QST, February 1989, page 9 =
Throughout the deregulatory 1980s, the amateur rules kept getting longer and
longer.  This led to another effort by Commission staff, PR Docket No. 88139. 
The basic outline of the FCC proposed rewrite looked pretty good, but closer
examination uncovered some real zingers that were clearly unacceptable. 
At this point it was very tempting simply to oppose the rewrite initiative
once again, and to stick with the old rules.  That they were far from perfect
was widely acknowledged, but Better the devil you know than the one you dont. 
However, a special committee of the ARRL Board had been given responsibility
for developing a recommended detailed position, and the committee saw across
the board opposition as a lost opportunity to engineer a significant
improvement in the amateur rules.  Over the summer and fall, with the help of
ARRL staff, they devoted hundreds of hours to rewriting the rules so they
would reflect good public policy toward Amateur Radio.  The result, styled as
Part 96 to avoid confusion with the old rules was submitted to FCC on
November 29. +