Posted by Barlow Keener

Yesterday FCC Commissioner McDowell released a letter addressed to Acting Chairman Copps.  One great suggestion (see the list) in his letter was the proposal that the Commission schedule in advance Open Meeting dates.  Commissioner McDowell explained:

We need to improve our external communications regarding FCC processes and actions. As an immediate first step, I suggest that we swiftly establish and publish Open Meeting dates for the entire 2009 calendar year.  The public, not to mention the staff, would also greatly benefit if we would provide at least six month’s notice on meeting dates for 2010 and beyond.

It has amazed me that the FCC has functioned without scheduled Open Meeting dates.  What other organization inside or outside government would operate like this.  While setting a schedule clearly will not make a difference in determining Commission policy of the various outstanding issues that we all concern ourselves with such as the D-Block auction, DTV transition, the status of VoIP as Title I or Title II, or White Spaces policy, implementing a scheduled Open Meeting date makes a lot of good sense for building trust and transparency.  

In the past, Open Meeting dates just randomly appeared in a FCC notice.  Scheduling meeting dates in advance might help in setting meeting agenda in advance.  Publicly known future agendas could give carriers and other interested parties an idea of when certain issues are planned to be addressed.  Right now, for those not walking through the Commissioner’s offices picking up on nuanced remarks about when an issue will show up on an agenda, the public relies on rumor and innuendo to determine when, if, and what response will be delivered regarding a major issue.   I do not believe this ad hoc approach to scheduled meetings and agenda creates an environment of trust or, more importantly, predictability.   Even slight increases in the FCC’s’ predictability could drive new investment, new technologies, and lower communication costs for all Americans.

McDowell’s letter was focused on FCC reform and expressed McDowell’s commitment to work with the new Democratic-controlled administration and Commission in a spirit of cooperation.  McDowell suggested, for example, internal audits as a way to deal with the scathing Congressional investigative report detailing former Chairman Martin’s practices at the FCC and delivered by Congressman Waxman‘s House Energy and Commerce Committee.    He also suggested that the Commissioners talk through issues informally in an attempt to reach an agreement rather than each of them drafting up “dueling orders”:

It is important that we cooperate with each other to foster open and thoughtful consideration of potential actions well before jumping into the drafting process.

In addition, Commissioner McDowell recommended updating the FCC’s IT and Web systems.  This is a great idea.  It is inconsistent that the agency responsible for taking the U.S. into the new Internet age does not have IT systems in place for making every document delivered to the FCC made immediately available, open, and searchable to the public.  Two examples come to mind.   The FCC bureau chiefs issue orders  at various times referring to petitions, where the petitions are not made available on the FCC web site.  The other example is Commissioner McDowell’s letter of yesterday which is in pdf format but is not searchable by a word search.  Small changes can make a big difference and Commissioner McDowell’s suggestions should be implemented post haste.