U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) championed a bipartisan effort this week for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue exempting small businesses from onerous regulations.
In a bicameral letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Dec. 13, Daines called on the FCC to extend a current small business exemption for its 2015 Open Internet Order, commonly referred to as net neutrality regulations.
The small business exemption was set to expire on Dec. 15.
Wheeler on Thursday announced he would resign from the FCC at the start of the new Trump administration, setting the stage for a Republican majority at the agency and potentially impacting the future of net neutrality.
Daines has pushed for the extension of the exemption from the FCC’s transparency requirements, which would require internet service providers disclose great quantities of information about their network performance, some of which may require investing in new equipment and hiring an engineer.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was among the bipartisan group of legislators who signed the letter to the FCC.
“Without commission action, small businesses soon face regulatory uncertainty and will potentially be subject to burdensome requirements,” the letter said. “When the commission adopted this exemption, it acknowledged that requiring small businesses with limited resources to comply with the complex disclosure requirements would have been particularly burdensome.”
A bill that would extend the exemption and expand the definition of small business, H.R. 4596, previously cleared the House with unanimous support. The measure’s Senate counterpart, S. 2283, was approved by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.