FCC Seeks Comments on PRA and Public Files

The FCC is seeking comment by July 6 on the Paperwork Reduction Act implications of public file rules, with the act requiring the agency every three years to get an OK from the Office of Management and Budget on information collections, the commission said in Wednesday's Federal Register. It seeks comment on whether the public file rules are “necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the [collected] information shall have practical utility,” and whether the commission’s burden estimate is accurate. The public file rule might serve some valid purpose, but since the FCC has never done anything to investigate the validity of that proposition, nobody can say for sure, said Harry Cole, a broadcast lawyer for Fletcher Heald, on its blog. "It’s probably safe to assume that the FCC is not enthusiastic about launching such an investigation on its own," he wrote. "As we have previously observed, the Commission has ignored for nearly a decade a petition for rulemaking filed by our friend, communications attorney David Tillotson, challenging the validity of the public file requirement."