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Legislative Updates

Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 1755/S.815)

NRB Position: Oppose
Summary: This bill (commonly referred to as ENDA) would create new employment rights for individuals based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
Status: ENDA, sponsored by Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has been referred to the House Education and Workforce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. ENDA is a perennial bill that remains a priority for the LGBT lobby, so attempted action in the Senate would not be surprising. Its path through the Republican-controlled House would be far more difficult. NRB has testified numerous times before Congress on this issue, most recently in 2012 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. NRB maintains its opposition to ENDA with particular focus on its lack of an effective exemption for religious employers.

“Next Generation Television Marketplace Act” (S. 2008/H.R. 3675 in 112th Congress)

NRB Position: Oppose
Summary: This bill would eliminate a number of provisions from federal communications law, including “Must-Carry” rules for local commercial television broadcast stations to be viewed on pay-TV platforms. While supporters of the bill laud it as broad deregulatory effort, NRB has emphasized for years the great importance of “Must-Carry” rules for Christian television broadcasters. This legislation could be fatal to many Christian TV stations and may harm the ability of millions of Americans to continue accessing the religious programming on which they rely.
Status: This bill has not yet been re-introduced. However, NRB opposes this bill and is taking it very seriously as supporters have been working to establish a drumbeat around it.

Near East and South Central Asia Religious Freedom Act (H.R. 301/S.653)

NRB Position: Support
Summary: This legislation would direct the President to appoint a "Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia" within the State Department.
Status: In line with the NRB 2011 Board Resolution calling upon the President to take bold public action against the international persecution of Christians, Dr. Frank Wright sent letters of support for this bill to President Barack Obama and Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), the sponsor of H.R. 301, in April 2011. The House passed the bill in July 2011, but it must take action again since a new session of Congress has begun. A companion bill (S. 653) was introduced in the Senate by Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

Supporting the Local Radio Freedom Act (H.Con.Res.16/S.Con.Res.6)

NRB Position: Support
Summary: Sponsored by Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX) and Rep. Gene Green (D-TX) in the House and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) in the Senate, this Concurrent Resolution declares that Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over-the-air, or on any business for such public performance of sound recordings.
Status: These Resolutions are pending review in the House Judiciary and the Senate Finance Committees. While the Performance Rights Act has not yet been re-introduced in this session of Congress, its passage would face significant hurdles from the publicly stated support for these Resolutions, along with longtime congressional action to prevent a performance tax on local broadcasters. However, the recruitment of additional co-sponsors for these Resolutions should be encouraged to further discourage attempts to slip performance tax language into any legislation.