ACA, Others, Back FCC-Limiting Small Business Bill

A large group of associations representing smaller entities has called on the bipartisan leadership of the House Energy & Commerce Committee to support a bipartisan bill providing them some regulatory relief at the FCC.

They wrote the chair and ranking member of the committee to register their support for the Small Entity Regulatory Relief Opportunity (SERRO) Act (H.R. 3787), which is being considered as part of legislation to reauthorize the FCC now being considered by the full committee.

The bill would streamline the process for seeking waivers for small entities from regulations that would disproportionately disadvantage them relative to larger players.

Even more important, it actually delays applying new regs on smaller entities for a year unless Congress or the FCC decide it is not appropriate, and would reduce the need for applying for waivers on a case-by-case basis.

It would also require a triennial review of all FCC regs for their impact on smaller entities.

Signing on to the letter were the American Cable Association, Competitive Carriers Association, the Fiber Broadband Association, INCOMPAS, ITTA, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, NRECA, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, Rural Wireless Association, Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, and WTA-Advocates for Rural Broadband.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.