Outgoing FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has released a public notice announcing the members of the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC) for the years 2017 through 2019. Chairman Wheeler reauthorized the IAC on September 29, 2016 and sought nominations for membership. According to the public notice, the IAC provides “guidance, expertise, and recommendations to the Commission on a range of telecommunications issues for which local, state, and Tribal governments explicitly or inherently share responsibility or administration with the Commission.” Specifically, the 2017-2019 IAC “will focus on the role of the state, local and Tribal governments in facilitating broadband deployment and adoption, initiatives related to wireless infrastructure deployment, Universal Service programs, consumer complaints processes, and public safety issues.” The IAC is comprised of fifteen representatives of state, local and Tribal governments with expertise in telecommunications policy. The new IAC members are: Elin Swanson Katz, Consumer Counsel (designee of Connecticut Governor, Dannel P. Malloy); Bob Fifer, Mayor Pro Tempore, Arvada, Colorado; Andy Huckaba, City Councilman, Lenexa, Kansas; Catherine E. Pugh, Mayor, Baltimore, Maryland; Jim Beard, Chief Financial Officer and Cathy Hampton, City Attorney (designees of Kasim Reed, Mayor, Atlanta, Georgia); Kenneth A. Bukowski, Deputy City Attorney and Interim Chief Information Officer (designees of Ediwn M. Lee, City and County Mayor of San Francisco, California); Hans Riemer, Councilmember, Montgomery County, Maryland; Kenneth S. Fellman, County Attorney, Yuma, Colorado; Deb Peters, South Dakota State Senator; Angelo J. Puppolo, Massachusetts State Representative; Jason Saine, North Carolina General Assembly State Representative; Ronald Brise, Commissioner, Florida Public Service Commission; Clifford Agee, Chickasaw Nation, Ada, Oklahoma; and James R. Norton, Yurok Tribe, Klamath, California. The fifteenth and final position, reserved for a Tribal Representative, remains vacant, and qualifying nominees are encouraged to apply with the FCC as soon as possible. The newly appointed IAC’s two-year term will commence on the date of its first meeting at the FCC’s headquarters in Washington, DC, which will be announced in a forthcoming public notice.
