Thursday, July 16, 2015

FCC Votes to Shutter 11 Field Offices

The Federal Communications Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to close 11 Field Offices.

The vote followed some grumbling from both GOP commissioners who complained about the process that led to the FCC closing fewer offices over objections from Congress and broadcasters.

Field offices that will be closed: Anchorage, Buffalo, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Norfolk, Philly, San Diego, San Juan, Seattle, and Tampa.

Offices to remain open are: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbia, MD, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Portland, Ore.,  New York, and San Francisco.

FCC stated, “The Enforcement Bureau will maintain a field presence in Alaska and Puerto Rico and field agents will also rotate periodically through Kansas City. In addition, three offices will relocate to FCC-owned properties nearby to better utilize agency resources.”

Rapid deployment “tiger” teams will be stationed in Columbia (Md.) and Denver to “supplement the enforcement efforts of other field offices when necessary and support high-priority enforcement actions nationwide.”

The FCC had originally proposed to close almost all of the field offices, but scaled back that plan after strong objections from Congress and broadcasters.

The commission said the current structure of field operations is over 20 years old, “during which time significant technological changes have taken place and available funding has decreased.”

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