staff work during Pai’s tenure. Pai said he had planned pre-election to leave the post after a single term, declining to comment on his plans or the second impeachment of President Donald Trump.
The FCC moved forward 3-2 on another leftover issue Thursday evening, proposing fines against 10 entities for allegedly violating educational broadband service rules. All apparently didn't "provide the educational services” required. They "apparently failed to meet their obligations to maintain local program committees to inform the use of their respective licenses in the 2.5 GHz band.” Commissioner Brendan Carr raised issues in 2019 about how some EBS licensees are using the spectrum. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks slammed the move, with Joe Biden's administration starting Jan. 20.
FCC members condemned violence erupting on Capitol Hill by pro-Trump forces Wednesday. And now two FCC GOP members have explicitly acknowledged that, contrary to President Donald Trump's wishes, Joe Biden is slated to become the next president in a few weeks. See our news bulletin here. Before recent days, those commissioners were largely silent on the issue.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s dissent from a 3-2 order updating FCC rules for application fees relies on “a misnomer,” Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement released with the order Tuesday. The order, stemming from provisions of Ray Baum’s Act, creates a streamlined schedule of application fees, paring down eight fee categories to five and reducing the total number of fees from 450 to 173. Rosenworcel said the order was largely “thoughtful and smart,” but she dissented in part based on its increasing the cost of filing “a formal consumer complaint” to $540. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks dissented in part as well. “I believe consumers should be able to avail themselves of this process, but a fee of this size is unjust and could easily deter them from doing so,” Rosenworcel said in a statement with the item. In his statement, Pai said the complaint form that she referenced “doesn’t exist.” The FCC has a two-track process wherein consumers file free informal complaints, while formal complaints cost a fee and “create a trial-like process to adjudicate a dispute and are not designed for nor used by consumers,” Pai said. The FCC’s consumer complaint website says consumers unsatisfied with the agency’s response to informal complaints can file formal ones but warns that parties filing formal complaints “usually are represented by lawyers or experts in communications law” and the FCC's procedural rules. Pai said no consumer filed a formal complaint in 2019 or 2020, but thousands of informal ones were filed. “Remember, in taking this step we’re following the law as set forth by Congress,” Pai said. Rosenworcel’s office didn’t comment. Rosenworcel and Pai disagreed about complaint fees in a 2018 order amending the complaint process and in the NPRM phase of Tuesday’s order, when Pai castigated Rosenworcel for not informing his office of her objections to the proposal until late in the process (see 2008260073).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a neutral NPRM on the 12 GHz band late last week, plus a notice on bidding procedures for the 2.5 GHz auction, attempting to close out two more spectrum items before he leaves office Jan. 20. The two items had been rumored candidates for the January commissioners’ meeting (see 2012210051) but didn’t make the agenda. With Democrats poised to take control of the FCC, industry experts said the question is whether they will allow the items to get a vote or ask for a delay until the new administration. The timing of both items would allow Pai to force a vote under must-vote rules, though he still has the option of putting them on the Jan. 13 meeting agenda.
Expect to see fewer big interagency spectrum disputes under the President Joe Biden administration, and the FCC taking a lot more action on delegated authority, with the commissioners being split 2-2, agency watchers said in a Georgetown University-hosted webinar Thursday looking at likely policy issues for the next commission. Many said the 2-2 commission won't inherently lead to political deadlock.