Build America: Permitting Reform Edition

The dog days of Summer are now giving way to football season.  And that is welcome news for sports fans everywhere.  But while I was watching Thursday night’s Cowboys – Eagles opener, I couldn’t help but think to myself:  It’s a pity that both sides can’t lose.  But, hey, at least the Commanders beat the Giants, so all is good here in D.C.

For my part, it’s been a busy run since our last open meeting blog.  I spent the summer judging an FCC staff watermelon carving contest, going to the White House for an executive order signing with President Trump, heading up to New York to throw a first pitch from the mound at Yankee Stadium, and finally, I ended up in jail.  Such is the life of an FCC Chairman, I suppose.  (More to come on those activities, so keep reading.)

When I announced the August agenda, I said there’d be no summer slowdown at the agency.  And this Fall we’re ratcheting up the pace once again.  Before I get into the September agenda, I want to start off by talking about my visit last week to Arkansas—a visit that touched on the FCC’s Build America Agenda.

My first stop was to Malvern, which is the “Brick Capital of the World”—this is a place where the people know plenty about building.  That’s where I met with Kalen and his crew of telecom workers who were laying fiber to bring high-speed connectivity to this small community on the edge of the Ouachita mountains.  No matter how many times I visit America’s construction crews, I’m always impressed by their skill, grit, and determination.  Spending time with these professionals helps you appreciate that climbing towers, stringing cable, and pulling fiber is hard work.  It also helps you understand that government rules can make this work harder than it needs to be.  Too often, crews like Kalen’s want the green light to build, but the projects get bogged down by bureaucratic red tape.  That is why we’ve made clearing regulatory barriers and unleashing high-speed builds a centerpiece of our Build America Agenda. 

In the two months since I announced the Build America Agenda, we’ve already made significant progress on this front.  We’ve advanced plans to accelerate the upgrade from old copper line networks to modern ones, to ease access to utility poles, and to revamp the FCC’s approach to environmental reviews. 

Building on this progress, we will kick off our September meeting with two proposals to reform permitting rules and accelerate both wireline and wireless infrastructure builds.  

First up, we will vote on a Notice of Inquiry that seeks comment on ways the FCC can accelerate the buildout of wireline infrastructure.  That means taking a look at Section 253 of the Act, which expressly prohibits state and local regulations that effectively prohibit infrastructure builds. 

Second, we will vote on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that aims to further accelerate the buildout of wireless infrastructure.  Taken together, these two votes tee up some of the key reforms needed to modernize infrastructure rules and get shovels in the ground.

After that visit to Malvern, I made a second stop in Arkansas.  I mentioned earlier that I went to jail and that’s because on Friday I joined Senator Tom Cotton and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on a tour of the Varner Supermax Unit to address contraband cell phones in prisons.  Following the visit, we joined Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and law enforcement officials in Little Rock to discuss potential solutions to this persistent problem. 

Each year, tens of thousands of illegal cell phones are confiscated at America’s correctional facilities, and these phones are used to orchestrate criminal activities, including witness intimidation, drug operations, kidnapping, gun trafficking, prison escapes, and even murder.  Previously, the FCC has authorized technical tools that prevent transmissions to or from contraband wireless devices within the boundaries of a correctional facility and to obtain identifying information from such devices, which wireless carriers can use to disable phones.  But as I heard from officials in Little Rock and public safety officials across the country, we can do more.  So in three weeks, the Commission will vote on a proposal that would, for the first time, pave the way for phone jamming solutions in non-federal correctional facilities, while preventing harmful interference to authorized users.

For our fourth item on the agenda, we will vote to kick off the Commission’s quadrennial review of our broadcast ownership rules.  The FCC is required by law to review certain broadcast ownership rules every four years to determine whether the rules remain “necessary in the public interest as the result of competition.”  We will be seeking comment on the Local Radio Ownership Rule, which limits the total number of radio stations that may be commonly owned in a local market; the Local Television Rule, which limits a single entity from owning more than two television stations in the same local market; and the Dual Network Rule, which prohibits a merger between or among the Big Four broadcast networks.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a monthly FCC meeting in 2025 without a new tranche of regulations teed up for elimination as part of our In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding.  With this latest action, we teed up for removal an additional 29,335 words, 69 pages, and 387 rules and requirements from the books, including many from the Ma Bell era.

Clearly, we are gearing up for a busy Fall at the Commission.  But I can’t say goodbye to the Summer without acknowledging our Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau who won the Commission’s first-ever watermelon carving competition noted above thanks to their rendition of yours truly.  I appreciate the FCC’s terrific and talented staff for everything they do—including keeping me humble.