FCC's Pai looks to revise commission's internal rules

Ajit Pai, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, laid out a set of proposals on Thursday that he claimed would streamline the regulatory agency.

Pai said the FCC should codify its 180-day "shot clock"—a self-imposed deadline for reviewing transactions. He also said the commission should impose a nine-month deadline for acting on applications for review and a six-month deadline for waiver requests.

Pai said the commission should create an online dashboard to help the public track the FCC's progress reviewing applications and complaints.

"As the pace of technological change accelerates, so too must the pace at the Commission. We can’t let regulatory inertia stand in the way of technological progress or deter innovation," Pai said in the speech to the Federal Communications Bar Association.

He called on Congress to pass legislation to allow the FCC to consolidate the annual reports it has to produce.

"Compiling these reports consumes a lot of our staff’s time, and to be frank, many of these reports never get read," Pai said.

He argued that Congress should prohibit the FCC from enacting rules based on proposals that are more than three years old. He also voiced support for a bill that would allow more than two commissioners to meet in private, saying it would make negotiations and policy discussions easier. 

Currently, the FCC's sunshine rule prohibits more than two commissioners from holding any discussions outside of official public meetings.

Some of Pai's proposals were part of the FCC Process Reform Act, a bill that cleared the House last year but died in the Senate. 

The bill's author, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), the chairman of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, said the legislation would make the FCC more transparent and accountable, but Democrats worried it would hamper the FCC's ability to protect consumers.

Walden has said he plans to reintroduce the bill this year.

---