FCC Lowers Budget Request for FY 2027: May Impact Regulatory Fees

The FCC has proposed a budget for FY 2027 that is less than last year’s request.  According to the request:

“The Commission requests $398,342,000 in budget authority from regulatory fee offsetting collections.  This is $17,770,000 or 4.3 percent less than FY 2026 enacted level of $416,112,000.”

A significant portion of the savings will be a reduction in the number of employees.  In FY 2026, the FCC operated with 1404 FTEs (full time equivalents).  This will be reduced by 110 FTEs to 1,294 in FY 2027.  With respect to the Media Bureau, there will be a reduction in staff from 112 to 103 FTEs.  The enforcement bureau will also see a reduction in staff from 174 to 161 FTEs.

We are hoping that a reduction in the FCC’s budget will translate into reduced regulatory fees.  At this point, we cannot determine if this will be the case. 

Reductions in staff can be a double-edged sword.  For example, we would not want to see a reduction in the staff that police illegal “pirate” operations.  For the least several years, pirate radio enforcement has been a separate line item.  There is no separate line item in the budget request.  It appears these expenses have been included in the Enforcement Bureau’s overall budget.

Importantly, the FCC FY 2027 budget includes a request to conduct spectrum auctions.  Thus, we can expect FCC activity regarding spectrum auctions, including C band spectrum to move forward in FY 2027.

You can see the FCC’s budget request here.

You can see an excellent story in Inside Radio summarizing the request here.