OTMR Effective Date and 9th Circuit Briefing Schedule Announced

On April 19, 2019, the FCC published the Office of Management and Budget’s approval of the one-touch make-ready (OTMR) rules in the Federal Register and set May 20, 2019 as the effective date for these rules.

As previously reported by DWT the joint electric utility challenge to the OTMR rules was transferred to the 9th Circuit and consolidated with the challenge to the FCC rules prohibiting state and local telecommunications deployment moratoria. Yesterday the Appellate Commissioner in the 9th Circuit held a case management conference to address (a) the consolidated petitions for review challenging the OTMR portion (Case No. 19-70490) and the moratoria portion (lead Case No. 18-72689) of the FCC’s August 2018 Third Report and Order and Declaratory Ruling; and (b) the consolidated petitions for review concerning the Commission’s September 2018 Infrastructure Order (lead Case No. 19-70123) in the Declaratory Ruling and Third Report and Order. The Appellate Commissioner announced the following briefing schedule for Case Nos. 18-72689 (moratoria) and 19-70123 (infrastructure):

In a separate order, the court will address the pending FCC requests to stay consideration of the Petitions for Review until the FCC has ruled on pending reconsideration requests at the agency. Argument is not scheduled yet but any party may move to expedite argument after the due date for Respondents’ answering briefs.
DWT will continue to monitor this proceeding and issue updates with any noteworthy developments.

Update: On Wednesday, April 24, 2019, the 9th Circuit denied the FCC’s motion to continue the stay of proceedings in Case No. 18-72689, and, as a result, the briefing schedule remains in effect.