[Lowfer] remaining questions about NPRM 15-50 / listing 15-99

[JD]

>>> I have not formally found an entry in federal register, which is 
>>> supposedly required before the comment period can open.

I used to think that myself, but actually, if you re-read it, that's not 
what the public notice says.

As it turns out, the only stipulation is that an agency cannot _close_ a 
comment period until the specified number of days from Federal Register 
publication.  The idea is not to limit when comments begin, but to make sure 
there is at least a minimum number of days for public input after formal 
publication has occured, so everyone theoretically has a chance.  As long as 
the status has been set to Open on the FCC's ECFS page for the particular 
proceeding (in this case, Docket 15-99) there is no reason not to submit 
comments.

It is definitely a little confusing that the FCC's public notices are 
numbered similarly to rulemaking dockets, and that such notices may cover 
more than one docket at a time, from different bureaus or offices within the 
FCC.  In this case, the simplest and most thorough way to watch for it in 
the FR seems to be to use the federalregister.gov advanced search by agency 
[Federal Communications Commission] and publication date range [04/23/2015 
to the current date], sans any limiting criteria such as the docket or 
notice number.

John D.