Consumer Advisory Committee

Federal Communications Commission

The mission of the is to make recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission regarding consumer issues within the jurisdiction of the Commission and to facilitate the participation of consumers (including people with disabilities and underserved populations, such as Native Americans and persons living in rural areas) in proceedings before the Commission.

The CAC's official website is href="http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/cac/" target="_blank">http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/cac/ -- this site is a service of the Benton Foundation, a member of the CAC.

Recent Committee Activity

• The CAC will meet Thursday September 27, 2007
• The FCC has rechartered the CAC for another two-year term. (June 2007)
  • Current members

Previous CAC Activity

• Summary of the November 3, 2006 meeting.

• Notice of 5th Meeting on Friday November 3, 2006. See also Notice of location change.

• Summary of the July 21 meeting.

• Agenda for Third Meeting Released (Friday, April 7, 2006)

• Second Meeting (Friday, November 18, 2005)

  • Second Meeting Summary
  • Agenda announcment(10/18/05)
  • Meeting announcement and full agenda
  • The Committee adopted recommendations on digital television and access to VRS networks.
  • This meeting was broadcast on the Internet in Real Audio/Real Video format with captioning at www.fcc.gov/realaudio/publicforums.html

• First Meeting (Friday, June 10, 2005)

  • First Meeting Summary
  • Public Notice of Committee's First Meeting (DOC-259166A1.doc)

Set-Up

• Members of the Committee (DA-05-549A1.doc and DA-05-1323A1.doc)
• Public Notice/Creation ( href="http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-04-3892A1.doc" target="_blank">DA-04-3892A1.doc)
• CAC By laws

Working Groups

• The CAC does much of its work through small groups targeted on specific issues pending before the FCC. At its June 10, 2005, CAC decided to organize itself into the following Working Groups:
  
• Disability Access (chaired by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network/Claude Stout)
• Telecommunications Relay Services (chaired by Hamilton Relay/Dixie Ziegler)
• Consumer Affairs & Outreach (chaired by Consumers First/Jim Conran)
• Rural and Underserved Populations (chaired by Telecommunity Resource Center/Gene Crick)
• Advanced Technologies (chaired by Media Access Group, WGBH/Larry Goldberg)
• Homeland Security (chaired by EAD & associates/Elizabeth Davis)
• Competition Policy (chaired by AARP/Debra Berlyn)
• Media (chaired by Democracy Now!/Denis Moynihan)

• CAC Working Groups are not restricted to only CAC members. To participate in forming CAC recommendations, joining a WG that concerns you. Contact Scott Marshall, the CAC�s Designated Federal Officer at Scott.Marshall@fcc.gov

How to Participate

• Attend full committee meetings at FCC headquarters in Washington, DC
• Listen/watch (Real Audio) full captioned committee meetings live on the internet
• E-mail the Committee at cac@fcc.gov
• Join a CAC Working Group and participate in forming its recommendations. Contact Scott Marshall, the CAC�s Designated Federal Officer at Scott.Marshall@fcc.gov
• Or join one of the Benton Foundation's communications policy mailing lists for updates and summaries of the CAC meetings. Just send a subscribe message to headlines@benton.org