The Grass roots effort is always greener..

December 16, 2009 Indianapolis, IN - A bill introduced on Monday in the U.S. Senate would potentially add one electrical engineer or computer scientist within each of the offices of the five FCC Commissioners.

Introduced by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and co-sponsored by Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Senate Bill 2881 would authorize each FCC Commissioner to add one staff assistant position to the three that are currently authorized. The new position of “staff engineer” would require that the holder either have a degree in electrical engineering or be a computer scientist. If eventually passed, the new authorization would affectively undo a loosening of requirements for technical staff at the highest level of the FCC that began more than 25 years ago.

Vinny Lopez, CEV, CBNT, president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), remarked, “Ensuring the technical integrity of the FCC decision-making is perhaps our most important legislative goal. This legislation will go a long way toward returning technical expertise to the FCC Commissioner's offices."  Lopez added, “We encourage other members of the Senate to support this well-crafted legislation. SBE will seek the introduction of a companion bill in the House and we will urge rapid passage of both Bills in the House and the Senate.”

The proposed legislation, which would amend Section 4(f)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154(f)(2)), explains that the “staff engineer” would provide each commissioner with technical consultation when appropriate and interface with the Office of Engineering and Technology, Commission Bureaus and other technical staff of the Commission for additional technical input and resources. The staff engineer would need to hold an undergraduate or graduate degree from an institution of higher education in their respective field of expertise.


We have been working towards this for a long time. What we need for members to do is contact their senator and ask them to support this legislation.  Contact your House member and ask them to sponsor and support a companion bill. SBE will be helping to identify and secure a sponsor in the house as well. We also will soon be posting on sbe.org a list of Energy and Commerce committee members as well as contact information. This has been one of our most important legislative goals for the past 2 decades. Lets all get behind this and really help to make this bill a reality. Stay tuned for more.