{"id":38170,"date":"2025-07-24T15:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T15:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/?p=38170"},"modified":"2025-07-24T15:21:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T15:21:31","slug":"public-knowledge-rejects-fcc-vote-undermining-agency-transparency-accountability-and-public-input","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/public-knowledge-rejects-fcc-vote-undermining-agency-transparency-accountability-and-public-input\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Knowledge Rejects FCC Vote Undermining Agency Transparency, Accountability, and Public Input"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/document\/streamlined-repeal-outdated-and-obsolete-rules\">Direct Final Rule<\/a> to permit the agency\u2019s offices and bureaus to eliminate existing rules without a transparent notice-and-comment rulemaking process \u2013 a clear violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.\u00a0While the APA allows an agency to eliminate rules without transparent notice-and-comment in very limited cases for \u2018good cause,\u2019 the process adopted for eliminating rules by Direct Final Rule far exceeds what Congress authorized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Public Knowledge recently joined 21 other public interest and digital rights groups in a <a href=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/public-knowledge-joins-21-groups-urging-fcc-chairman-carr-to-follow-the-law-stop-undermining-agencys-power\/\">letter<\/a> urging FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to pull this item from the agency\u2019s July Open Meeting agenda. Public Knowledge argues that this Direct Final Rule eliminates or relaxes critical safeguards designed by the Administrative Conference of the United States to prevent abuse by government agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following can be attributed to Alisa Valentin, Broadband Policy Director at Public Knowledge:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe FCC\u2019s adoption of a Direct Final Rule procedure creates a dangerous path for bureaus empowered by Chair Brendan Carr to gut any rules it deems \u2018obsolete, unlawful, anticompetitive, or otherwise no longer in the public interest,\u2019 which will inevitably undermine transparency and accountability. This action sets a troubling precedent that fits into the broader pattern of executive overreach by the Trump administration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith today\u2019s action, the Commission could ram through substantive rule changes with virtually no oversight, which would shut out consumers, public interest organizations, researchers, technical experts, and industry\u2019s ability to discover the proposed rule changes, much less respond effectively. If the FCC truly has nothing to hide, it should be open to a process that allows for full public scrutiny instead of slamming the door on the American people.\u201d&nbsp;<br><br>You may view our <a href=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/policy\/group-letter-to-chairman-carr-on-direct-final-rule\/\">letter<\/a> to FCC Chairman Carr urging him to drop this item from the July Open Meeting agenda for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve a Direct Final Rule to permit the agency\u2019s offices and bureaus to eliminate existing rules without a transparent notice-and-comment rulemaking process \u2013 a clear violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.\u00a0While the APA allows an agency to eliminate rules without transparent notice-and-comment in very limited cases for \u2018good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-38170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-broadband-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Public Knowledge Rejects FCC Vote Undermining Agency Transparency, Accountability, and Public Input - Public Knowledge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/public-knowledge-rejects-fcc-vote-undermining-agency-transparency-accountability-and-public-input\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Public Knowledge Rejects FCC Vote Undermining Agency Transparency, Accountability, and Public Input\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. 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