Telecommunications

FCC Procedures Delay Release of Decision Documents Gao ID: RCED-94-242 September 28, 1994

Regulatory decisions made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) affect everything from network and cable television programs to telephone services and rates. Once a vote has been taken by the five-member Commission, a decision document, such as a rulemaking published in the Federal Register or a letter in response to a petition, is released to the public. In response to congressional concerns that FCC has been taking an excessively long time to release decision documents after the FCC Commissioners have voted, this report examines (1) the timeliness of public releases of FCC decisions, (2) whether FCC's procedures for releasing documents contribute to delays in these releases and how FCC's procedures compare to those of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and (3) FCC's controls to ensure that revisions are not made to decisions voted on by the Commissioners without their approval. GAO also provides information on FCC's circulation voting process and on ex parte contacts.

GAO found that: (1) from 1990 through 1993, between 7 and 18 percent of all FCC decisions were released to the public more than 30 days after their adoption by FCC commissioners; (2) a greater percentage of circulated decisions are released more than 30 days after adoption, partially because circulated decisions are not subject to the 30-day release target that meeting decisions are subject to; (3) some of the delays in releasing FCC decisions are due to administrative procedures that allow for final editing of the decisions; (4) FCC commissioners do not agree on the specific decision language until after they have voted; (5) NRC and SEC commissioners generally complete their review and revision processes before they vote on a decision; (6) NRC releases meeting decisions on the day they are voted on and circulated decisions within 10 days after adoption; (7) although SEC does not have specific procedures for releasing decisions, it releases decisions with few exceptions within a couple of days of adoption; and (8) it cannot evaluate whether decisions are substantially revised after being voted on because FCC keeps only the originally distributed draft and the final released version of its decisions.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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