Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
10-4-2003
SSRN Discipline
Legal Scholarship Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Administrative Law eJournals; Antitrust & Regulated Industries eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Public Law & Legal Theory; Tax Law & Policy eJournals
Abstract
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 charges the Federal Communications Commission with creating and implementing a new federal subsidy program that provides universal service to select beneficiaries Unfortunately Congress did not attend to many of the salient details regarding this program Section 254 of Title 47 charges the Commission with creating a mammoth new entitlement program and with raising the funds necessary to pay for the program through assessments on providers of interstate telecommunications services This dual delegation of unlimited revenue authority and an unchecked power to spend the monies raised presents very troubling separation of powers questionsThe Nondelegation Doctrine Revisited examines and critiques the Federal Communications Commissions efforts to implement the federal universal service program It argues that Congress has failed to take political responsibility for a major tax program and that this conflicts with the intentions of the Framers well established separation of powers principles and sound public policy The Article suggests that consistent with the longstanding but seldomused doctrine of ratification Congress should be required to endorse through appropriate legislation the Commissions taxing and spending efforts to promote universal service
Recommended Citation
Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr.,
The Nondelegation Doctrine Revisited: Universal Service and the Power to Tax,
(2003).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/fac_working_papers/595