DA 19-1218
November 27, 2019


NOTICE CONCERNING EX PARTE STATUS OF INFORMATION 
RELATED TO THE 
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON DIVERSITY AND DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT

GN Docket No. 17-208

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) recently held the first meeting of its 2019 Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (Committee or ACDDE), on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. FCC Announces the Chair, Vice Chair and First Meeting of the Re-Chartered Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment, (GN Docket No. 17-208), Public Notice, DA 19-1038 (Oct. 11, 2019).  
  Rechartered in July 2019, the ACDDE is a federal advisory committee tasked with providing recommendations to the Commission on how to empower disadvantaged communities and accelerate the entry of small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities, into the media, digital news and information, and audio and video programming industries, including as owners, suppliers, and employees.
 Advisory Committee Meeting Notice, 84 F.R. 27328 (2019).    
  
  It will also provide recommendations to the Commission on how to ensure that disadvantaged communities are not denied the wide range of opportunities made possible by next-generation networks.  This Committee is intended to provide an effective forum for stakeholders with interests in these areas to exchange ideas and develop recommendations to the Commission about improving access to capital in order to encourage management and ownership of broadcast properties by a diverse range of voices, identifying new approaches to expand access to emerging technologies in under-served and under-connected communities, and promoting employment and promotion opportunities for women and minorities in the tech sector. FCC Seeks Nominations for Membership on Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment, Public Notice, DA 19-545 (June 10, 2019), 34 FCC Rcd 4791 (2019). 

  The ACDDE is organized under, and operates in accordance with, the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). See 5 U.S.C. App. 2.
    

Under FACA, the Commission is responsible for oversight of the ACDDE, including its working groups.
 See id.
  As a result, FCC staff or Commissioners may participate in or attend meetings or other activities held by the ACDDE or its working groups.  In light of this, we are announcing that pursuant to section 1.1200(a) of the Commission’s rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.1200(a), presentations to the ACDDE, including to its working groups and at any roundtable discussions sponsored by the ACDDE, as well as presentations between and among ACDDE members (including members of any working groups) and FCC staff or Commissioners, will be treated as exempt presentations for purposes of the Commission’s ex parte rules. See 47 C.F.R. § 1.1204(a).

  This exemption covers presentations from ACDDE members to FCC staff and Commissioners in other settings only to the extent that the ACDDE members are presenting the views of the ACDDE or its working groups, as opposed to an individual member’s own views or that of a member’s organization.  We find that this modification of the ex parte rules is in the public interest because it will allow the ACDDE to develop and shape its advice and recommendations to the Commission more efficiently and effectively.
 
We recognize that the ACDDE may address issues during its work that are the subject of various pending FCC proceedings.  The Commission will not rely in these proceedings on any information submitted to the ACDDE, or to any of its working groups, sponsored roundtables, or information conveyed by ACDDE members (including members of any subcommittees or working groups) to FCC staff or Commissioners unless that information is first placed in the record of the relevant proceeding.

More information about the ACDDE is available at https://www.fcc.gov/advisory-committee-diversity-and-digital-enpowerment.  You may also contact Jamila Bess Johnson, the Designated Federal Officer for the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment, at (202) 418-2608, or Jamila-Bess.Johnson@fcc.gov, Julie Saulnier, Deputy Designated Federal Officer, at (202) 418-1598, or Julie.Saulnier@fcc.gov, or Jamile Kadre, Deputy Designated Federal Officer, at (202) 418-2245 or Jamile.Kadre@fcc.gov. 



- FCC –

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