[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 539 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 539

   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize a bipartisan 
 majority of Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission to 
   hold nonpublic collaborative discussions, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2013

  Ms. Eshoo (for herself, Mr. Shimkus, and Mr. Doyle) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize a bipartisan 
 majority of Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission to 
   hold nonpublic collaborative discussions, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Communications Commission 
Collaboration Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission 
        (in this section referred to as the ``Commission''), past and 
        present, have stated that, while they support the intent of 
        section 552b of title 5, United States Code, the implementation 
        of that section has hindered the ability of the Commission to 
        have a substantive exchange of ideas and hold collective 
        deliberations on issues pending before the Commission.
            (2) The principal purpose of Congress in creating a 
        multimember agency is to obtain the benefits of collegial 
        decisionmaking by the members of the agency, who bring to the 
        decisionmaking process different philosophical perspectives, 
        experiences, and areas of expertise.
            (3) Commissioners have relied primarily on an inefficient 
        combination of written messages, communications among staff, 
        and a series of meetings restricted to 2 Commissioners at each 
        such meeting to discuss complex telecommunications matters 
        pending before the Commission.
            (4) Extensive use of such methods of communication has 
        harmed collegiality and cooperation at the Commission.
            (5) Numerous regulatory matters have been pending before 
        the Commission for years, and continued inaction on these 
        issues has the potential to hinder innovation and private 
        investment in the domestic communications industry.
            (6) The Commission must be able to work more 
        collaboratively and efficiently than in the past to meet the 
        current challenge of expanding broadband Internet access to the 
        extent necessary to serve the business, educational, health, 
        and cultural needs of all people in the United States.

SEC. 3. NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS OF THE FEDERAL 
              COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION.

    Section 4 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(p) Nonpublic Collaborative Discussions.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Agency action.--The term `agency action' has 
                the meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 
                United States Code.
                    ``(B) Bipartisan majority of commissioners.--The 
                term `bipartisan majority of Commissioners' means a 
                group of not less than 3 Commissioners that includes--
                            ``(i) for each political party of which any 
                        Commissioner is a member, not less than 1 
                        Commissioner who is a member of that political 
                        party; and
                            ``(ii) if any Commissioner has no political 
                        party affiliation, not less than 1 unaffiliated 
                        Commissioner.
            ``(2) Nonpublic collaborative discussions.--Notwithstanding 
        section 552b of title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan 
        majority of Commissioners may hold a meeting that is closed to 
        the public to discuss official business if--
                    ``(A) a vote or any other agency action is not 
                taken at the meeting;
                    ``(B) each person present at the meeting is a 
                Commissioner, an employee of the Commission, a member 
                of a joint board established under section 410, or a 
                person on the staff of such a joint board; and
                    ``(C) an attorney from the Office of General 
                Counsel of the Commission is present at the meeting.
            ``(3) Disclosure of nonpublic collaborative discussions.--
        Not later than 2 business days after the conclusion of a 
        meeting held under paragraph (2), the Commission shall publish 
        on the website of the Commission a disclosure relating to the 
        meeting that includes--
                    ``(A) a list of the persons who attended the 
                meeting; and
                    ``(B) a summary of the matters discussed at the 
                meeting, except for any matters that the Commission 
                determines may be withheld in accordance with section 
                552b(c) of title 5, United States Code.
            ``(4) Preservation of open meetings requirements for agency 
        action.--Nothing in this subsection shall limit the 
        applicability of section 552b of title 5, United States Code, 
        with respect to a meeting of Commissioners other than a meeting 
        described in paragraph (2).''.
                                 <all>