[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1396 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1396

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2015

   Ms. Eshoo (for herself, Mr. Shimkus, and Mr. Michael F. Doyle of 
Pennsylvania) 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.

    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 2015''.

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) In general.--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 such meeting;
                    ``(B) each person present at such meeting is a 
                Commissioner, an employee of the Commission, a member 
                of a joint board or conference established under 
                section 410, or a person on the staff of such a joint 
                board or conference or of a member of such a joint 
                board or conference; and
                    ``(C) an attorney from the Office of General 
                Counsel of the Commission is present at such meeting.
            ``(2) Disclosure of nonpublic collaborative discussions.--
        Not later than 2 business days after the conclusion of a 
        meeting held under paragraph (1), the Commission shall publish 
        a disclosure of such meeting, including--
                    ``(A) a list of the persons who attended such 
                meeting; and
                    ``(B) a summary of the matters discussed at such 
                meeting, except for such matters as the Commission 
                determines may be withheld under section 552b(c) of 
                title 5, United States Code.
            ``(3) 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 that 
        described in paragraph (1).
            ``(4) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Agency action.--The term `agency action' has 
                the meaning given such term in section 551 of title 5, 
                United States Code.
                    ``(B) Bipartisan majority.--The term `bipartisan 
                majority' means, when used with respect to a group of 
                Commissioners, that such group--
                            ``(i) is a group of 3 or more 
                        Commissioners; and
                            ``(ii) includes, for each political party 
                        of which any Commissioner is a member, at least 
                        1 Commissioner who is a member of such 
                        political party, and, if any Commissioner has 
                        no political party affiliation, at least one 
                        unaffiliated Commissioner.''.
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