Two FCC Commissioners to Step Down this Week, Dropping the Commission Below Quorum

By Nathan Seibert

The FCC is set to undergo some major changes in the coming weeks as two commissioners on either side of the aisle step down. Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffery Starks will resign this week after announcing his intention to do so during the FCC’s open meeting in May. In a more abrupt move, Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington followed suit, announcing his departure from the FCC this week.

The departure of Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks from the Commission offers time for reflection on their impact on the FCC as well as the next steps as the FCC slips below quorum.

Commissioner Simington’s Departure  

Prior to Commissioner Simington’s confirmation, he had spent almost his entire career in the private sector, mostly as a telecommunications attorney. Appointed by President Trump in his first term and confirmed by the Senate in December 2020, Simington served in the position for four and a half years. In his term, he advocated for the FCC to deregulate as much as possible. His latest areas of interest before leaving were broadcast ownership caps, lead generation, and space permitting reform.

 Broadcast ownership caps are an outdated antimonopoly measure with no relevance today. Rules limiting the number of stations one owner may possess in a local market date from the Second World War and treat broadcasters as a monopoly they haven’t been since the advent of cable. Raising or eliminating this cap is an urgent necessity if the industry is to survive.

On lead generation, the FCC banned many forms of peer-to-peer marketing to generate leads for many industries, but primarily financial services and real estate sales. Lead generation creates more than $200 million in value for the US economy annually. It is essential for a wide variety of businesses, especially small businesses, who rely on the nearly 1,900 leads generated each month to reach new customers. This move harming sales-heavy businesses’ ability to reach willing customers is overdue to be removed.

Space permitting is an issue of growing salience with Starlink’s increasing global market share. The FCC has jurisdiction over permitting communications satellites. Launches are permitted by other agencies, but they have to license the spectrum they use and permit the individual satellites. Simington believed in reform to streamline this process and recognized that environmentalists were going to target the space economy as their next big frontier.

Here is What Simington Had to Say on His Departure

“Throughout my tenure, I worked to defend free expression, safeguard national security, and promote infrastructure investment to benefit all Americans. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the outstanding individuals who have served in my office over the years, including Erin Boone, Jonathan Cannon, Tyler Bridegan, Adam Cassady, Marco Peraza, Michael Sweeney, Sara Rahmjoo, David Brodian, Ania Urban, Tom Struble, and Gavin Wax. It has been a privilege to work alongside each of them.”

Simington did not offer an explanation of the timing of his departure but remains committed to shaping the future of communications policy.

Read the statement of release here.

Departure of Geoffrey Starks from FCC

Commissioner Starks gave a longer timeline for his departure from the FCC. In March, Starks sent a letter to President Trump indicating his intention to resign this spring. During the agency’s open meeting in May, Starks commented that he would not be present at the June open meeting with the intent to step down from his position. He did not specify his exact termination date at that time but recently communicated this would be his last week at the agency.

While at the FCC, Commissioner Starks had a mixed record of good bipartisan initiatives and backwards-looking partisan policies. Last year, for example, Starks endorsed the reimposition of Title II utility regulation on broadband providers and issued a statement reminding the public that he had “previously stated that the FCC’s 2015 Net Neutrality rules were the right approach.”

These Obama-era rules created more regulatory roadblocks on the broadband industry that discouraged the exact sort of investment necessary to achieve other aspirational FCC goals, such as building out networks in rural areas. Starks successfully worked across the aisle to pursue a thoughtful, logical strategy to combat the grave national security threat posed by the CCP-linked technologies.

Geoffery Stark’s Departure Letter:

“Serving as a commissioner has been the highlight of my career.  I am immensely proud of all that we have achieved together.  I want to thank my team, and all of the parties that work alongside the Commission – from industry to public sector advocates – for their collaboration and partnership.  Most importantly, I want to thank the staff of the Commission – in my opinion, the very best of public servants.  And, of course, thank you to all of my fellow Commissioners, past and present.”

Read the statement of release here.

What Do These Departures Mean for the Agency?

The FCC is supposed to consist of a presidentially appointed chairman and four commissioners. The FCC can have no more than three commissioners of the same political party and requires three commissioners to reach quorum. Before this week the FCC sat at four commissioners: Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr were the Republican commissioners while President Trump’s nominee Olivia Trusty awaits confirmation in the Senate. The Democratic commissioners were Geoffery Starks and Anna M. Gomez. Now that the Commission will drop to two, a quorum will not be reached until Olivia Trusty is confirmed. This has not yet been scheduled and is expected after the July 4th recess. This may temporarily stifle Chairmen Carr’s policy agenda for the agency; however, commission staff will still act under delegated authority.

Details on Simington’s replacement will likely follow soon.