<![CDATA[ Latest from Next TV in Rep-yvette-clark ]]> https://www.nexttv.com/tag/rep-yvette-clark Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:19:43 +0000 en <![CDATA[ Rep. Clarke Asks FCC for EEO Grace Period ]]> https://www.nexttv.com/news/rep-clarke-asks-fcc-for-eeo-grace-period rtBEtnDLFZenU5ZWiEn4uw Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:19:43 +0000

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), vice chair of the powerful House Energy & Commerce Committee, has asked the FCC to provide some grace period for FCC employees who may want to file EEO complaints.

She is not saying there were such complaints in the pipeline, only that the FCC needs to make sure the government shutdown does not make it harder for furoughed eployees to file them.

The FCC signaled in its Jan. 2 shutdown plan that it would continue to recieve and record (though not investigate) EEO complaints, but that the complaints have to be filed within 45 days of the alleged action.

Clarke, in a letter to the FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says that with the stress and uncertainty of the (almost month-long) shutdown, it is ureasonable that they might also lose their EEO protections if they miss that window.

She wants the FCC to at least consider waiving or extending the 45-day deadline, or explan itself if the response is the FCC does not have that authority. She wants a response by end of day Friday (Jan. 18), either an explanation of why the FCC can't or how it will inform the public of the change if it can and will.

]]> <![CDATA[ MMTC to Wheeler: Extend MVPD Procurement Rule ]]> https://www.nexttv.com/news/mmtc-wheeler-extend-mvpd-procurement-rule-406268 qHAYaoZ9sZG3kjwvkxDh8U Tue, 12 Jul 2016 20:51:00 +0000

The Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council fired off a letter to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler Tuesday (July 12) saying the FCC should not face any legal impediment to extending its MVPD procurement regulations to broadcasting and all other communications sectors.

Congress in the 1992 Cable Act requires cable operators to encourage participation by minorities and women in all parts of their organizations. The MMTC wants that requirement to extend across the board.

The MMTC has made that request before, but the issue came up again at an FCC oversight hearing in the House Communications Subcommittee, where Wheeler said that extending the rule to other platforms could raise constitutional questions.

MMTC president Kim Keenan told Wheeler extending the requirement should be no problem.

"Supporters and opponents of affirmative action agree that if a regulation 'merely required stations to implement racially neutral recruiting and hiring programs, the equal protection guarantee would not be implicated," she said, adding: "Until your testimony today, no one has ever suggested that the rule presents any constitutional question."

In an exchange with Wheeler, Rep. Yvette Clarke, who urged the FCC to extend the rule, noted that the FCC's quadrennial review of media ownership rules had not included the MMTC proposal and asked Wheeler if he would commit to extending the rule across all platforms as a recognition of what she called self-evident industry convergence.

Wheeler said the FCC faces a "real challenge" under the Supreme Court's strict scrutiny standard of such policies under the Adarand decision and that if there was a way that challenge could be addressed and that threshold overcome, he was interested in hearing about it.

The MMTC was looking to answer that question.

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