The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has removed a rule requiring broadcasters to report annual employee race, ethnicity and gender information within specified job categories. The final rule, effective November 3, conforms the regulations to a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the bureau says left the provision without legal effect.
The change is not a new determination that broadcasters may discriminate. The bureau says deleting the provision and its references has no effect on the scope and nature of currently enforceable FCC requirements.
A reporting provision already nullified
The published rule concerns 47 CFR 73.3612 and references to it in the broadcast regulations. According to the bureau's synopsis, the reporting requirement was originally adopted in 1969 and had been suspended since 2001. The FCC reinstated it in 2024, but the obligation remained deferred while parties appealed.
The bureau says the Fifth Circuit held in National Religious Broadcasters v. FCC that the commission lacked statutory authority to require employment data through Form 395-B. The court vacated the 2024 order, leaving the regulation and its cross-references without legal effect, according to the synopsis.
What the text changes
The final rule removes section 73.3612. It revises the license-renewal provision in section 73.3539 so that it refers to information required by sections 73.3613 through 73.3615, rather than including the removed section. It also removes the employment-report entry from part 73's alphabetical index and a related paragraph in section 74.780.
The bureau adopted and released its order October 1. November 3 is the Federal Register publication and effective date, not the date the court first nullified the requirement.
Why there is no new comment period
The bureau says it is conforming the regulatory text to the court's decision without taking independent action or exercising discretion. On that basis, it invokes the Administrative Procedure Act's good-cause exception to notice and comment and makes the amendments effective upon publication.
This published record describes removal of the reporting provision. It does not supply an assessment of an individual broadcaster's hiring practices or decide an employment complaint.