President Joe Biden yesterday nominated Jessica Rosenworcel to be the next Chair of the Federal Communication Commission and Gigi Sohn to be a Commissioner at the regulator, rounding out the leadership of that agency and all the agencies that oversee portions of the accounts receivable management industry.
Rosenworcel has been Acting Chair following the resignation of Ajit Pai in January when President Biden took office. The FCC had been operating with only four commissioners — two Democrats and two Republicans — for the past nine months. Rosenworcel would become the first female Chair of the FCC.
“It is an honor to work with my colleagues on the Commission and the agency’s talented staff to ensure that no matter who you are or where you live, everyone has the connections they need to live, work, and learn in the digital age,” Rosenworcel said yesterday in a statement.
Decisions made by the FCC impact how collectors communicate with individuals. This includes oversight over robocalls and robotexts, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Reassigned Number Database, and more. It was under the last Democratic leadership in 2015 that the FCC issued a Declaratory Order amending the TCPA which caused all sorts of problems for the ARM industry and led ACA International to sue — and beat — the FCC in federal court. But that fight took years and not only impacted how collectors attempted to communicate with consumers, but also led to thousands of lawsuits accusing collectors of violating the TCPA.
Like many of the nominations put forth by Biden so far, Sohn is seen as a progressive who will be support the reinstitution of net neutrality rules and other areas important to Democrats. She had been a candidate to run the FCC, but opposition from within the Senate — which must confirm her — scuttled the idea. Notably, Sohn previously worked as an advisor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who led the agency back in 2015 when it made its changes to the TCPA.
