How many fcc commissioners

It was established by the Communications Act of Act, or "Communications Act" 1 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The Act is divided into titles and sections that describe various powers and concerns of the commission.

The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five-year terms except when filling an unexpired term. The President designates one of the commissioners to serve as chairperson.

Three commissioners may be members of the same political party as the President and none can have a financial interest in any commission-related business.

The bureaus process applications for licenses and other filings, analyze complaints, conduct investigations, develop and implement regulatory programs, 5 and participate in hearings, among other things. Additionally, an FCC Secretary serves to preserve the integrity of the FCC's records, oversee the receipt and distribution of documents filed by the public through electronic and paper filing systems, and give effective legal notice of FCC decisions by publishing them in the Federal Register and the FCC Record.

The FCC has identified performance objectives associated with each strategic goal. Commission management annually develops targets and measures related to each performance goal to provide direction toward accomplishing those goals. Targets and measures are published in the FCC's Performance Plan, and submitted with the commission's annual budget request to Congress. Results of the commission's efforts to meet its goals, targets, and measures are found in the FCC's Annual Performance Report published each February.

The FCC also issues a Summary of Performance and Financial Results every February, providing a concise, citizen-focused review of the agency's accomplishments. The FCC annually collects and retains regulatory fees to offset costs incurred by the agency and to carry out its functions. The regulatory fees do not apply to governmental entities, amateur radio operator licensees, nonprofit entities, and certain other non-commercial entities.

The most recent regulatory fee order was released by the Commission on August 29, Figure 1. The FY column represents amount requested. Treasury for the sole purpose of deficit reduction. The Act also requires the Commission to transfer any excess collections in FY and in subsequent years to the General Fund of the U. This level of funding is intended to enable the Commission to continue its efforts to: reimburse full power and Class A stations, multichannel video programming distributors, Low Power TV, TV translator, and FM stations for reasonable costs incurred as a result of the Commission's incentive auction; make more spectrum available for 5G; and educate consumers affected by the reorganization of broadcast television spectrum.

Through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, P. One FCC-related hearing has been held in the th Congress. The hearing addressed issues including 5G deployment, federal preemption of state and local tower siting requirements, merger reviews, robocalls, and net neutrality.

No bills that would affect the operation of the FCC have been introduced in the th Congress. The first seeks to protect and benefit the public at large through regulation, while the second seeks to achieve the same goals through the promotion of market efficiency. This evolution can be illustrated in changes to the agency's strategic goals under former Chairman Tom Wheeler to current Chairman Ajit Pai, which, in turn, led to the repeal in of the FCC's net neutrality rules and to changes in the agency's structure in How these goals change from one plan to the next can illustrate how the priorities of the commission change over time, especially when there is a change in the political majority of the commission and therefore, the political party of the chairman.

Chairman Wheeler was a proponent of protecting and benefitting the public through regulation. His support of this regulatory philosophy can be seen in the language used in the strategic goals, such as the "rights of users" and the "responsibilities of network providers.

On the other hand, Chairman Pai speaks about protecting and benefitting the public through the promotion of market incentives and efficiency. His support of this regulatory philosophy can be seen in the language used in the strategic goals, such as "reducing regulatory burdens" and ensuring that "regulations reflect the realities of the current marketplace, promote entrepreneurship, expand economic opportunity, and remove barriers to entry and investment.

The use of this particular language may seem somewhat vague, but within the context of the net neutrality debate, discussed below, and the replacement of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis with the Office of Economics and Analytics, those words take on more specific meaning, each intending to support the policy agenda of the Chairman.

Table 1. Telecommunications networks are a vital component of technological innovation and economic growth, helping to ensure that our nation remains a leader in providing its citizens opportunities for economic and educational development. Competition drives these networks to develop improved transmission technologies and to offer new services at competitive prices, and consumers can benefit from these fruits of competition.

The FCC has a responsibility to promote the expansion of these networks and to ensure they have the incentive and the ability to compete fairly with one another in providing broadband services. A key priority for the FCC is to foster a competitive, dynamic, and innovative market for communications services through polices that promote the introduction of new technologies and services.

We will ensure that the FCC's actions and regulations reflect the realities of the current marketplace, promote entrepreneurship, expand economic opportunity, and remove barriers to entry and investment. A change in technology may require us to review and revise our rules, but it does not change the rights of users or the responsibilities of network providers.

This civil bond between network providers and users includes consumer protection, competition, universal service, public safety and national security. Protecting Consumers and Public Safety. The FCC's core mission has always been to serve the broader public interest, and that means protecting consumers and keeping the public safe.

We will work to combat unwanted and unlawful robocalls, which intrude into consumers' lives, and to make communications accessible for people with disabilities. We will also protect public safety, and in particular, take steps to assist and safeguard the communications of our nation's law enforcement officers and first responders. Because broadband networks are essential to our national wellbeing, it is not enough for the FCC simply to promote their development.

We must also ensure that all Americans can take advantage of the services they provide to enjoy 21 st century educational systems, health care, communication capabilities for our first responders, and accessibility for Americans with disabilities, and to assure innovation without artificial impediments. High-speed Internet access, or broadband, is critical to economic opportunity. But there are too many parts of the country where broadband is unavailable or unaffordable.

The FCC has tools it can use to help close this digital divide, bring down the cost of deploying broadband, and create incentives for providers to connect consumers in hard-to-serve areas. The FCC should be a model for excellence in government by effectively managing its resources and maintaining a commitment to transparent and responsive processes that encourage public involvement and decisionmaking that best serves the public interest.

As Chairman, I have made it a priority to implement process reforms to make the work of the FCC more transparent, open, and accountable to the American people. We will modernize and streamline the FCC's operations and programs to improve decision-making, build consensus, reduce regulatory burdens, and simplify the public's interactions with the Commission. Note: Goals 2a and 2b are labeled as they are because their elements overlap.

Net neutrality 17 is arguably the highest profile issue illustrating the two regulatory philosophies described above.

Chairman Pai had long maintained that the FCC under Chairman Wheeler had overstepped its bounds, expressing confidence that the Wheeler-era net neutrality rules would be undone, calling them "unnecessary regulations that hold back investment and innovation. Although the net neutrality debate originated in , the Open Internet Order, implemented under the leadership of Chairman Wheeler, and the Order overturning those rules, promulgated under Chairman Pai, are the most recent.

At the conclusion of the evidentiary phase of a proceeding, the presiding judge writes and issues an Initial Decision, which may be appealed to the commission. Office of Communications Business Opportunities OCBO promotes telecommunications business opportunities for small, minority-owned and women-owned businesses.

OCBO works with entrepreneurs, industry, public interest organizations, individuals and others to provide information about FCC policies, increase ownership and employment opportunities, foster a diversity of voices and viewpoints over the airwaves, and encourage participation in FCC proceedings.

Its chief role is to manage the electromagnetic spectrum, specifically frequency allocation and spectrum usage. OET conducts technical studies of advanced phases of terrestrial and space communications and administers FCC rules regarding radio devices, experimental radio services and industrial, scientific and medical equipment. In addition, the office operates the Equipment Authorization Branch, which is tasked with overseeing equipment authorization for all devices using the electromagnetic energy from 9 kHz to GHz.

OET maintains an electronic database of all certified equipment that can be easily accessed by the public. The general counsel also represents the commission in litigation in federal courts, recommends decisions in adjudicatory matters before the commission, assists the commission in its decision making capacity and performs a variety of legal functions regarding internal and other administrative matters.

The inspector general recommends corrective action where appropriate, referring criminal matters to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution. In addition, OLA is a liaison to other federal agencies as well as state and local governments. Office of Media Relations disseminates FCC announcements, orders, proceedings and other information per media requests. It works closely with the FCC chairman and is responsible for monitoring the state of the communications industry to identify trends, issues and overall industry health.

The office acts as expert consultants to the commission in areas of economic, business and market analysis. It also reviews legal trends and developments not necessarily related to current FCC proceedings, such as intellectual property law, the Internet, and electronic commerce. Office of Workplace Diversity develops policy to provide a full and fair opportunity for all employees, regardless of non-merit factors such as race, religion, gender, color, age, disability, sexual orientation, or national origin.

The top four contractors are as follows: 1. Con Opponents of net neutrality want a two-tiered system that would allow ISPs, including broadband providers, to charge a fee for faster service. Con Opposing the localism plan are broadcasters and conservatives.

Former Directors: Michael J. Copps January - June Kevin J. See all comments Comments Michael Haynes 1 year ago. This year it, they went down on Xmas day. It stayed down from the 25th until on the 29th. Michael Haynes. Sandra Heath 1 year ago. How does one make a complaint of fraud by an internet provider with regard to billing?

In and we had similar outages. These outages have consistently occurred during the busy season for our business es. We have 4 business lines on this property. Kenneth Malbeck 1 year ago. Ted S. Newby 1 year ago.

Robo-calls, annoying beyond anything else. No soliciting signs on our property make it a civil crime to come to our door and try and sell us something we did not ask to be sold in the form of trespassing on private property.

Our phone is our property et you allow these annoying companies to steal our phone numbers to call others in an attempt to get us to buy something we did not ask to purchase. The worst of these is the "extended vehicle warranty" people who claim that it was not their office that called me last week when I asked them to put me on a do not call list, same number calling from, same recorded pitch yet they keep getting away with it.

If you an independent government agency can not put a stop to this or make it a FEDERAL CRIME to continue this practice then my question is what good are you as an agency and why do we spend a single cent of taxes to you. The entertainment industry is no doubt keeping you funded through kickbacks for allowing them air time. By the way I also choose not to subscribe to any sort of pay service for free tv that sponsors foot the bill for to advertise their products anyway.

YES I say your government agency needs to be shut down if you can not eliminate this nuisance. Robert Porras 1 year ago. In other words it's like sticking your head in a microwave oven. Why would this department allow it if it's that dangerous to us? Jean 2 years ago. AT T is running a scam. Eight months after my brother died they are still trying to collect for TV service.

It took months for them to shut off the phone, using every excuse in the book. When they said I had to have his password to give them to shut off service, I told them if they had a direct line to God, call him and ask for Ron's password.

I paid all my brother's bills when he first died and put in a note re stopping all services. The latest travesty is that the phone company has somehow managed to send an electronic debt claim to my credit union and they - without any authorization from me, took out the money. I stopped there this morning and asked if they wanted to be included on the police report when I report this theft. I was never on the account for his home services. Talk about making bereavement worse than it already is.

Any suggestions? R D Laurence 2 years ago. Broadcasters are supposed to tell you the news not shape it to reflect their own ideological bent! FCC - do your job! God Bless America! Jim 2 years ago. I was at work one day last week and got a phone call from a realtor at Century He said he was returning my call that he missed. I had not called him but he read off my number and the time the call was made. He didn't try to sell me anything or solicite anything in any way.

The more I thought about it the more it bugged me so I called my phone company GCI and told them about the incident. They told me that there are programs are out there that allow a caller to make a call and have the person receiving the call see a completely different number on their caller ID.

Then he told me there was nothing they,or I,could do about it. Is this true? I see the potential for this to be a serious issue.

Respectfully, Jim. Terry Mashburn 2 years ago. Certain other functions are delegated to staff units and bureaus and to committees of commissioners. The commissioners hold regular open and closed agenda meetings and special meetings.

They also may act between meetings by "circulation," a procedure by which a document is submitted to each commissioner individually for consideration and official action. The Commission staff is organized by function. There are six operating Bureaus and 10 Staff Offices.