Groups Oppose FCC Plan to Let Bureaus Eliminate Rules
Proposal tied to Carr’s 'Delete' initiative expected at July 24 meeting
WASHINGTON, July 18, 2025 – Bureaus within the Federal Communications Commission should not be able to eliminate regulations through the direct final rulemaking process.
That’s the message a consortium of 22 public interest organizations had for FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Thursday. The group’s letter to Carr demanded that he pull an item from the FCC’s July open meeting agenda that would authorize FCC bureaus to repeal regulations without full Commission approval and with only limited opportunity for public comment.
“This procedure would effectively eliminate any hope for timely judicial review of elimination of a rule on delegated authority,” the groups wrote. “It undermines the structure of the Commission as an independent, bipartisan agency, and places unprecedented power in the hands of the Chair through the Chair’s control of the bureaus.”
The FCC issued a fact sheet on July 3 detailing its intent to delegate authority to the bureaus it oversees, such as the Wireline Competition Bureau and the Media Bureau, to eliminate certain rules through the direct final rulemaking process, beginning with “an initial sampling of 18 provisions.”
The proposal was part of Carr’s broader “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative, which seeks to repeal what he considers outdated or unnecessary FCC regulations. The FCC has cited President Donald Trump’s Executive Orders 14192 and 14219 as the basis for its push, claiming the procedure aligns with federal deregulatory mandates.
In the fact sheet, the FCC defended the proposed use of direct final rulemaking (DFR), saying it would allow the agency to “advance the process of repealing rules identified as outdated and obsolete” and “set the stage for use of similar procedural tools for further deregulation in the future.”
Under the Administrative Procedure Act, agencies may bypass traditional notice-and-comment procedures using DFR if they find ‘good cause.’ The FCC has argued that the traditional notice-and-comment period was “unnecessary” when repealing rules it deems “impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.”
Critics, however, warn the plan could remove meaningful protections without transparency or accountability. The public interest groups say the proposal lacks adequate safeguards recommended by the Administrative Conference of the United States, which provides best practices for agencies using DFR procedures.
Unlike ACUS recommendations, which call for at least 30 days of public comment and reversion to traditional rulemaking upon receiving a single significant adverse comment, the FCC’s draft order allows only 10 days for comment and requires multiple objections before reconsidering the rule.
The FCC also reserved the right to reject comments as non-substantive without publicizing the reasoning in the Federal Register, and intends DFRs to take effect automatically after 60 days unless stated otherwise.
In their letter, the groups warned that this procedural loophole would allow rules to be eliminated with no opportunity for outside challenge.
“A chairman that does not wish to permit judicial review of elimination of a rule through DFR may order a bureau to remove the rule, then simply refuse to take action on the application for review,” they wrote.
The proposal was expected to be considered at the FCC’s next open meeting scheduled for July 24.
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