›› Home ›› Legislative

“The FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act”

Society of Broadcast Engineers

“The FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act”

March 31, 2010

One of the SBE’s Legislative Goals is “To promote the maintenance or increase of technical expertise within the FCC to ensure that decision making by the FCC is based on technical investigation, studies and evaluation rather than political expenditures.” The Society of Broadcast Engineers supports “The FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act” as an extension of that goal.

Senate bill S.2881 was introduced in December 2009 by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and co-sponsored by Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia). This bill would authorize each FCC commissioner to add one staff assistant position to the three that are currently authorized. The proposed legislation, which would amend Section 4(f)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154(f)(2)), explains that the “staff engineer” would provide each commissioner with technical consultation when appropriate and interface with the Office of Engineering and Technology, Commission Bureaus and other technical staff of the Commission for additional technical input and resources. The staff engineer would need to hold an undergraduate or graduate degree from an institution of higher education in his or her respective field of expertise.

Subsequently, a companion bill (HR.4809) was introduced in the US House on March 10 by Representative Jerry McNerney (D) of California.. With a House bill now introduced, the legislation will hopefully move through the committee process in both chambers of Congress. Introduction of the resolution came after representatives of the Society of Broadcast Engineers met with his Washington staff on March 3. The SBE Government Relations Chairman Barry Thomas, CPBE CBNT and General Counsel Chris Imlay visited offices of several House members over two days to garner support for a companion to the Senate bill.

If passed, the new authorization would effectively undo a loosening of requirements for technical staff at the highest level of the FCC that began more than 25 years ago. The SBE’s efforts in support are, among other things:

An effort to counter inaccurate or hyperbolic claims by providing technical expertise at the policy level.
To help the FCC avoid significant and expensive mistakes resulting from decisions made based on political instead of technical realities (for example, Broadband over Power Lines).
Enable better commissioner access for the extensive experience and expertise currently available at the FCC Bureaus.

The SBE’s strategy is to provide education and information to its members and chapters so that they can engage in individual advocacy with their Senators and Representatives. The SBE will also submit materials and conduct meetings as necessary and will join with strategic partners in their efforts to support this legislation. The SBE encourages chapters to host meetings about this topic to educate and engage interested parties.

SBE members are specifically asked to contact their U.S. Representatives and Senators and urge them to co-sponsor or at least support House Resolution HR.4809 and Senate Bill S.2881, respectively.

We recommend the following details for your individual letters:

Identify the bill by number and title: for example H.R. 4809, the “”FCC Commissioners’ Technical Resource Enhancement Act”. Keep the letter brief and on topic – one page at the most.
Ask the Representative to consider becoming a cosponsor and support this legislation.
Thank him or her for the consideration.

Simple is better: Representatives and their staffs are looking to gauge interest and support for the bill. A lengthy multipage letter that strays off topic can detract from the focus of asking for support for this specific legislation.

A sample letter is available here, although letters using your own words are preferred.

Should you choose to email the letter, send it as an attachment to the email as opposed to including it in the text of the email. Also, the SBE would appreciate receiving a copy of your letter sent to:

John Poray, Executive Director,

Society of Broadcast Engineers

9102 Meridian Ave.
Suite 150
Indianapolis, IN 46260

jporay@sbe.org

Some resources for further research are:

The text of Senate bill S.2881:

http://sbe.org/documents/TextofS.2881.pdf

The text of House Resolution HR.4809:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-4809

Contact information for your U.S. Representative:

http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html

Contact information for your U.S. Senator: