President Biden has officially announced the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel for Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) and Gigi Sohn as a FCC Commissioner.  Rosenworcel has been serving as the Acting Chairwoman since the beginning of Biden’s presidency. Gigi Sohn is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and previously served as Counselor to Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. She also co-founded and served as CEO of Public Knowledge.

Senate Democrats are hoping to confirm both Rosenworcel and Sohn before the Senate breaks for the end of the year. If both are confirmed, Democrats will hold a 3-2 FCC majority. Because Rosenworcel’s current term lapsed in 2020, if she is not confirmed to a new five-year term before the Senate breaks, she will have to leave the Commission at the end of the year.  If Rosenworcel is forced to leave before either nominee is confirmed, then the Republicans would hold a 2-1 majority on the Commission with Commissioner Starks (D) as acting Chair, until the Senate moves forward to confirm the nominations.

Along with the FCC nominations, President Biden also nominated Alan Davidson as the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department of Commerce (“NTIA”).  Davidson is currently a Senior Advisor at the Mozilla Foundation. Davidson will also need to be confirmed by the Senate. Going forward, NTIA will likely have a large role in implementing Biden’s broadband connectivity and infrastructure agenda.

If you have any questions, please contact Dee Herman ([email protected]).