The Federal Communications Commission would transform itself into an enforcement body rather than a rulemaking one under a plan Chairman William Kennard forwarded to Congress Thursday.
Kennard's main five-year goals for the FCC include: streamlining the agency to be more responsive to converging technologies, promoting competition in communications markets, increasing access to advanced technologies, fostering a consumer-friendly marketplace, and managing the broadcast spectrum.
Other proposals include asking Congress to exempt the FCC from open meeting requirements so it could "make its decisions faster and with greater efficiency." "A lot of people at the industry forum said that while the Sunshine Act is well intentioned, it makes it harder for the commissioners to enter the debate early in the process," an FCC official said Thursday.
Officials emphasized that the plan is a "work in progress" crafted after getting input from forums held with industry and consumer advocates earlier this year. The next step is to get congressional feedback.
While a number of reforms can be done internally at the FCC, Congress would need to consent to adding two new proposed bureaus for enforcement and public information. The agency has been under fire from Congress for being too bloated and too-heavy handed in regulating communications services.
Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-LA, who heads the House Commerce Committee's telecommunications subcommittee, said Kennard's plan is a start, but doesn't go far enough. Tauzin created a FCC reauthorization taskforce earlier this year to study how the agency's authority could be pared back.
The proposal is "a growing recognition that the FCC, as presently structured, simply isn't working anymore," Tauzin said in a statement.
Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson said FCC reauthorization legislation should be ready sometime in the fall.
Despite plans to streamline operations and ultimately reorganize bureaus to manage functions rather than industry sectors, officials see no reduction in funding requests for the near future. Converging technologies, such as cable, phone, and wireless offering Internet services, make the agency's traditional structure less flexible to respond to the new market.
"We need the tools to implement this plan. There are clearly budget needs," the FCC official said. "Twenty-five years ago there were three [TV] networks and AT&T. Now there are thousands of companies."
Yet the agency wants more freedom to buy out employees so it can change its current staffing structure and use more outside consultants. The FCC official said restructuring the agency wouldn't necessarily shrink the agency's staff, but rather change "the mix."
"It's not that there will be fewer people, they will be doing different things," the official said.