I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 896 

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

broadcasters to provide free broadcasting time for political advertising, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 30, 2019 

Ms. KAPTUR (for herself, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY 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 require radio 

and television broadcasters to provide free broadcasting 

time for political advertising, 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 ‘‘Fairness in Political 

5 Advertising Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ALLOCATION TO POLITICAL CANDIDATES OF FREE 

2 BROADCAST TIME FOR POLITICAL ADVER3 TISING. 

4 (a) CONDITION OF LICENSE RENEWAL.—Section 

5 309(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

6 309(h)) is amended by inserting before the period at the 

7 end the following: ‘‘; and (4) every television broadcast 

8 station license issued under this Act shall be subject to 

9 the free broadcast time obligations imposed by section 

10 315(c)’’. 

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

12 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315) is amend13 ed— 

14 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) 

15 as subsections (d) through (f), respectively; and 

16 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol17 lowing new subsection: 

18 ‘‘(c)(1) Each licensee for a television broadcasting 

19 station shall annually make available free broadcast time 

20 for political advertising in accordance with the require21 ments of this subsection. The Commission shall not renew 

22 the license of any licensee who substantially fails or re23 fuses to comply with the requirements of this subsection, 

24 but such licensee shall not be subject to any other sanction 

25 or remedy for such failure or refusal. 


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

2 free broadcast time to each qualified political candidate 

3 in accordance with the following standards: 

4 ‘‘(A) Such licensee shall allot an equal amount, 

5 but not less than 2 hours, of free broadcast time 

6 each even-numbered year to each qualified political 

7 candidate in a statewide or national election. In the 

8 case of a television station whose market does not 

9 encompass all of a congressional district, such li10 censee may apportion to each qualified candidate 

11 from such district a fraction of such 2 hours that is 

12 equal to the fraction of such district’s population 

13 that resides within such market, as determined in 

14 accordance with regulations prescribed by the Com15 mission. 

16 ‘‘(B) The free broadcast time allotted to any 

17 candidate under subparagraph (A) shall be com18 posed of units of varying lengths of not more than 

19 5 minutes nor less than 10 seconds, as determined 

20 by negotiation between such candidate and the li21 censee. 

22 ‘‘(C) The broadcast time allotted by any li23 censee shall be allotted so that— 

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

25 the hours of 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) during any election year, at least two2 thirds is broadcast during the 2 months imme3 diately preceding election day and at least one4 half is broadcast during the 3 weeks imme5 diately preceding election day; 

6 ‘‘(iii) each qualified candidate is allotted 

7 free broadcast time that is comparable, by time 

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

9 other qualified candidates for the same office; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(iv) no broadcaster shall allot more than 

41 12 ⁄2 hours per week of free broadcast time for 

13 political advertising and, if the amount of time 

14 required to be allotted by this paragraph would 

exceed 41 15 ⁄2 hours, the time required to be allot16 ted each qualified candidate shall be reduced 

17 proportionately. 

18 ‘‘(D) The broadcast time shall be used solely 

19 for programming consisting of unedited segments in 

20 which the candidate speaks directly to the camera. 

21 ‘‘(3) A candidate shall be treated as a qualified polit22 ical candidate for purposes of paragraph (2)(A) if the can23 didate’s party, in the most recent statewide or national 

24 election, received more than 2 percent of the total number 

25 of votes. 


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

2 by this subsection by broadcasting statements without re3 muneration or compensation in any form, whether by pub4 lic or private funds, tax deduction or credit, or otherwise. 

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

6 broadcast time allotted under this subsection, shall be con7 strued to restrict or otherwise affect the purchase of ad8 vertising time under subsection (b) of this section.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. CABLE BROADCASTING OF POLITICAL ADVER10 TISING. 

11 Section 611 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

12 U.S.C. 531) is amended— 

13 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub14 section (g); and 

15 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol16 lowing new subsection: 

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

18 free cable time for political advertising in accordance with 

19 the requirements of regulations prescribed by the Commis20 sion. Such regulations shall, to the extent practicable, re21 quire each such cable operator to provide such free cable 

22 time in the same amounts and manner, to the same eligi23 ble political candidates, and subject to the same conditions 

24 as free broadcast time is required to be provided by tele25 vision broadcast station licensees under section 315(c). No 


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1 franchise authority shall renew the franchise of any cable 

2 operator that fails to comply with such regulations, but 

3 such operator shall not be subject to any other sanction 

4 or remedy for such failure or refusal.’’. 

Æ 


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