Over the next several months, the public and Congress will have an opportunity to comment on a torrent of proposed new regulations from the Federal Communications Commission, affecting the entire communications sector. This regulatory expansion is at odds with President Obama’s January promise to review all federal regulations and eliminate those no longer needed. But FCC rules approved during Obama’s administration — and prior administrations — are written without the slightest effort to quantify the total benefits or costs of those regulations.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the FCC to review all its rules every two years and eliminate those no longer necessary. Fifteen years later, the FCC has yet to review all its rules even once, much less once every two years.
