OPINION:
Excessive regulation is a major drag on economic prosperity, so when the government regulator responsible for applying red tape to just about every electronic device sold in America decides to “delete, delete, delete” every unnecessary rule the agency has ever put on the books, it’s a big deal.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr loves what the Department of Government Efficiency has been doing and wants cellphone carriers, internet providers, satellite companies, radio stations, television stations and electronic gadget makers to waste less time filling out paperwork and spend more time coming up with new products and services.
Mr. Carr’s press statement explained his goal: “For too long, administrative agencies have added new regulatory requirements in excess of their authority or kept lawful regulations in place long after their shelf life had expired. This only creates headwinds and slows down our country’s innovators, entrepreneurs and small businesses.”
To address inefficiency, the commission will head to the archives and blow the dust off the book of ancient directives. Anything they find that can’t be justified in 2025 will be thrown out. Under existing law, the FCC is supposed to regularly review its rules to ensure they don’t create barriers to marketplace entry or other unintended effects, but the agency in the past had a strong preference for the status quo.
Mr. Carr appears to have a serious overhaul in mind. Commission economists will perform a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether individual orders create more burden than benefit. They will also evaluate whether the rules are achieving the intended policy objectives. Anyone affected by an FCC rule is invited to help identify provisions that need to be wiped from the books.
Bureaucrats often introduce regulatory decrees to solve problems, but they rarely look back to see whether the problems were resolved. Either way, the red tape often sticks around long after technological advances render the initial regulatory concern obsolete. For instance, the FCC has long had rules limiting the number of radio and TV stations one company can own in a market to encourage “local” ownership of stations.
Whatever merit such restrictions had in the past, they are no longer relevant. Anyone with a laptop, a microphone and a lot of talent has access to an audience that can rival the reach of major broadcasters. The only limit on what creative minds can do are barriers imposed by the government.
Mr. Carr touts the benefits of his streamlined approach, saying the commission has just approved 33 satellite and 200 ground licenses through an expedited review. Consumers will soon see the benefit as more cellphones connect directly with satellites at higher speeds, eventually ending the problem of dropped calls and lost internet access beyond the range of a cell tower.
Fans of the “delete, delete, delete” initiative have until April 28 to forward their comments to the commission. The bipartisan panel will review submissions and vote on retaining or jettisoning each rule. All proposed modifications will still have to go through the cumbersome and slow administrative rulemaking process. It’s a bureaucracy, after all.
But it’s a bureaucracy on the right track. Congress most of all ought to be inspired to set up a committee of its own to review the mountain of laws it has created over 2½ centuries and start getting rid of the thousands of statutes that no longer serve legitimate purposes.
When Uncle Sam does less, entrepreneurs can do more.
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