Heller stakes out high-profile FCC bill

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has introduced a bill to alter how the Federal Communications Commission forms regulations over the trillion-dollar telecommunications industry.

The bill gives Heller, a freshman senator appointed in May, a piece of high-profile legislation, one that faces long odds to passage in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

It also elevates the Nevadan's visibility among deep-pocket communications companies that lawmakers from both parties court for campaign donations.

"We are not trying to eliminate the FCC. We are just saying they can operate better," Heller said.

"We want to make sure every rule and regulation that passes has an analysis to make sure we are enhancing industry and not putting barriers to job creation.

"This is a trillion-dollar industry, and we want them moving forward," said Heller, who sits on the Senate Commerce Committee.

He added the aim is to promote more transparency in the agency's dealings with companies and the public.

Among several changes, the bill would require the FCC to survey industry officials to determine whether new regulations are necessary and set time frames for the rules that it chooses to pursue. The five-member FCC board would be required to publish orders before finalizing them in votes.

The bill also calls for more cost-benefit studies and performance measures so taxpayers "can track the bang they're getting for the buck," according to a bill synopsis.

The bill drew mixed reaction.

Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior vice president of the Media Access Project, a nonprofit public interest law firm, said it "arrives a few days too late for Halloween."

"Under the guise of streamlining the regulatory process, it creates procedural obstacles which favor incumbent cable and phone companies and stifle innovators," Schwartzman said in a statement. "It would mire the FCC with needless bureaucratic nonsense and keep it from doing its job."

Jerry Elig, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, a "market-oriented" think tank at George Mason University, said the bill "incorporates several ideas that would improve the quality and use of regulatory analysis at the FCC."

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., introduced a companion bill in the House. He is chairman of the House communications and technology subcommittee.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.