On February 7th, FSF's Randolph May issued a media
advisory concerning the bills introduced to implement Sunshine Act reforms. Here
is his statement:
"As a very longstanding advocate of reforming
the Sunshine Act, and one who has written often about the need to change it, I
applaud the introduction of the proposed "FCC Collaboration Act" by Reps. Eshoo, Shimkus, and Doyle, and
Senators Heller and Klobuchar. And I am pleased the bill has bipartisan
sponsorship.
By allowing more than two of the five FCC members
to meet together to discuss agency business, the bill, if adopted, would facilitate
more collaboration and a franker exchange of views among the FCC commissioners.
And it would also enable the Commission to accomplish its work more efficiently
because the exchange of views can take place directly, rather than through a
series of one-on-one "round robin" discussions or through various
staff intermediaries shuttling between the commissioners' offices. The current
Sunshine Act restrictions are fundamentally at odds with the very rationale for
the establishment of multi-member commissions and with notions concerning how
they can most effectively function.
While I applaud the reintroduction of the bill, I
do wish to state my preference would be for
the Sunshine Act reform to be incorporated into a bill encompassing a broader
range of necessary reforms. Indeed, the "FCC Reform
Act of 2011," which contained a number of other desirable FCC
process reforms, such as cost-benefit analysis requirements and shot clocks,
included the same Sunshine Act proposal now introduced separately. I testified
last year at a hearing on the "FCC Reform Act" and supported adoption
of many of its provisions. And the House of Representatives ultimately adopted
the bill.
So, while I support adoption of the FCC
Collaboration Act, I'd like to see it adopted in conjunction with some other
process reforms that warrant bipartisan support as well."
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