I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5564 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for certain requirements with respect to ownership and diversity reporting for television 

broadcast stations and cable operators, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2020 

Ms. CLARKE of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 

certain requirements with respect to ownership and diversity reporting for television broadcast stations and cable 

operators, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancing Broad5 caster Diversity and Inclusion by Verifying and Ensuring 

6 the Reporting required by Statute Is Transpiring and 

7 Yielding Data Act’’ or the ‘‘Enhancing Broadcaster DI8 VERSITY Data Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OWNERSHIP AND DIVERSITY REPORTING. 

2 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—Recognizing the long his3 tory of exclusion of women and people of color from media 

4 resources in the United States, and the responsibility of 

5 broadcasters to be responsive to the needs and interests 

6 of their communities of license, it is the sense of Congress 

7 that the Commission should carry out policies promoting 

8 diversity, localism, and inclusion in the broadcast and 

9 cable industries. As such, Congress directs the Commis10 sion to take the actions described in subsection (b) and 

11 the amendments made by such subsection. 

12 (b) MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND DIVERSITY.— 

13 (1) EMPLOYMENT DATA.—Not later than 18 

14 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

15 in accordance with sections 334(a) and 634(d)(3)(A) 

16 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

17 334(a); 554(d)(3)(A)), the Commission, after notice 

18 and comment, shall complete the proceeding initiated 

19 in the Third Report and Order and Fourth Notice 

20 of Proposed Rulemaking in the ongoing Review of 

21 the Commission’s Broadcast and Cable Equal Em22 ployment Opportunity Rules and Policies, MM Dock23 et No. 98–204. 

24 (2) OWNERSHIP DATA.—Part I of title III of 

25 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301 et 

26 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 344. OWNERSHIP DATA. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as specifically provided 

3 in subsection (b), the Commission may not revise— 

4 ‘‘(1) section 73.3615 of title 47, Code of Fed5 eral Regulations (relating to ownership reports), as 

6 in effect on the date of the enactment of this sec7 tion, as such section 73.3615 applies to television 

8 broadcast station licensees and permittees; or 

9 ‘‘(2) the forms used by the licensees and per10 mittees described in paragraph (1) to report perti11 nent ownership data to the Commission. 

12 ‘‘(b) TECHNICAL REVISIONS OR IMPROVEMENTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

14 the Commission may revise the regulations described 

15 in subsection (a) to augment the quality and suffi16 ciency of the reports required under such regula17 tions, to make nonsubstantive technical or clerical 

18 revisions in such regulations as necessary to reflect 

19 changes in technology, terminology, or Commission 

20 organization, or to ensure the anonymity of station21 specific ownership data unnecessary to the analysis 

22 of aggregated industry ownership trends. 

23 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The Commission may not 

24 diminish or otherwise reduce the frequency or qual25 ity of the reports required under the regulations de26 scribed in subsection (a).’’. 


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1 (3) OWNERSHIP AND DIVERSITY REPORT.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 13(d)(3) of the 

3 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

4 163(d)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘in accord5 ance with the national policy under section 

6 257(b)’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘and in7 clude in the report required by subsection (a) 

8 the most recent data collected under the regula9 tions described in sections 334(a), 344(a), and 

10 634(d)(3)(A), and analysis of such data, as 

11 such barriers and such data relate to the na12 tional policy under section 257(b)’’. 

13 (B) OWNERSHIP DATABASE.—Not later 

14 than 2 years after the date of the enactment of 

15 this Act, the Commission shall create a public, 

16 searchable database of the data collected under 

17 the regulations described in section 344(a) of 

18 the Communications Act of 1934, as added by 

19 paragraph (2), that members of the public may 

20 use to search for and produce reports identi21 fying— 

22 (i) ownership data with respect to any 

23 particular station; 

24 (ii) ownership interests of any person 

25 who holds a license; 


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1 (iii) industry-wide statistics; 

2 (iv) statistics for particular geo3 graphic regions; or 

4 (v) statistics for particular licensee 

5 classifications. 

6 (c) COMMISSION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

7 ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal Communications Com8 mission. 

Æ 


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