March 31 FCC Meeting on Livestream Only, Items Voted on Earlier

The FCC’s March 31 commissioners' meeting will be livestream only (see 2003240030). Items will be voted ahead of time on circulation and commissioner remarks will be shortened, agency officials said in interviews. The meeting’s changed format takes into account the agency’s COVID-19 preventive measures, which include closing headquarters to most visitors and staff being asked to telework.

The online-only meeting (see 2003100065) would follow the pattern of other recent agency events, including the Technological Advisory Council's Tuesday and the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council's meeting last week (see 2003180003). We are releasing much of our reporting on the virus to the public. The public can read our earlier news bulletin about the FCC's monthly meeting going all-virtual here.

The FCC subsequently confirmed the changes. "Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and related agency telework and headquarters access policies, this meeting will be in a wholly electronic format," said the sunshine notice Tuesday. "This meeting will be in a wholly electronic format and will be open to the public on the Internet via live feed from" www.fcc.gov/live and on the FCC’s YouTube channel.

In lieu of individual statements about each meeting item, commissioners will each have the chance to provide some remarks, FCC officials said. One said the gathering is likely to be short. The FCC previously held a shortened, agenda-less meeting just after the end of the government shutdown at the start of 2019 (see 1901300040). An official said it's unlikely the meeting will include a news conference.

Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood, a frequent in-person FCC meeting attendee, praised the online-only format. “It seems to make all the sense in the world to avoid gatherings like the open meeting, and to do everything online right now," he said. "Congress and the FCC need to do more to make sure people impacted by the economic slowdown can stay online, too.”

Chairman Ajit Pai discussed his own COVID-19 teleworking experience and emphasized social distancing and other measures taken by the FCC in a blog post Tuesday. “I’m committed to using every legal means at the FCC’s disposal to help Americans deal with the coronavirus pandemic,” Pai said. He has held virtual meetings with outside parties using conference bridges, he said. “We’ve found a way to stay productive amidst the changes around us.”

Government meetings in the Sunshine Act have been construed to include teleconferencing, emailed American University administrative law professor Jeff Lubbers. FCC rules also say phone meetings are covered, as do rules at a variety of other agencies, he said. Presumably to allow the public to "attend," the commission should allow people to listen to a feed, he said.

Some agencies with public meetings are feeling their way through COVID-19 issues. The Federal Maritime Commission is working through how to handle public meetings, Legislative and Public Affairs Senior Adviser John DeCrosta told us. The agency doesn't meet regularly, only when it has enough issues to warrant a gathering, which works out to at least quarterly. The most recent was Jan. 15. DeCrosta said for closed meetings, commissioners would call in, with a court reporter transcribing.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff has been teleworking since March 16, and the chairman and commissioners canceled the March 19 monthly meeting, the agency emailed. It said all agenda items for that meeting were voted notationally, the same way most FERC orders are handled between monthly open meetings. It said nothing has been announced about April's meeting.

The Federal Elections Commission has been meeting monthly in closed session since Sept. 1 due to a lack of quorum, and likely won't hold any open meetings until the Senate confirms a fourth commissioner, a spokesperson emailed. The next closed meeting is scheduled for April 14, and there hasn't been a decision how it will be conducted.