JOURNAL OF THE

1270

T109.18 AUGUST 4

Metcalf

Mica

Miller (FL)

Molinari

Moorhead

Murtha

Nadler

Nethercutt

Neumann

Ney

Nussle

Oxley

Packard

Pallone

Paxon

Pombo

Porter

Portman

Poshard

Pryce

Quinn

Radanovich

Riggs

Rohrabacher

Ros-Lehtinen

Roth

Royce

Sanford

Saxton

Schaefer

Schumer

Seastrand

Sensenbrenner

Serrano

Shadegg

Shays

Shuster

Skeen

Smith (MI)

Smith (TX)

Smith (WA)

Souder

Spence

Stearns

Stockman

Stump

Talent

Tate

Tauzin

Taylor (NC)

Thomas

Thornberry

Tiahrt

Towns

Upton

Vucanovich

Waldholtz

Walker

Walsh

Wamp

Ward

Watts (OK)

Weldon (FL)

Weldon (PA)

Weller

White

Young (FL)

Zeliff

Zimmer

NOT VOTING—11

Andrews

Bateman

Gekas

Moakley

Ortiz

Reynolds

Scarborough

Thurman

Volkmer

Williams

Young (AK)

So the amendment was agreed to.

After some further time,

T109.18 RECORDED VOTE

A recorded vote by electronic device

was ordered in the Committee of the

Whole on the following substitute

amendment submitted by Mr. COBURN

for the amendment submitted by Mr.

MARKEY:

Substitute amendment submitted by

Mr. COBURN:

Page 157, after line 21, insert the following

new section (and redesignate the succeeding

sections and conform the table of contents

accordingly):

SEC. 304. FAMILY VIEWING EMPOWERMENT.

(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Television is pervasive in daily life and

exerts a powerful influence over the perceptions of viewers, especially children, concerning the society in which we live.

(2) Children completing elementary school

have been exposed to 25 or more hours of television per week and as many as 11 hours per

day.

(3) Children completing elementary school

have been exposed to an estimated average of

8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on

television.

(4) Studies indicate that the exposure of

young children to such levels of violent programming correlates to an increased tendency toward and tolerance of violent and aggressive behavior in later years.

(5) Studies also suggest that the depiction

of other material such as sexual conduct in

a cavalier and amoral context may undermine the ability of parents to instill in their

children responsible attitudes regarding such

activities.

(6) A significant relationship exists between exposure to television violence and

antisocial acts, including serious, violent

criminal offenses.

(7) Parents and other viewers are increasingly demanding that they be empowered to

make and implement viewing choices for

themselves and their families.

(8) The public is becoming increasingly

aware of and concerned about objectionable

video programming content.

(9) The broadcast television industry and

other video programmers have a responsibility to assess the impact of their work and

to understand the damage that comes from

the incessant, repetitive, mindless violence

and irresponsible content.

(10) The broadcast television industry and

other video programming distributors should

be committed to facilitating viewers’ access

to the information and capabilities required

to prevent the exposure of their children to

excessively violent and otherwise objectionable and harmful video programming.

(11) The technology for implementing individual viewing choices is rapidly advancing

and numerous options for viewer control are

or soon will be available in the marketplace

at affordable prices.

(12) There is a compelling national interest

in ensuring that parents are provided with

the information and capabilities required to

prevent the exposure of their children to excessively violent and otherwise objectionable

and harmful video programming.

(b) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United

States to—

(1) encourage broadcast television, cable,

satellite, syndication, other video programming distributors, and relevant related industries (in consultation with appropriate

public interest groups and interested individuals from the private sector) to—

(A) establish a technology fund to encourage television and electronics equipment

manufacturers to facilitate the development

of technology which would empower parents

to block programming they deem inappropriate for their children;

(B) report to the viewing public on the status of the development of affordable, easy to

use blocking technology; and

(C) establish and promote effective procedures, standards, systems, advisories, or

other mechanisms for ensuring that users

have easy and complete access to the information necessary to effectively utilize

blocking technology; and

(2) evaluate whether, not later than 1 year

after the date of enactment of this Act, industry-wide procedures, standards, systems

advisories, or other mechanisms established

by the broadcast television, cable satellite,

syndication, other video programming distribution, and relevant related industries—

(A) are informing viewers regarding their

options to utilize blocking technology; and

(B) encouraging the development of blocking technologies.

(c) GAO AUDIT.—

(1) AUDIT REQUIRED.—No later than 18

months after the date of the enactment of

this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress an evaluation of—

(A) the proliferation of new and existing

blocking technology;

(B) the accessibility of information to empower viewing choices; and

(C) the consumer satisfaction with information and technological solutions.

(2) CONTENTS OF EVALUATION.—The evaluation shall—

(A) describe the blocking technology available to viewers including the costs thereof;

and

(B) assess the extent of consumer knowledge and attitudes toward available blocking

technologies;

(3) describe steps taken by broadcast,

cable, satellite, syndication, and other video

programming distribution services to inform

the public and promote the availability of

viewer empowerment technologies, devices,

and techniques;

(4) evaluate the degree to which viewer empowerment technology is being utilized;

(5) assess consumer satisfaction with technological options; and

(6) evaluate consumer demand for information and technological solutions.

Amendment submitted by Mr. MARKEY:

Page 157, after line 21, insert the following

new section (and redesignate the succeeding

sections and conform the table of contents

accordingly):

SEC. 304. PARENTAL CHOICE IN TELEVISION

PROGRAMMING.

(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Television influences children’s perception of the values and behavior that are common and acceptable in society.

(2) Television station operators, cable television system operators, and video programmers should follow practices in connection

with video programming that take into consideration that television broadcast and

cable programming has established a uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of American children.

(3) The average American child is exposed

to 25 hours of television each week and some

children are exposed to as much as 11 hours

of television a day.

(4) Studies have shown that children exposed to violent video programming at a

young age have a higher tendency for violent

and aggressive behavior later in life than

children not so exposed, and that children

exposed to violent video programming are

prone to assume that acts of violence are acceptable behavior.

(5) Children in the United States are, on

average, exposed to an estimated 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television

by the time the child completes elementary

school.

(6) Studies indicate that children are affected by the pervasiveness and casual treatment of sexual material on television, eroding the ability of parents to develop responsible attitudes and behavior in their children.

(7) Parents express grave concern over violent and sexual video programming and

strongly support technology that would give

them greater control to block video programming in the home that they consider

harmful to their children.

(8) There is a compelling governmental interest in empowering parents to limit the

negative influences of video programming

that is harmful to children.

(9) Providing parents with timely information about the nature of upcoming video programming and with the technological tools

that allow them easily to block violent, sexual, or other programming that they believe

harmful to their children is the least restrictive and most narrowly tailored means of

achieving that compelling governmental interest.

(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEVISION RATING

CODE.—Section 303 of the Act (47 U.S.C. 303)

is amended by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(v) Prescribe—

‘‘(1) on the basis of recommendations from

an advisory committee established by the

Commission that is composed of parents, television broadcasters, television programming producers, cable operators, appropriate

public interest groups, and other interested

individuals from the private sector and that

is fairly balanced in terms of political affiliation, the points of view represented, and the

functions to be performed by the committee,

guidelines and recommended procedures for

the identification and rating of video programming that contains sexual, violent, or

other indecent material about which parents

should be informed before it is displayed to

children, provided that nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to authorize any

rating of video programming on the basis of

its political or religious content; and

‘‘(2) with respect to any video programming that has been rated (whether or not in

accordance with the guidelines and recommendations prescribed under paragraph

(1)), rules requiring distributors of such

video programming to transmit such rating

to permit parents to block the display of

video programming that they have determined is inappropriate for their children.’’.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

1271

1995 T109.19

(c) REQUIREMENT FOR MANUFACTURE OF

TELEVISIONS THAT BLOCK PROGRAMS.—Section 303 of the Act, as amended by subsection

(a), is further amended by adding at the end

the following:

‘‘(w) Require, in the case of apparatus designed to receive television signals that are

manufactured in the United States or imported for use in the United States and that

have a picture screen 13 inches or greater in

size (measured diagonally), that such apparatus be equipped with circuitry designed to

enable viewers to block display of all programs with a common rating, except as otherwise permitted by regulations pursuant to

section 330(c)(4).’’.

(d) SHIPPING OR IMPORTING OF TELEVISIONS

THAT BLOCK PROGRAMS.—

(1) REGULATIONS.—Section 330 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 330) is

amended—

(A) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and

(B) by adding after subsection (b) the following new subsection (c):

‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2),

no person shall ship in interstate commerce,

manufacture, assemble, or import from any

foreign country into the United States any

apparatus described in section 303(w) of this

Act except in accordance with rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the

authority granted by that section.

‘‘(2) This subsection shall not apply to carriers transporting apparatus referred to in

paragraph (1) without trading it.

‘‘(3) The rules prescribed by the Commission under this subsection shall provide for

the oversight by the Commission of the

adoption of standards by industry for blocking technology. Such rules shall require that

all such apparatus be able to receive the rating signals which have been transmitted by

way of line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and which conform to the signal and

blocking specifications established by industry under the supervision of the Commission.

‘‘(4) As new video technology is developed,

the Commission shall take such action as

the Commission determines appropriate to

ensure that blocking service continues to be

available to consumers. If the Commission

determines that an alternative blocking

technology exists that—

‘‘(A) enables parents to block programming

based on identifying programs without ratings,

‘‘(B) is available to consumers at a cost

which is comparable to the cost of technology that allows parents to block programming based on common ratings, and

‘‘(C) will allow parents to block a broad

range of programs on a multichannel system

as effectively and as easily as technology

that allows parents to block programming

based on common ratings,

the Commission shall amend the rules prescribed pursuant to section 303(w) to require

that the apparatus described in such section

be equipped with either the blocking technology described in such section or the alternative blocking technology described in this

paragraph.’’.

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

330(d) of such Act, as redesignated by subsection (a)(1), is amended by striking ‘‘section 303(s), and section 303(u)’’ and inserting

in lieu thereof ‘‘and sections 303(s), 303(u),

and 303(w)’’.

(e) APPLICABILITY AND EFFECTIVE DATES.—

(1) APPLICABILITY OF RATING PROVISION.—

The amendment made by subsection (b) of

this section shall take effect 1 year after the

date of enactment of this Act, but only if the

Commission determines, in consultation

with appropriate public interest groups and

interested individuals from the private sector, that distributors of video programming

have not, by such date—

(A) established voluntary rules for rating

video programming that contains sexual,

violent, or other indecent material about

which parents should be informed before it is

displayed to children, and such rules are acceptable to the Commission; and

(B) agreed voluntarily to broadcast signals

that contain ratings of such programming.

(2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF MANUFACTURING PROVISION.—In prescribing regulations to implement the amendment made by subsection

(c), the Federal Communications Commission shall, after consultation with the television manufacturing industry, specify the

effective date for the applicability of the requirement to the apparatus covered by such

amendment, which date shall not be less

than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

It was decided in the Yeas ....... 222 ! affirmative ................... Nays ...... 201

T109.19 [Roll No. 633]

AYES—222

Ackerman

Allard

Archer

Armey

Bachus

Baker (CA)

Baker (LA)

Ballenger

Barcia

Barr

Barrett (NE)

Barton

Bass

Berman

Bevill

Bilbray

Bilirakis

Bliley

Blute

Boehner

Bonilla

Bono

Boucher

Brewster

Brownback

Bryant (TN)

Bunn

Bunning

Burr

Buyer

Callahan

Calvert

Camp

Canady

Castle

Chabot

Chambliss

Chapman

Chenoweth

Christensen

Chrysler

Clinger

Coble

Coburn

Collins (GA)

Combest

Condit

Cooley

Cox

Crane

Crapo

Cremeans

Cubin

Cunningham

Deal

DeLay

Dickey

Dicks

Doolittle

Doyle

Dreier

Duncan

Dunn

Ehrlich

Emerson

English

Ensign

Everett

Ewing

Fawell

Fields (TX)

Flanagan

Foley

Forbes

Fowler

Fox

Franks (CT)

Franks (NJ)

Frelinghuysen

Frisa

Gallegly

Ganske

Gekas

Geren

Gilchrest

Goodling

Goss

Graham

Greenwood

Gunderson

Gutknecht

Hall (TX)

Hancock

Hansen

Harman

Hastert

Hastings (WA)

Hayworth

Heineman

Herger

Hilleary

Hobson

Hoekstra

Hoke

Holden

Hostettler

Houghton

Hutchinson

Inglis

Istook

Johnson, Sam

Kasich

Kelly

Kennedy (RI)

Kim

King

Kingston

Kleczka

Klug

Knollenberg

Kolbe

LaHood

Largent

Latham

LaTourette

Laughlin

Lazio

Lewis (KY)

Lightfoot

Lincoln

Linder

Livingston

LoBiondo

Longley

Lucas

Manton

Manzullo

Martini

Matsui

McCollum

McCrery

McDade

McHale

McHugh

McIntosh

Metcalf

Mica

Miller (FL)

Molinari

Moorhead

Myrick

Nadler

Neal

Nethercutt

Neumann

Ney

Norwood

Nussle

Orton

Packard

Parker

Paxon

Peterson (MN)

Pombo

Porter

Portman

Pryce

Radanovich

Ramstad

Regula

Richardson

Riggs

Roberts

Rogers

Rohrabacher

Ros-Lehtinen

Rose

Royce

Salmon

Sanford

Saxton

Schaefer

Schiff

Seastrand

Shadegg

Shaw

Shays

Smith (MI)

Smith (TX)

Smith (WA)

Spence

Stearns

Stenholm

Stump

Talent

Tate

Tauzin

Taylor (NC)

Thomas

Thornberry

Thornton

Tiahrt

Torkildsen

Towns

Traficant

Tucker

Vucanovich

Waldholtz

Walker

Walsh

Wamp

Waters

Watts (OK)

Waxman

Weldon (FL)

Weldon (PA)

Weller

White

Whitfield

Wicker

Zeliff

Zimmer

NOES—201

Abercrombie

Baesler

Baldacci

Barrett (WI)

Bartlett

Becerra

Beilenson

Bentsen

Bereuter

Bishop

Boehlert

Bonior

Borski

Browder

Brown (CA)

Brown (FL)

Brown (OH)

Bryant (TX)

Burton

Cardin

Clay

Clayton

Clement

Clyburn

Coleman

Collins (IL)

Collins (MI)

Conyers

Costello

Coyne

Cramer

Danner

Davis

de la Garza

DeFazio

DeLauro

Dellums

Deutsch

Diaz-Balart

Dingell

Dixon

Doggett

Dooley

Dornan

Durbin

Edwards

Ehlers

Engel

Eshoo

Evans

Farr

Fattah

Fazio

Fields (LA)

Filner

Flake

Foglietta

Ford

Frank (MA)

Frost

Funderburk

Furse

Gejdenson

Gephardt

Gibbons

Gillmor

Gilman

Gonzalez

Goodlatte

Gordon

Green

Gutierrez

Hall (OH)

Hamilton

Hastings (FL)

Hayes

Hefley

Hefner

Hilliard

Hinchey

Horn

Hoyer

Hunter

Hyde

Jackson-Lee

Jacobs

Jefferson

Johnson (CT)

Johnson (SD)

Johnson, E. B.

Johnston

Jones

Kanjorski

Kaptur

Kennedy (MA)

Kennelly

Kildee

Klink

LaFalce

Lantos

Leach

Levin

Lewis (CA)

Lewis (GA)

Lipinski

Lofgren

Lowey

Luther

Maloney

Markey

Martinez

Mascara

McCarthy

McDermott

McInnis

McKeon

McKinney

McNulty

Meehan

Meek

Menendez

Meyers

Mfume

Miller (CA)

Mineta

Minge

Mink

Mollohan

Montgomery

Moran

Morella

Murtha

Myers

Oberstar

Obey

Olver

Owens

Oxley

Pallone

Pastor

Payne (NJ)

Payne (VA)

Pelosi

Peterson (FL)

Petri

Pickett

Pomeroy

Poshard

Rahall

Rangel

Reed

Rivers

Roemer

Roth

Roukema

Roybal-Allard

Rush

Sabo

Sanders

Sawyer

Schroeder

Schumer

Scott

Sensenbrenner

Serrano

Shuster

Sisisky

Skaggs

Skeen

Skelton

Slaughter

Smith (NJ)

Solomon

Souder

Spratt

Stark

Stockman

Stokes

Studds

Stupak

Tanner

Taylor (MS)

Tejeda

Thompson

Torres

Torricelli

Upton

Velazquez

Vento

Visclosky

Volkmer

Ward

Watt (NC)

Wilson

Wise

Wolf

Woolsey

Wyden

Wynn

Yates

Young (FL)

NOT VOTING—11

Andrews

Bateman

Moakley

Ortiz

Quillen

Quinn

Reynolds

Scarborough

Thurman

Williams

Young (AK)

So the substitute amendment was

agreed to.

The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr.

SHAYS, assumed the Chair.

When Mr. KOLBE, Chairman, pursuant to House Resolution 207, reported

the bill back to the House with an

amendment adopted by the Committee.

The previous question having been

ordered by said resolution.

Pursuant to the order of the House of

August 3, 1995, the following amendment adopted in the Committee of the

Whole was considered adopted:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and

insert: