S. 2283 would modify disclosure requirements enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to exempt certain broadband providers from requirements to give consumers information about the performance and cost of their services. CBO estimates that implementing S. 2283 would have no significant effect on the federal budget.
Under the FCC’s current rules, broadband providers with 100,000 or fewer subscribers are exempt from those reporting requirements until December 16, 2016, at which time the Commission plans to adopt final regulations to implement those requirements. S. 2283 would expand the exemption to include broadband providers with 250,000 or fewer subscribers for up to three years after the date of enactment. The bill also would direct the FCC to submit a report with recommendations to the Congress on this exemption policy within six months of enactment and to conduct a rulemaking to implement the recommendations of the report.
On the basis of information from the FCC, CBO estimates that the rulemaking activities needed to implement the provisions of S. 2283 would have no significant effect on the agency’s costs relative to current policies. Moreover, under current law, the FCC is authorized to collect fees sufficient to offset the cost of its regulatory activities each year. Therefore, CBO estimates that the net cost to implement S. 2283 would be negligible, assuming annual appropriation actions consistent with the agency’s authorities. Because enacting S. 2283 would not affect direct spending or revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 2283 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
S. 2283 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
On March 4, 2016, CBO transmitted a cost estimated for H.R. 4596, the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on February 25, 2016. The provisions in that act are similar to S. 2283 and CBO’s estimates of the costs are the same.
