Update: Public Inspection File Inquiry Arrives at OMB

We have movement on the local public inspection file front!

The proceeding the FCC kicked off last April – inquiring into (among other things) whether there really is any need for the public inspection file requirements of Sections 73.3526 and 73.3527 – has now been bucked over to the Office of Management and Budget. This opens up one final 30-day period during which comments on the requirements may be submitted (to OMB). The deadline for comments is September 15, 2011.

Why another round of comments? It’s all part of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) process. In PRA parlance, the public file requirements constitute “information collections”. Because of that, the FCC can't impose those rules without approval from OMB, which approval can extend for no more than three years. Once the three-year clock tolls, the FCC’s got to go back to OMB and request an extension of the previously-issued approval if the FCC wants to keep the requirements in place. As part of that extension process, the FCC must: (a) give everybody a 60-day opportunity to submit comments to the Commission; (b) review those comments and prepare a “supporting statement” addressing the comments; and (c) ship the comments and its supporting statement to OMB. Then OMB must provide a 30-day comment opportunity of its own. That’s where we are right now.

(Aug 17)