Alabama’s congressional delegation recently joined a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel expressing concern over a new proposal to increase broadcasters’ regulatory fees.

The letter, led by U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), criticized a proposed 13% regulatory fee increase on television and radio broadcasters.

The U.S. representatives argue that the fee “is disproportionate to the FCC’s 2 percent budget increase and to the proposed fee adjustments on other FCC supervised entities, some of whose regulatory fees are decreasing.”

“While the FCC acknowledges that its regulatory fees per industry are based on the number of full-time equivalent employees staffed to a particular bureau, the statute requires the FCC to adjust the schedule of regulatory fees to take into account factors that are reasonably related to the benefits provided to the fee payor,” the letter reads.

The letter’s authors also contended that the present was not the appropriate time to increase costs for broadcasters due to the current state of the economy.

“Broadcasters provide a free service to the public and are unable to pass these costs on to their audience,” the letter continues. “Instead, these fees must come out of operational budgets funded by advertising revenues that have not yet recovered from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.”

“As a result, any substantial increase the FCC has proposed will have direct impacts on broadcasters’ ability to invest in programming or equipment broadcasters require to provide quality local news and information to their communities,” the authors add. “For small broadcasters already operating on shoestring budgets, unjustified fee increases can affect whether they are able to cover certain events or, in some cases, stay on the air.”

U.S. Reps. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile), Gary Palmer (R-Hoover), Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville), Mike Rogers (R-Saks), Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) all cosigned the letter.

Proud to join @RepTomEmmer and many of my colleagues to inquire about skyrocketing FCC regulatory fees for broadcasters. Local broadcasters provide an essential service to Alabamians and this fee hike will shrink many budgets that are already strained. https://t.co/grXMOqBBuS

— Rep. Barry Moore (@RepBarryMoore) August 16, 2022

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee