Legislative Updates
- Broadcaster Freedom Act
- Employment Non-Discrimination Act
- Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act
- Religious Freedom in the Near East and South Central Asia
- Supporting the Local Radio Freedom Act
Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 642)
- NRB Position: Support
- Summary: This legislation, sponsored by Representative Mike Pence (R-IN), would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from having the authority to require broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on controversial issues of public importance, commonly referred to as the Fairness Doctrine.
- Status: Approximately one-third of all House Members are co-sponsors of this bill, which is pending review in the Communications and Technology Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Positions on the Broadcaster Freedom Act are divided largely on partisan lines, so, while votes to establish a record on the issue are possible, it is unlikely to pass both chambers. Of note, the FCC formally eliminated the text of the Fairness Doctrine from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in August 2011. NRB then thanked the FCC Leadership and encouraged vigilance that the spirit of the Fairness Doctrine not creep into other rules or proceedings, such as those promoting "localism."
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 1397/S.811)
- NRB Position: Oppose
- Summary: This bill (commonly referred to as ENDA) prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Status: ENDA, sponsored by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) 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. This perennial bill remains a priority for the LGBT lobby, so attempted action in the Senate would not be surprising. Its path through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives would be far more difficult. In public testimony before House and Senate committees, NRB has stated its opposition to ENDA with particular focus on its lack of an effective exemption for religious employers.
Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act (several versions)
- NRB Position: NRB opposes spectrum re-allocation that would lead to signal degradation, loss of services, additional taxes, or other deleterious effects on religious broadcasters.
- Summary: The FCC's National Broadband Plan supports the desire of many in the wireless communications community to re-allocate spectrum for future wireless broadband use. The FCC is seeking authority from Congress to hold spectrum incentive auctions, and a number of bills regarding spectrum re-allocation have been introduced in the House and Senate.
- Status: Several versions of this bill are under consideration.
- Senate: S.911, sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in June 2011. This bill, aimed at building and maintaining an interoperable broadband emergency communications network and authorizing a voluntary spectrum auction, awaits Senate Floor consideration. Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has introduced related legislation (S.1040).
- House: Representatives Greg Walden (R-OR) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Communications Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, have each floated discussion drafts of spectrum legislation. Representatives Peter King (R-NY) and John Dingell (D-MI) have also introduced related bills (H.R. 607 and H.R. 2482). To date, proposed language in the House has included more specific broadcaster protections than the Senate bills noted above.
- Ongoing deficit-reduction negotiations could also affect spectrum allocation should negotiators decide to seize on spectrum auctioning as a source of revenue. NRB is monitoring movement of these legislative vehicles in Congress and is insisting that any spectrum re-allocation from broadcasters be truly voluntary and not deleterious to those wishing to stay on the air. NRB formally filed public comments on this subject with the FCC in March 2011.
Religious Freedom in the Near East and South Central Asia (H.R. 440/S.1245)
- 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. This bill defines the "Near East" as Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It defines "South Central Asia" as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
- Status: Passed by House. 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 H.R. 440 to President Barack Obama and Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), the sponsor of H.R. 440, in April 2011. Since that correspondence, H.R. 440 was passed in a bipartisan fashion by the House on July 29, 2011, and a companion bill (S. 1245) was introduced in the Senate by Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Carl Levin (D-MI).
Supporting the Local Radio Freedom Act (H.Con.Res 21/S.Con.Res. 7)
- NRB Position: Support
- Summary: Sponsored by Representative Mike Conaway (R-TX) and Senator John Barasso (R-WY), 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 Commerce Committees. Over a third of the all House Members and a fifth of all Senators have co-sponsored these Resolutions. 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.
