Governor Moore Should Emulate Virginia's Regulatory Reform Efforts

 Maryland Governor Wes Moore talks a good game (well, sometimes!) about making Maryland's government more efficient, effective, and accountable. But talking and doing are two different things. 

During the last decade, my Free State Foundation colleagues have often offered ideas, across Democrat and Republican administrations, for implementing meaningful regulatory reform measures in Maryland. While reducing wasteful spending in Maryland's budget is important, of course, cutting red tape and eliminating unnecessary regulations also serves leads to cost savings that enhances consumer welfare.

 

At an event yesterday, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin announced that the state had surpassed his target of cutting regulatory requirements by 25%. To lead his regulatory reform efforts, Governor Youngkin quickly established a new Office of Regulatory Management (ORM), initially led by Andrew Wheeler and for the last couple of years directed by Reeve Bull, a well-known expert regarding regulation and administrative law.

 

In this piece, "Regulatory Reform in the Old Dominion," Susan Dudley, herself one of the nation's foremost scholars on regulation, chronicles what was achieved in Virginia by Governor Youngkin, Reeve Bull, and the regulatory reform team – and how they did it.

 

If you are interested in improving Maryland's economic climate and benefitting consumer welfare by eliminating red tape, it's worth reading Susan Dudley's piece and getting inspired by Governor Youngkin's effort. More to the point, I commend it to Governor Moore – hoping it might not be too late for him to gaze across the Potomac and get inspired too.

PRESS RELEASE: FSF's Randolph May Commends FCC for Employing Direct Final Rulemaking

 

 

Regarding the FCC’s July 3 announcement that it plans to employ the “Direct Final Rule” process to eliminate unnecessary rules, Free State Foundation President Randolph May issued the following statement:

“At different times over many years, I’ve encouraged the FCC to issue Direct Final Rules to expedite getting unnecessary and costly rules off its books. With direct final rulemaking, there is still an opportunity for the public to comment, but if no significant adverse comments are submitted within an abbreviated time frame, then the rules identified in the agency’s notice are eliminated without the need for any further bureaucratic rigmarole. The Direct Final Rule process, recognized and promoted by the Administrative Conference of the United States, is a perfect vehicle for advancing the aims of the DELETE DELETE DELETE proceeding, and I commend Chairman Carr for using it to achieve worthwhile deregulatory goals.”

PRESS RELEASE: The USF Fund May Be Constitutional, But It's on Shaky Ground

 

Free State Foundation President Randolph May issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision in the FCC v. Consumers’ Research case:

“While the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the FCC’s universal service programs, I hope the challenge at least served to highlight the long-standing problems with the nearly $10 billion per year Universal Service Fund. Without meaningful substantial reform, the USF fund, as it exists now, is unsustainable. Consumers of traditional telephone services are now paying a tax of 36% on all their calls as the contribution base continues to shrink. Congress needs to get serious about engaging in a top-to-bottom examination of the program to determine its size and scope going forward, how it should be funded, or whether it should even exist."

 

FCC Deletes, Modernizes, Streamlines Cable Rate Regulation

At today's Commission open meeting, Chairman Brendan Carr's IN RE: DELETE, DELETE, DELETE initiative bore fruit when the agency adopted a Report and Order providing the cable industry with long-overdue relief on the rate regulation front. As long as Section 623 of the Communications Act remains on the books (see below for more on that), the rate a cable operator not facing "effective competition" – essentially a null set, legally speaking, since 2017 –charges for the Basic Service Tier (BST) remains subject to regulation. This item, (circulated version available here), however, "will remove from … regulations approximately 27 pages, 11,475 words, 77 rules or requirements, and 8 forms."

The Report and Order deregulates most cable equipment, exempts smaller systems, and declines to extend its rules to commercial establishments. It also modernizes and streamlines those rules that remain in place, primarily to reflect the sunset, over 25 years ago, of tier regulation beyond that of the BST – that is, the tier (1) upon which local broadcast television stations and public, educational, and government access (PEG) channels must be carried, and (2) to which rate regulation in theory still applies.

In practice, of course, given the ubiquitous presence nationwide of "effective competition" from direct broadcast satellite (DBS) operators, telco TV providers, and virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs), rate regulation of the BST no longer occurs. As the item notes, the Commission itself is "unaware of any local communities that are actively regulating cable rates at this time."

In a June 5, 2025, post to the FSF Blog, Free State Foundation President Randolph May described this undertaking broadly as "a meaningful regulatory reform accomplishment" and referenced the following language from our comments: "what primarily stands in the way of unbridled, consumer-benefitting competition are ill-fitting rules that hamstring the subset of participants to which they uniquely apply." The Report and Order, the goal of which is to "unleash prosperity through deregulation," is significant step in the right direction.

Speaking of deregulation, according to Law360 (subscription required), earlier this week House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) stated that "'it's time to have a real conversation and update the 1992 Cable Act.'" Consistent with the position for which I (as well as others associated with the Free State Foundation) long have advocated, most recently in "Deregulation Is the Cure for the Video Regulatory Disparity," a June 9 post to the FSF Blog, Chairman Guthrie indicated that he opposes calls to extend legacy MVPD regulation to virtual alternatives: "'I fear that imposing additional regulation on this industry rather than relieving burdens on others would slow down innovation rather than encourage it.'"

Nielsen: Streaming Surpassed Cable and Broadcast Combined in May

Nielsen's The Gauge™ provides a monthly snapshot of consumer viewing behavior. More to the point, it documents the trend over time away from traditional sources – "cable" and broadcasting – toward streaming options. Over the last four years, I have highlighted a few noteworthy milestones on that path:

• In "Nielsen: Viewership of Streaming Video Has Surpassed That of Broadcast Television," a June 2021 post to the FSF Blog, I noted that, in May 2021, consumers for the first time spent more time watching streaming services (26 percent) than broadcast television (25 percent).

• In September 2022's "A Tale of Two Trends: Traditional Video Distributors Shrink While Streaming Video Grows," a Perspectives from FSF Scholars, I pointed out that, as cable subscriber losses approached 1 million (949,209) during the second quarter of 2022, streaming for the first time exceeded one-third of total viewing.

• In an October 2022 post to the Free State Foundation blog, I reported that, in September 2022, for the first time streaming (36.9 percent) surpassed cable (33.8 percent).

The zero-sum ascendence of streaming continues: according to the most recent edition of The Gauge, in May 2025 streaming (44.8 percent) for the first time exceeded cable and broadcast television combined (44.2 percent):

In a Perspectives published earlier this month, I wrote that "[f]ar from raising competitive concerns, the Charter-Cox merger appears to represent a pragmatic effort to accelerate the modernization of legacy cable offerings to a world where video competition is both fierce and consumer-driven." This latest data point from The Gauge serves to underscore that conclusion.

FSF Is Hiring! Positions Available

The Free State Foundation, one of the nation's leading pro-free market, free speech, property rights, and rule of law independent think tanks is hiring to accommodate its continued growth and to maintain its leading position in the communications law and policy, intellectual property, constitutional law, and administrative law fields.

Here are the currently open positions:

• Vice President and Senior Fellow

• Senior Fellow, Research Fellow, and Research Assistants

While we welcome applications to join FSF's highly respected team, please read the required qualifications carefully and only apply if you meet them!

President Trump Holds White House Meeting to Discuss EchoStar and FCC Review

News outlets have reported that President Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House with EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on June 12. Although we do not know for certain what was discussed at the White House meeting, it is a supremely safe bet that the conversation included the FCC's current review of EchoStar's compliance with deadlines for reaching wireless facilities construction milestones. Reports indicate the President rightly hopes to prevent a scenario in which a major U.S. company goes bankrupt. 

EchoStar previously acquired wireless spectrum licenses in conjunction with the T-Mobile/Sprint merger and settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. It has invested billions in private capital to build out a nationwide 5G wireless network, which is available to 80% of Americans. EchoStar's network offers a fourth competitive nationwide facilities-based mobile wireless service, and its network is unique for its deployment of Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technology. 

 

Free State Foundation President Randolph May and I expressed our views regarding the FCC's review of EchoStar's compliance with buildout commitments in reply comments filed on June 6.