House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Walden pushes to reauthorize FCC for first time in 25 years

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rep Greg Walden (R-OR) is out with legislation to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission for the first time in a quarter century. The draft bill comes two days before agency’s five Commissioners appear in his subcommittee. The draft legislation would fix FCC appropriations at the current level for the next four fiscal years, cap the funding for the agency’s Universal Service Fund at $9 billion per year, allow the agency to make some changes to its fees and prevent the FCC Chairman from being able to hire or fire the inspector general.

“With this reauthorization, we are charting the course to make the necessary reforms to an agency that is ill equipped for the innovation era,” he said. That addressed the agency’s “disproportionate” budget request for fiscal 2016, Chairman Walden said, as well as the “runaway growth” in the Universal Service programs that fund Internet access and/or affordable telephone service for schools, libraries, the poor and rural areas. The move to give new independence to the FCC’s inspector general also comes just as the agency watchdog has launched a new probe into the process behind the new net neutrality regulations. “The public interest is always better served when government watchdogs can operate independently,” Chairman Walden said.