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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  03-  337 
 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS 
 Re:  Biennial  Regulatory  Review  of  Regulations  Administered  by  the  Wireline  Competition  Bureau  (WC  Docket  No.  02-  313) 
 I  support  today’s  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking.  In  it,  we  take  appropriate  steps  to  clean  up  and  refresh  our  rules.  Nonetheless,  I  question  the  wisdom  of  seeking 
 comment  on  the  continuing  need  for  Section  1.815  of  our  rules.  How  can  it  be  that  at  a  time  when  we  are  trumpeting  the  significance  of  our  Advisory  Committee  on  Diversity 
 for  Communications  in  the  Digital  Age,  we  also  are  suggesting  that  information  gathering  about  the  diversity  of  the  telecommunications  work  force  is  no  longer  in  the  public 
 interest?  It  looks  like  one  hand  of  the  agency  is  not  talking  to  the  other.  The  information  collected  pursuant  to  this  rule  is  exactly  the  kind  of  granular  data  the  Committee  will  find 
 useful  to  complete  its  mission.  I  fear  efforts  like  this  one  may  emasculate  this  new  group  and  make  their  already  difficult  task  more  complex. 
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