I first joined the FCC in 1999 and worked various positions within the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, including legal advisor to the bureau chief. I then moved to Office of Legislative Affairs as Special Counsel. Finally in October of 2008, I joined IGA as Chief.
The Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) was created to act as a point of contact within the FCC for state and local governments as well as other federal agencies. One of IGA’s functions is to aid these entities in their understanding of the FCC’s programs, policies and rules. However, we do not want the communications to be one-way. We are looking for state, local, and federal input into FCC initiatives. To kick this off, we are rolling out this blog with the hope that state and local governments will post comments about important developments in their jurisdiction. With this, we expect the blog will become a path for dialogue on key issues of mutual concern such as rights-of-way and tower siting.
Your input will be useful to the FCC in understanding state and local perspectives as well as allow the FCC to pass on information pertinent to the state and local interests. We also hope that state and local governments will take advantage of our new email account dedicated to the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs staff, by emailing us at iga@fcc.gov. In the months ahead, we also expect to be reaching out to state and local governments through events such as webinars. We also look forward to working with you in the implementation of The National Broadband Plan, which was released by the FCC last month. For more information on the National Broadband Plan please visit: http://www.broadband.gov/ or click here to see The Plan.