Federal Communications Commission Plans Shutdown Beginning Thursday, January 3

Editor's Note: The Federal Communications Commission issued this press release on Monday - it looks as though the agency will close down right as Congress is coming back into session. 

WASHINGTON, December 31, 2018—In the event of a continued partial lapse in federal government funding, the Federal Communications Commission will suspend most operations in the middle of the day on Thursday, January 3.  At that time, employees will have up to four hours to complete an orderly shutdown of operations.

However, work required for the protection of life and property will continue, as will any work related to spectrum auctions, which is funded by auction proceeds.  In addition, the Office of the Inspector General will continue operations until further notice.

The Commission on Wednesday will release a Public Notice detailing the effects the suspension of operations will have, including on electronic filing and database systems, filing deadlines, regulatory and application fee payments, transaction shot clocks, and more. The Public Notice will be available on the Commission’s website, www.fcc.gov.

The FCC’s overall shutdown plan is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-plan-orderly-shutdown-december-2018.  The resumption of normal Commission operations will also be announced on the FCC’s website.