FCC Sends Space Modernization Final Rule to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a final rule from the FCC on “Space Modernization for the 21st Century (SB Docket No. 25.306)”. The FCC published the notice of proposed rulemaking on December 5th, 2025. 

According to the 2026 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking: 

“In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Notice), the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) proposes to modernize the Commission’s space and earth station licensing process to allow space companies to more freely and successfully compete in the marketplace to serve the American people. In particular, the Notice proposes to develop a licensing assembly line” designed to route applications for efficient review based on specific aspects of a request. It further proposes to change the public notice timelines to allow for faster application processing; proposes reforms to bonds, processing rounds, license terms, and milestones; and substantially updates the earth station licensing regime.” 

This comes from the Long-Term Actions portion of the Agenda, which should have indicated that the FCC did not intend to take any action on the rulemaking in the next 12 months. This might explain why the dates provided in the entry for the ANPRM and NPRM were not reflective of the dates such documents were published in the Federal Register; apparently being reflective of publication dates in the FCC’s SB Docket (for example here).