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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 449

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require radio and television

broadcasters to provide free broadcasting time for political advertising.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 6, 1993

Mr. BLILEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require radio

and television broadcasters to provide free broadcasting

time for political advertising.

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 ‘‘Political Broadcasting

5 Access Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. ALLOCATION TO POLITICAL PARTIES OF FREE

7 BROADCAST TIME FOR POLITICAL ADVERTIS8 ING.

9 (a) CONDITION OF LICENSE RENEWAL.—Section

10 309(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
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1 309(h)) is amended by inserting before the period at the

2 end thereof the following: ‘‘; and (4) every broadcast sta3 tion license issued under this Act shall be subject to the

4 free broadcast time obligations imposed by section

5 315(c)’’.

6 (b) FREE-TIME OBLIGATIONS.—Section 315 of the

7 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315) is amend8 ed—

9 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as

10 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and

11 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the follow12 ing new subsection:

13 ‘‘(c)(1) Each license for a broadcasting station shall

14 annually make available free broadcast time for political

15 advertising in accordance with the requirements of this

16 subsection. The Commission shall not renew the license

17 of any licensee who substantially fails or refuses to comply

18 with the requirements of this subsection, but such licensee

19 shall not be subject to any other sanction or remedy for

20 such failure or refusal.

21 ‘‘(2) A licensee subject to this subsection shall allot

22 free broadcast time to each qualified political party in ac23 cordance with the following standards:
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1 ‘‘(A) Such licensee shall allot an equal amount,

2 but not less than 2 hours, of free broadcast time an3 nually to—

4 ‘‘(i) the national organization of each

5 qualified political party; and

6 ‘‘(ii) the State organization of each quali7 fied political party of the State within which the

8 preponderance of the station’s audience resides.

9 ‘‘(B) The 2 or more hours of free broadcast

10 time allotted to any organization under subpara11 graph (A) shall be composed of units of varying

12 lengths of not more than 5 minutes nor less than 10

13 seconds, as determined by negotiation between such

14 organization and the licensee.

15 ‘‘(C) The broadcast time allotted by any li16 censee shall be allotted so that—

17 ‘‘(i) at least one-half is broadcast during

18 the hours of 7 to 10 p.m. on weekdays;

19 ‘‘(ii) during any even numbered year, at

20 least two-thirds is broadcast during the two

21 months immediately preceding election day and

22 at least one-half is broadcast during the three

23 weeks immediately preceding election day;

24 ‘‘(iii) each national organization of a quali25 fied political party is allotted free broadcast
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1 time that is comparable, by time of day and day

2 of week, to the time allotted to other such na3 tional organizations, and each State organiza4 tion of a qualified political party is allotted free

5 broadcast time that is comparable, by time of

6 day and day of week, to the time allotted to

7 other such State organizations.

8 ‘‘(3) A political party shall be treated as a qualified

9 political party for purposes of paragraph (2)(A) if the can10 didate for President of such party in the most recent presi11 dential election received more than 5 percent of the total

12 number of votes cast by individuals for that office, except

13 that, in the case of any political party whose candidate

14 (as described in subparagraph (A) or (B)) received less

than 331 15 ⁄3 percent of such total votes, the amount of free

16 broadcast time required to be allotted under clause (i) or

17 (ii) of paragraph (2)(A) shall be reduced by 0.4 hours for

each percent of such vote received that is less than 331 18 ⁄3

19 percent.

20 ‘‘(4) A licensee allots free broadcast time as required

21 by this subsection by broadcasting the statements, presen22 tations, announcements, or other sounds or visual images

23 requested to be broadcast by a political organization with24 out remuneration or compensation in any form, whether
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1 by public or private funds, tax deduction or credit, or oth2 erwise.

3 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection, and no use of free

4 broadcast time allotted under this subsection, shall be con5 strued to restrict or otherwise affect the purchase of ad6 vertising time under subsection (b) of this section.’’.

7 SEC. 3. FREE CABLE TIME.

8 Section 611 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

9 U.S.C. 531) is amended—

10 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub11 section (g); and

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the follow13 ing new subsection:

14 ‘‘(f) A cable operator shall annually make available

15 free cable time for political advertising in accordance with

16 the requirements of regulations prescribed by the Commis17 sion. Such regulations shall, to the extent practicable, re18 quire each such cable operator to provide such free cable

19 time in the same amounts and manner, to the same eligi20 ble political organizations, and subject to the same condi21 tions as free broadcast time is required to be provided by

22 broadcast station licensees under section 315(c) of this

23 Act. No franchise authority shall renew the franchise of

24 any cable operator that fails to comply with such regula-
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1 tions, but such operator shall not be subject to any other

2 sanction or remedy for such failure or refusal.’’.

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