Federal Communications Commission officials leak information to lobbyists and corporate insiders before the agency’s regulatory decisions are made public, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that “multiple stakeholders generally knew when the commission scheduled votes on proposed rules well before the FCC notified the public.”

Those with advance information about future agency moves can tailor their lobbying approaches accordingly — but stakeholders without an inside scoop cannot, the report said.

Lobbying of FCC members is prohibited during the weeklong “Sunshine Period” between the release of a commission meeting agenda and the meeting. But GAO investigators found that some insiders are given a heads up before the sunshine notice goes out.

Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., ordered the study, which analyzed four FCC decisions handed down between 2002 and 2006. The GAO said it interviewed FCC officials from eight agency bureaus, spoke with telecom industry groups and heard from public interest organizations.

“When the corporate insiders and the K Street crowd have the inside track on decisions critical to telecommunications, media, broadband or wireless policy, then the public and consumers are at an inherent disadvantage,” Markey said.

Markey, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, said such violations appear to be “a daily reality” at the FCC.

The agency did not comment directly on the report, but an FCC spokesman said the agency keeps its activities as open as possible and will work to improve transparency.

The Communications Act of 1934 established the FCC as an independent regulatory agency responsible to Congress.

Democrats promised stricter oversight of the agency when the party took control of Congress in January. In March, all five FCC commissioners appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for the first time in four years.

The committee’s Democrats told the agency heads at the time to expect closer scrutiny and more frequent trips to Capitol Hill.

Markey echoed that call in light of the GAO report. “The FCC has a duty to be above board in developing and implementing its rules,” he said.