II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1685 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to extend to private land 

use restrictions its rule relating to reasonable accommodation of amateur 

service communications. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2015 

Mr. WICKER (for himself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to extend 

to private land use restrictions its rule relating to reasonable accommodation of amateur service communications. 

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 ‘‘Amateur Radio Parity 

5 Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) More than 700,000 radio amateurs in the 

2 United States are licensed by the Federal Commu3 nications Commission in the amateur radio service. 

4 (2) Amateur radio, at no cost to taxpayers, pro5 vides a fertile ground for technical self-training in 

6 modern telecommunications, electronics technology, 

7 and emergency communications techniques and pro8 tocols. 

9 (3) There is a strong Federal interest in the ef10 fective performance of amateur radio stations estab11 lished at the residences of licensees. Such stations 

12 have been shown to be frequently and increasingly 

13 precluded by unreasonable private land use restric14 tions, including restrictive covenants. 

15 (4) Federal Communications Commission regu16 lations have for 3 decades prohibited the application 

17 to amateur radio stations of State and local regula18 tions that preclude or fail to reasonably accommo19 date amateur service communications, or that do not 

20 constitute the minimum practicable regulation to ac21 complish a legitimate State or local purpose. Com22 mission policy has been and is to permit erection of 

23 a station antenna structure at heights and dimen24 sions sufficient to accommodate amateur service 

25 communications. 


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1 (5) The Federal Communications Commission 

2 has sought guidance and direction from Congress 

3 with respect to the application of the Commission’s 

4 limited preemption policy regarding amateur radio 

5 communications to private land use restrictions, in6 cluding restrictive covenants. 

7 SEC. 3. ACCOMMODATION OF AMATEUR SERVICE COMMU8 NICATIONS. 

9 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact10 ment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commis11 sion shall amend section 97.15(b) of title 47, Code of Fed12 eral Regulations, so that such section prohibits application 

13 to amateur service communications of any private land use 

14 restriction, including a restrictive covenant, that— 

15 (1) precludes such communications; 

16 (2) fails to reasonably accommodate such com17 munications; or 

18 (3) does not constitute the minimum practicable 

19 restriction on such communications to accomplish 

20 the legitimate purpose of the private entity seeking 

21 to enforce such restriction. 

Æ 


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