August 11, 1999

The Commission's authority under section 10 of the Act is an important deregulatory tool. I am strongly committed to exercising this authority whenever the statutory standard is met. Because Ameritech has not met the statutory standard, we are not permitted under the Communications Act to forbear here.

AICC has argued that forbearing in this situation would render section 10 an unlawful delegation of legislative authority by Congress. The Commission need not reach this issue because Ameritech did not meet the statutory standard for forbearance. I want to take this opportunity to express my view that section 10 is a constitutional exercise of congressional authority. In any event, this particular forbearance petition involves an unusual situation where there has been no showing of any change in circumstances that would undercut the congressional rationale for this recently enacted, targeted statutory provision with an explicit short-term expiration date. It is highly unlikely that such situations will arise in the future. Thus, I do not anticipate that there will be any future substantial issues of unlawful delegation by Congress with respect to section 10.