Report Evaluates FCC's Increasingly Expensive Regulations

CEI's February 21 Regulatory Report Card on the Federal Communications Commission offers a concise overview of the costliness of complying with FCC regulations. Anyone who follows FCC policy and takes an interest in regulatory reform should keep a copy of this publication handy for reference.

Authored by Ryan Young, CEI Fellow in Regulatory Affairs, the Regulatory Report Card puts the cost of FCC regulations "at $142 billion per year, making it the third most expensive branch of regulation." Also, the number of new regulations the FCC imposes annually is staggering. To wit, "Federal agencies published a total of 3,706 final rules in 2012. Of those, 108 came from the FCC, for an average of one new final FCC rule every 2.3 working days." Moreover:

The fall 2012 Unified Agenda lists 86 rules from the FCC in various stages of the regulatory pipeline. Seven of them are "economically significant," meaning they impose at least $100 million in economic impact in a given year.

For more facts and figures revealing the FCC's trend of increasing regulation despite the growth of competitive market conditions, see the Regulatory Report Card.