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(C) The Commission shall submit to the appropriate committees of the Congress, and publish in the Federal Register, quarterly reports specifying reimbursements which the Commission has accepted under this paragraph.

(D) The provisions of this paragraph shall cease to have any force or effect at the end of fiscal year 1987.

(E) Funds which are received by the Commission as reimbursements under the provisions of this paragraph after the close of a fiscal year shall remain available for obligations. 33

(h) Three 34 members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum thereof. The Commission shall have an official seal which shall be judicially noticed.

(i) The Commission may perform any and all acts, make such rules and regulations, and issue such orders, not inconsistent with this Act, as may be necessary in the execution of its functions.

(j) The Commission may conduct its proceedings in such manner as will best conduce to the proper dispatch of business and to the ends of justice. No commissioner shall participate in any hearing or proceeding in which he has a pecuniary interest. Any party may appear before the Commission and be heard in person or by attorney. Every vote and official act the Commission shall be entered of record, and its proceedings shall be public upon the request of any party interested. The Commission is authorized to withhold publication of records or proceedings containing secret information affecting the national defense.

(k) The Commission shall make an annual report to Congress, copies of which shall be distributed as are other reports transmitted to Congress. Such reports shall contain

(1) such information and data collected by the Commission as may be considered of value in the determination of questions connected with the regulation of interstate and foreign wire and radio communication and radio transmission of energy;

(2) such information and data concerning the functioning of the Commission as will be of value to Congress in appraising the amount and character of the work and accomplishments of the Commission and the adequacy of its staff and equipment; 35

(3) an itemized statement of all funds expended during the preceding year by the Commission, of the sources of such funds, and of the authority in this Act or elsewhere under which such expenditures were made; and

(4) specific recommendations to Congress as to additional legislation which the Commission deems necessary or desirable,

33 Subsection 4(g)(2) was added by Public Law 97-259, approved September 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1087, 1089; amended by Public Law 99-272, 100 Stat. 82, 118, April 7, 1986.

34 Subsection 4(h) was amended by Public Law 97-253, 96 Stat. 763, 806, Sept. 8, 1982, which inserted "Three" in lieu of "Four." The amendment was to take effect on July 1, 1983.

35 Paragraph (2) was amended by Public Law 97-259, 96 Stat. 1087, 1089, Sept. 13, 1982, by deleting the following:

Provided, That the first and second annual reports following the date of enactment of the Communications Act Amendments, 1952, shall set forth in detail the number and caption of pending applications requesting approval of transfer of control or assignment of a broadcasting station license, or construction permits for new broadcasting stations, or for increases in power, or for changes of frequency of existing broadcasting stations at the beginning and end of the period covered by such reports;

including all legislative proposals submitted for approval to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. 36

(1) All reports of investigations made by the Commission shall be entered of record, and a copy thereof shall be furnished to the party who may have complained, and to any common carrier or licensee that may have been complained of.

(m) The Commission shall provide for the publication of its reports and decisions in such form and manner as may be best adapted for public information and use, and such authorized publications shall be competent evidence of the reports and decisions of the Commission therein contained in all courts of the United States and of the several States without any further proof or authentication thereof.

(n) Rates of compensation of persons appointed under this section shall be subject to the reduction applicable to officers and employees of the Federal Government generally.

(0) For the purpose of obtaining maximum effectiveness from the use of radio and wire communications in connection with safety of life and property, the Commission shall investigate and study all phases of the problem and the best methods of obtaining the cooperation and coordination of these systems. 37

ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONING OF THE COMMISSION

SEC. 5. [47 U.S.C. 155] (a) The member of the Commission designated by the President as chairman shall be the chief executive officer of the Commission. It shall be his duty to preside at all meetings and sessions of the Commission, to represent the Commission in all matters relating to legislation and legislative reports, except that any commissioner may present his own or minority views or supplemental reports, to represent the Commission in all matters requiring conferences or communications with other governmental officers, departments or agencies, and generally to coordinate and

36 Paragraphs (3) and (4) were redesignated as such (from paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively) by Public Law 97-259, 96 Stat. 1087, 1089, Sept. 13, 1982, which also substituted "Office of Management and Budget" for "Bureau of the Budget."

The former paragraph (3) of section 4(k) was repealed by Public Law 86-533, approved June 29, 1960, 74 Stat. 249. It formerly read as follows:

(3) Information with respect to all persons taken into the employment of the Commission during the year covered by the report, including names, pertinent biographical data and experience, Commission positions held and compensation paid, together with the names of those persons who have left the employ of the Commission during such year: Provided, that the first annual report following the date of enactment of the Communications Act Amendments, 1952, shall contain such information with respect to all persons in the employ of the Commission at the close of the year for which the report is made;

Before it was amended by the Communication Act Amendments, 1952, the original subsection (k) read as follows:

(k) The Commission shall make an annual report to Congress, copies of which shall be distributed as are other reports transmitted to Congress. Such reports shall contain such information and data collected by the Commission as may be considered of value in the determination of questions connected with the regulation of interstate and foreign wire and radio communications and radio transmission of energy, together with such recommendations as to additional legislation relating thereto as the Commission may deem necessary: Provided, That the Commission shall make a special report not later than February 1, 1935, recommending such amendments to this Act as it deems desirable in the public interest: Provided further, That each year, at the beginning of the session of the Congress, the Commission shall report to the Congress whether or not any new wire or radio communication legislation is required better to insure safety of life and property. If any such new legislation is considered necessary the Commission shall make specific recommendations thereof to the Congress.

37 This subsection was added by "An Act to amend the Communication Act of 1934, etc." Public Law 97, 75th Congress, approved and effective May 20, 1937, 50 Stat. 190.

organize the work of the Commission in such manner as to promote prompt and efficient disposition of all matters within the jurisdiction of the Commission. In the case of a vacancy in the office of the chairman of the Commission, or the absence or inability of the chairman to serve, the Commission may temporarily designate one of its members to act as chairman until the cause or circumstance requiring such designation shall have been eliminated or corrected.

(b) From time to time as the Commission may find necessary, the Commission shall organize its staff into (1) integrated bureaus, to function on the basis of the Commission's principal workload operations, and (2) such other divisional organizations as the Commission may deem necessary. Each such integrated bureau shall include such legal, engineering, accounting, administrative, clerical, and other personnel as the Commission may determine to be necessary to perform its functions. 38

(c) 39 (1) When necessary to the proper functioning of the Commission and the prompt and orderly conduct of its business, the Commission may, by published rule or by order, delegate any of its functions (except functions granted to the Commission by this paragraph and by paragraphs (4), (5), and (6) of this subsection) to a panel of commissioners, an individual commissioner, an employee board, or an individual employee, including functions with respect

38 Subsection (b) was amended by Public Law 97-259, approved September 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1087, 1091, by deleting "within six months after the enactment of the Communications Act Amendments, 1952, and" at the beginning of the paragraph.

39 This subsection was redesignated (c) from (d) by Public Law 97-259, 96 Stat. 1087, 1091, Sept. 13, 1982, which also changed "three" to "two" in paragraph (c)1).

Former subsection (c) was repealed, and former subsection (d) (now subsection (c)) was amended to read as above by Public Law 87-192, approved August 31, 1961, 75 Stat. 420. They formerly read as follows:

(c) The Commission shall establish a special staff of employees, hereinafter in this Act referred to as the "review staff," which shall consist of such legal, engineering, accounting, and other personnel as the Commission deems necessary. The review staff shall be directly responsible to the Commission and shall not be made a part of any bureau or divisional organization of the Commission. Its work shall not be supervised or directed by any employee of the Commission other than a member of the review staff whom the Commission may designate as the head of such staff. The review staff shall perform no duties or functions other than to assist the Commission, in cases of adjudication (as defined in the Administrative Procedure Act) which have been desig nated for hearing, by preparing a summary of the evidence presented at any such hearing, by preparing, after an initial decision but prior to oral argument, a compilation of the facts material to the exceptions and replies thereto filed by the parties, and by preparing for the Commission or any member or members thereof, without recommendations and in accordance with specific directions from the Commission or such member or members, memoranda, opinions, decisions, and orders. The Commission shall not permit any employee who is not a member of the review staff to perform the duties and functions which are to be performed by the review staff; but this shall not be construed to limit the duties and functions which any assistant or secretary appointed pursuant to section 4(f)(2) may perform for the commissioner by whom he was appointed.

(dX1) Except as provided in section 409, the Commission may, when necessary to the proper functioning of the Commission and the prompt and orderly conduct of its business, by order assign or refer any portion of its work, business, or functions to an individual commissioner or commissioners or to a board composed of one or more employees, of the Commission, to be desig nated by such order for action thereon, and may at any time amend, modify, or rescind any such order of assignment or reference. Any order, decision, or report made, or other action taken, pursuant to any such order of assignment or reference shall, unless reviewed pursuant to paragraph (2) have the same force and effect, and shall be made, evidenced, and enforced in the same manner, as orders, decisions, reports, or other action of the Commission.

(2) Any person aggrieved by any such order, decision, or report may file an application for review by the Commission, within such time and in such form as the Commission shall prescribe, and every such application shall be passed upon by the Commission. If the Commission grants the application, it may affirm, modify, or set aside such order, decision, report, or action, or may order a rehearing upon such order, decision, report, or action under section 405.

(3) The secretary and seal of the Commission shall be the secretary and seal of each individual commissioner or board.

to hearing, determining, ordering, certifying, reporting, or otherwise acting as to any work, business, or matter; except that in delegating review functions to employees in cases of adjudication (as defined in the Administrative Procedure Act), the delegation in any such case may be made only to an employee board consisting of two or more employees referred to in paragraph (8). Any such rule or order may be adopted, amended, or rescinded only by a vote of a majority of the members of the Commission then holding office. Nothing in this paragraph shall authorize the Commission to provide for the conduct, by any person or persons other than persons referred to in clauses (2) and (3) of section 7(a) of the Administrative Procedure Act, of any hearing to which such section 7(a) applies.

(2) As used in this subsection (d) the term "order, decision, report, or action" does not include an initial, tentative, or recommended decision to which exceptions may be filed as provided in section 409(b).

(3) Any order, decision, report, or action made or taken pursuant to any such delegation, unless reviewed as provided in paragraph (4), shall have the same force and effect, and shall be made, evidenced, and enforced in the same manner, as orders, decisions, reports, or other actions of the Commission.

(4) Any person aggrieved by any such order, decision, report or action may file an application for review by the Commission within such time and in such manner as the Commission shall prescribe, and every such application shall be passed upon by the Commission. The Commission, on its own initiative, may review in whole or in part, at such time and in such manner as it shall determine, any order, decision, report, or action made or taken pursuant to any delegation under paragraph (1).

(5) In passing upon applications for review, the Commission may grant, in whole or in part, or deny such applications without specifying any reasons therefore. No such application for review shall rely on questions of fact or law upon which the panel of commissioners, individual commissioner, employee board, or individual employee has been afforded no opportunity to pass.

(6) If the Commission grants the application for review, it may affirm, modify, or set aside the order, decision, report, or action, or it may order a rehearing upon such order, decision, report, or action in accordance with section 405.

(7) The filing of an application for review under this subsection shall be a condition precedent to judicial review of any order, decision, report, or action made or taken pursuant to a delegation under paragraph (1). The time within which a petition for review must be filed in a proceeding to which section 402(a) applies, or within which an appeal must be taken under section 402(b), shall be computed from the date upon which public notice is given of orders disposing of all applications for review filed in any case.

(8) The employees to whom the Commission may delegate review functions in any case of adjudication (as defined in the Administrative Procedure Act) shall be qualified, by reason of their training, experience, and competence, to perform such review functions, and shall perform no duties inconsistent with such review functions.

Such employees shall be in a grade classification or salary level commensurate with their important duties, and in no event less than the grade classification or salary level of the employee or employees whose actions are to be reviewed. In the performance of such review functions such employees shall be assigned to cases in rotation so far as practicable and shall not be responsible to or subject to the supervision or direction of any officer, employee, or agent engaged in the performance of investigative or prosecuting functions for any agency.

(9) The secretary and seal of the Commission shall be the secretary and seal of each panel of the Commission, each individual commissioner, and each employee board or individual employee exercising functions delegated pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection.

(d) 40 Meetings of the Commission shall be held at regular intervals, not less frequently than once each calendar month, at which times the functioning of the Commission and the handling of its work load shall be reviewed and such orders shall be entered and other action taken as may be necessary or appropriate to expedite the prompt and orderly conduct of the business of the Commission with the objective of rendering a final decision (1) within three months from the date of filing in all original application, renewal, and transfer cases in which it will not be necessary to hold a hearing, and (2) within six months from the final date of the hearing in all hearing cases.*1

40 This subsection was redesignated (d) from (e) by Public Law 97-259, 96 Stat. 1087, 1091, Sept. 13, 1982. 41 Section 5 was amended by the Communications Act Amendments of 1952, Public Law No. 82-554, approved July 16, 1952, 66 Stat. 714. Before 1952, the section read as follows:

DIVISIONS OF THE COMMISSION

SEC. 5. (a) The Commission is hereby authorized by its order to divide the members thereof into not more than three divisions, each to consist of not less than three members. Any commissioner may be assigned to and may serve upon such division or divisions as the Commission may direct, and each division shall choose its own chairman. In case of a vacancy in any division, or of absence or inability to serve thereon of any commissioner thereto assigned, the chairman of the Commission or any commissioner designated by him for that purpose may temporarly serve on said division until the Commission shall otherwise order.

(b) The Commission may by order direct that any of its work, business, or functions arising under this Act, or under any other Act of Congress, or in respect of any matter which has been or may be referred to the Commission by Congress or by either branch thereof, be assigned or referred to any of said divisions for action thereon, and may by order at any time amend modify, supplement, or rescind any such direction. All such orders shall take effect forthwith and remain in effect until otherwise ordered by the Commission.

(c) In conformity with and subject to the order or orders of the Commission in the premises, each division so constituted shall have power and authority by a majority thereof of hear and determine, order, certify, report, or otherwise act as to any of said work, business, or functions so assigned or referred to it for action by the Commission, and in respect thereof the division shall have all the jurisdiction and powers now or then conferred by law upon the Commission, and be subject to the same duties and obligations. Any order, decision, or report made or other action taken by any of said divisions in respect of any matter so assigned or referred to it shall have the same force and effect and may be made evidenced, and enforced in the same manner as if made, or taken by the Commission subject to rehearing by the Commission as provided in section 405 of this Act for rehearing cases decided by the Commission. The secretary and seal of the Commission shall be the secretary and seal of each division thereof.

(d) Nothing in this section contained, or done pursuant thereto, shall be deemed to divest the Commission of any of its powers.

(e) The Commission is hereby authorized by its order to assign or refer any portion of its work, business, or functions arising under this or any other Act of Congress or referred to it by Congress, or either branch thereof, to an individual commissioner, or to a board composed of an employee or employees of the Commission, to be designated by such order, for action thereon, and by its order at any time to amend, modify, supplement, or rescind any such assignment or reference: Continued

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