[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 51 (Friday, March 15, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9463-9465]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04563]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 0

[FCC 18-103]


Equal Employment Opportunity Audit and Enforcement Team 
Deployment

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC 
or Commission) moves the audit and enforcement responsibilities 
associated with our equal employment opportunity (EEO) rules from the 
Media Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau. As set forth below, we conclude 
that transferring enforcement of these rules to the Enforcement Bureau 
will better ensure that the communications companies subject to these 
rules give all qualified individuals an opportunity to apply and be 
considered as job candidates.

DATES: Effective March 15, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information, contact 
Holly Saurer, [email protected], of the Media Bureau, (202) 418-
7200. Direct press inquiries to Janice Wise at (202) 418-8165.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order 
(Order), FCC 18-103, adopted and released on July 24, 2018. The full 
text of this document is available electronically via the FCC's 
Electronic Document Management System (EDOCS) website at http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/ or via the FCC's Electronic Comment 
Filing System (ECFS) website at http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/. 
(Documents will be available electronically in ASCII, Microsoft Word, 
and/or Adobe Acrobat.) This document is also available for public 
inspection and copying during regular business hours in the FCC 
Reference Information Center, which is located in Room CY-A257 at FCC 
Headquarters, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554. The Reference 
Information Center is open to the public Monday through Thursday from 
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The 
complete text may be purchased from the Commission's copy contractor, 
445 12th Street SW, Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554. Alternative 
formats are available for people with disabilities (Braille, large 
print, electronic files, audio format), by sending an email to 
[email protected] or calling the Commission's Consumer and Governmental 
Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY).

Synopsis

    1. In this Order, we conclude that it will serve the public 
interest and improve the Commission's operations to move the audit and 
enforcement responsibilities associated with our EEO rules from the 
Media Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau. We take this action in 
recognition of the important role our EEO rules play in encouraging a 
diverse and multi-talented workforce and at the request of MMTC and 
other civil rights organizations. By transferring enforcement of these 
rules to the Enforcement Bureau, we find that we can better ensure that 
the communications companies subject to these rules give all qualified 
individuals an opportunity to apply and be considered as job 
candidates. We therefore conclude that this organizational change is 
warranted and amend the Commission's rules accordingly.
    2. Fifty years ago this month, the Commission observed that equal 
opportunity in employment was essential to the public interest and 
committed to ensuring that the national policy against discrimination 
in hiring applied to broadcast licensees.\1\ This remains true today. 
Currently, a team comprised of attorneys and other professionals 
responsible for EEO audits and enforcement is part of the Commission's 
Media Bureau.\2\ The EEO audit and enforcement team does essential work 
overseeing the EEO compliance of television and radio broadcast 
licensees, as well as multichannel video programming distributors 
(MVPDs), such as cable and DBS operators, and satellite radio. The 
team's work is primarily focused on periodic random audits of broadcast 
licensee and MVPD EEO programs, along with any necessary enforcement 
actions arising from those audits.\3\ In

[[Page 9464]]

addition, the team reviews EEO filings that broadcasters must submit to 
the Commission at the same time as their license renewal 
applications,\4\ and for some broadcast licensees, the team assesses 
EEO compliance around the midpoint of their eight-year license 
terms.\5\ The EEO team also investigates complaints and takes 
enforcement action based on those investigations when necessary.
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    \1\ Petition for Rulemaking to Require Broadcast Licensees to 
Show Nondiscrimination in Their Employment Practices, Memorandum 
Opinion and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Docket No. 
18244, 33 FR 12854 (Sept. 11, 1968), 13 FCC 2d 766 (1968).
    \2\ 47 CFR 0.61(d).
    \3\ Each year, the EEO team conducts a random audit of the EEO 
compliance of five percent of radio station employment units, as 
well as five percent of television station employment units. 47 CFR 
73.2080(f)(4). The team also conducts random audits of the EEO 
compliance of MVPD employment units. 47 CFR 73.77(d). In addition, 
the team is responsible for ensuring that every MVPD employment unit 
is reviewed for compliance through a supplemental investigation at 
least once every five years (meaning that approximately 20 percent 
are investigated each year). 47 CFR 76.77(c).
    \4\ Each broadcast licensee must file an FCC Form 396 (Broadcast 
Equal Opportunity Program Report) in conjunction with its license 
renewal application. 47 CFR 73.2080(f)(1); FCC Form 396, available 
at https://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form396/396.pdf (last visited 
May 22, 2018).
    \5\ The EEO team reviews the EEO practices of all broadcast 
television stations in station employment units with five or more 
full-time employees, and all radio stations in employment units with 
eleven or more full-time employees, around the midpoint of 
broadcasters' license terms. 47 CFR 73.2080(f)(2). The Commission is 
currently considering elimination of FCC Form 397, which is used as 
part of the mid-term review process. FCC Form 397, available at 
https://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form397/397.pdf (last visited May 
22, 2018); see Elimination of Obligation to File Broadcast Mid-Term 
Report (Form 397) Under Section 73.2080(f)(2), Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, 83 FR 12313 (March 21, 2018), MB Docket No. 18-23 
(2017). As discussed in that NPRM, even if Form 397 is eliminated, 
the mid-term review will still be conducted, as required by statute, 
and will be done by the EEO team. Id. at para. 7 (citing 47 U.S.C. 
334(b)).
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    3. In the 2014 Quadrennial Review proceeding, the Multicultural 
Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC), along with a large group of 
fellow self-identified ``Diversity and Competition Supporters,'' made 
an unopposed proposal to create a Civil Rights Branch of the 
Enforcement Bureau that would contain EEO enforcement.\6\ In the 
Quadrennial Second Report and Order, the Commission found that while 
there was no ``need to denominate a separate branch,'' moving EEO 
enforcement into the Enforcement Bureau ``warrant[ed] further 
consideration.'' \7\ It therefore directed ``the Media Bureau, 
Enforcement Bureau, and Office of the Managing Director, to discuss the 
feasibility, implications, and logistics of shifting the enforcement of 
the Media Bureau Equal Employment Opportunity rules from the Media 
Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau.'' \8\ Those internal discussion have 
now been completed. Recently, MMTC and a large group of self-identified 
``EEO Supporters'' filed comments in the Modernization of Media 
Regulation proceeding similarly proposing that, in order to ``modernize 
[our] EEO enforcement program,'' the Commission should ``[l]ocate the 
EEO staff in the Enforcement Bureau.'' \9\
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    \6\ See Diversity and Competition Supporters Supplemental NPRM 
Comments at 80-81 (Proposal 40, Create a New Civil Rights Branch of 
the Enforcement Bureau), filed in MB Docket No. 09-182 (April 3, 
2012).
    \7\ 2014 Quadrennial Regulatory Review--Review of the 
Commission's Broadcast Ownership Rules and Other Rules Adopted 
Pursuant to Section 202 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 
Second Report and Order, MB Docket No. 14-50, 81 FR 76220 (Nov. 1, 
2016), 31 FCC Rcd 9864 at 10007, para 333 (2016) (Quadrennial Second 
Report and Order).
    \8\ Id.
    \9\ Comments of the EEO Supporters at 5-6 (Apr. 30, 2018), filed 
in MB Docket No. 17-105. See also EEO Supporters Ex Parte at 2 (June 
1, 2018), filed in MB Docket No. 17-105.
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    4. As the Commission observed in the Quadrennial Second Report and 
Order, the EEO team in the Media Bureau has consistently been effective 
at overseeing compliance with and enforcing the EEO rules.\10\ 
Nonetheless, there are notable benefits to bringing the EEO team within 
a larger group of enforcement experts. The Enforcement Bureau's staff 
has extensive experience conducting investigations and pursuing 
enforcement in a wide range of areas. They therefore are well 
positioned to provide assistance and guidance with EEO review, audit, 
and enforcement work. Further, the Enforcement Bureau has expertise in, 
and maintains tools and databases to aid with, the tracking of 
statutory deadlines, including those relevant to EEO audits and 
investigations, that the Media Bureau does not.
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    \10\ Quadrennial Second Report and Order at 10007, para. 333.
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    5. For these reasons, we believe that shifting the EEO team to the 
Enforcement Bureau will result in more effective enforcement of the 
Commission's EEO rules. Accordingly, we find that the EEO team should 
be moved from the Media Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau. Specifically, 
the Policy Division staff in the Media Bureau who are currently 
responsible exclusively for EEO audit and enforcement will join the 
Enforcement Bureau's Investigations and Hearings Division.\11\
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    \11\ As relocated to the Enforcement Bureau, the EEO team will 
continue to perform its existing compliance reviews, as described 
above, including periodic random audits, review of filings that 
broadcasters must submit to the Commission at the same time as their 
license renewal applications, and mid-term reviews. Rulemaking 
proceedings pertaining to EEO issues will continue to be conducted 
by the Media Bureau. 47 CFR 0.61(b).
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    6. The key objectives of this organizational change are to more 
efficiently deploy Commission audit and enforcement resources, enhance 
industry-wide oversight of compliance with EEO rules, improve cross-
Commission consistency in audit-based enforcement, and rationalize and 
modernize our organizational structure. We agree with the EEO 
Supporters that we can best accomplish these objectives through 
organizational change. In order to effectuate this change, we modify 
our procedural rules. Specifically, we eliminate the express delegation 
to the Media Bureau of authority for administration and enforcement of 
EEO rules and add an express delegation to the Enforcement Bureau 
covering the EEO rules.\12\
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    \12\ 47 CFR 0.111(a).
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    7. The amendments adopted herein pertain to agency organization, 
procedure, and practice. Consequently, the notice and comment and 
effective date provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act contained 
in 5 U.S.C. 553(b) and (d) do not apply.
    8. This document does not contain information collection 
requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
Public Law 104-13. In addition, therefore, it does not contain any new 
or modified information collection burden for small business concerns 
with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork 
Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4).
    9. The Commission will not send a copy of this Order pursuant to 
the Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), because the 
adopted rules exclusively relate to agency management or personnel.
    10. It is ordered that, pursuant to the authority found in sections 
1, 4, 5(b), 5(c), and 303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as 
amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154, 155(b), 155(c), 303(r), this Report and 
Order is hereby adopted.
    11. It is further ordered that part 0 of the Commission rules IS 
AMENDED as set forth in the Final Rules.
    12. It is further ordered that, consistent with the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act of 2017,\13\ this Order WILL BECOME EFFECTIVE when 
the appropriate clearance has been obtained and the Commission 
thereafter publishes this Order in the Federal Register.
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    \13\ See Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Public Law 115-
141, at Division E, Title VI, Section 608, 132 Stat. 348 (2018).
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List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 0

    Classified information, Freedom of information, Government 
publications, Infants and children, Organization and functions 
(Government agencies), Postal Service, Privacy, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Sunshine Act.


[[Page 9465]]


Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.

Final Rules

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Federal Communications 
Commission amends 47 CFR part 0 as set forth below:

PART 0--COMMISSION ORGANIZATION

0
1. The authority citation for part 0 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: Sec. 5, 48 Stat. 1068, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 155, 
225, unless otherwise noted.


Sec.  0.61  [Amended]

0
2. Amend Sec.  0.61 by removing and reserving paragraph (d).

0
3. Amend Sec.  0.111 by revising paragraphs (a)(11) and (13) and adding 
paragraph (a)(26) to read as follows:


Sec.  0.111   Functions of the Bureau.

    (a)* * *
    (11) Resolves other complaints against Title III licensees and 
permittees (Title III of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended), 
including complaints under Sec.  20.12(e) of this chapter, except that 
the Media Bureau has primary responsibility for complaints regarding 
children's television programming requirements, and for political and 
related programming matters involving broadcasters, cable operators and 
other multichannel video programming distributors. The relevant 
licensing Bureau has primary responsibility for complaints involving 
tower siting and the Commission's environmental rules. The Media Bureau 
has primary responsibility for complaints regarding compliance with 
conditions imposed on transfers of control and assignments of licenses 
of Cable Television Relay Service authorizations.
* * * * *
    (13) Resolve complaints regarding multichannel video and cable 
television service under part 76 of this chapter, except that the Media 
Bureau has primary responsibility for complaints regarding the 
following: Subpart A (general), with the exception of Sec.  76.11; 
subpart B (Registration Statements); subpart C (Cable Franchise 
Applications); subpart D (carriage of television broadcast signals); 
subpart F (nonduplication protection and syndicated exclusivity); 
subpart G, Sec. Sec.  76.205 and 76.206 (political broadcasting); 
subpart I ([Reserved]); subpart J (ownership); subpart L (cable 
television access); subpart N, Sec.  76.944 (basic cable rate appeals), 
and Sec. Sec.  76.970, 76.971, and 76.977 (cable leased access rates); 
subpart O (competitive access to cable programming); subpart P 
(competitive availability of navigation devices); subpart Q (regulation 
of carriage agreements); subpart S (Open Video Systems); and subparts 
T, U, and V to the extent related to the matters listed in this 
paragraph (a)(13).
* * * * *
    (26) Conduct audits and investigations and resolve issues of 
compliance concerning equal employment opportunity requirements 
involving Title III licensees and permittees or multichannel video 
programming distributors, including cable service providers, under part 
76 of this chapter.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2019-04563 Filed 3-14-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P