FCC's O'Rielly Proposes Changes In How Commission Deals With 'Circulation Items'

O'Rielly

In a blog post on the FCC website, Commissioner MICHAEL O'RIELLY followed up his criticism of the commission's process with suggestions for improvements in the way the panel deals with “circulation items,” the proposals that may or may not end up as open meeting items and which deal with lower-profile or technical matters.

Presently, circulation items can be sped to a quicker resolution if it has three yes-votes, which accelerates the time the other Commissioners must vote on it, usually a few weeks, or they can be added to an open meeting as late as one week before the meeting date. 

O'RIELLY proposes that "if an item has been on circulation for six months, no matter the reason, it should automatically be removed from circulation," being stale and requiring more work to update the record, and unlikely to gain majority support.  He also noted that when circulation items are added to open meeting agendas, they often are long-pending and the version put on the agenda is an "outdated placeholder for some yet-to-be drafted, consensus document that will hopefully emerge in the short time before the meeting," and allow for "even less notice to the public and less time for consideration by Commissioners"; He suggests that circulation items proposed for open meetings be due three weeks before the meeting, and items that aren't current should be revised and recirculated by that date as well.  And O'RIELLY adds that "absent extraordinary circumstances, no item should be added one week before the meeting, as that all but precludes public input on the item."

Read the post here.

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