FCC Postpones Events

WASHINGTON: Meetings scheduled this week at the FCC have been postponed after the Potomac region’s pummeling with more than four-and-a-half feet of snow. A public forum on the creation of an emergency communications interoperability center was originally set for today. (See “FCC Lays Out Agenda for Feb. 10 EAS Forum.”) It will be rescheduled. Tomorrow’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting has been moved to Feb. 18 at 3 p.m.

The FCC as well as the rest of the federal government is shut down today due to the snow emergency. The Washington Post is reporting that the D.C. area has had a record 54.9 inches of snow. The City earlier determined that it was too dangerous for snow plows to be running in near white-out conditions. Flights at D.C.’s three major airports were cancelled today; mail service ws suspended, and power outages increased.

Agenda items at the FCC’s regular meeting included one to streamline agency processes to make the FCC’s work more transparent. The related Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to “enhance the efficiency, openness and transparency of the commission’s proceedings by improving and modernizing certain organizational and procedural rules.” Another item involved ex parte rules, which dictate how meetings with FCC officials by interested parties are reported.