A new report from the Government Accountability Office (PDF) takes a look at FCC rulemaking procedures from the last five years to see if the agency is following its own guidelines. While the answer is generally yes, the report focuses on one troubling finding: FCC staffers routinely release privileged information to companies that lobby the agency before that information is made publicly available.The GAO's examination concluded that groups which routinely participate in FCC rulemaking procedures often know when votes will be taken on specific rules, even before the information is made public. These schedules are not supposed to be released outside of the FCC until a formal announcement is made, and less-connected stakeholders must wait for these announcements.
It may not sound like a big deal, but the FCC prevents groups from lobbying the agency on particular issues once those issues are scheduled for a vote. This means, in the words of the GAO report, that "stakeholders with advance information about which rules are scheduled for a vote would know when it may be most effective to present their arguments to FCC, while stakeholders without access to this information may not."
Read More
