II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 383 

To shorten the term of broadcasting licenses under the Communications 

Act of 1934 from 8 to 3 years, to provide better public access to 

broadcasters’ public interest issues and programs lists and children’s 

programming reports, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2005 

Mr. MCCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To shorten the term of broadcasting licenses under the Communications Act of 1934 from 8 to 3 years, to provide 

better public access to broadcasters’ public interest issues 

and programs lists and children’s programming reports, 

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 ‘‘Localism in Broad5 casting Reform Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. 3-YEAR TERM FOR BROADCAST LICENSES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 307(c)(1) of the Commu3 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 307(c)(1)) is amended 

4 by striking ‘‘8’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘3’’. 

5 (b) EXISTING LICENSES.—The amendment made by 

6 subsection (a) shall apply to licenses granted or renewed 

7 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

8 SEC. 3. FULL COMMISSION REVIEW REQUIRED FOR 5 PER9 CENT OF APPLICATIONS. 

10 Section 309(a) of the Communications Act of 1934 

11 (47 U.S.C. 309(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 

12 following: ‘‘The determination required by this subsection 

13 shall be made by the full Commission en banc in no fewer 

14 than 5 percent of the applications filed with it in each 

15 calendar year to which section 308 applies.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. ISSUES AND PROGRAMS REPORTS; CHILDREN’S 

17 TELEVISION REPORTS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

19 (1) ELECTRONIC FILING.—The Commission 

20 shall amend its regulations to require every broad21 caster to file, electronically, a copy of its public in22 terest issues and programs list and its children’s 

23 programming reports with the Commission, in such 

24 form as the Commission may require, within 10 days 

25 after the end of each calendar quarter. 
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1 (2) WAIVER.—The Commission may waive or 

2 defer compliance with the regulations promulgated 

3 in paragraph (1) by a broadcaster in any specific in4 stance for good cause shown where such action 

5 would be consistent with the public interest. 

6 (b) LICENSEE WEBSITE REQUIREMENT.—The Com7 mission shall amend its regulations to require every broad8 cast station for which there is a publicly accessible website 

9 on the Internet— 

10 (1) to make its public interest issues and pro11 grams list and its children’s programming reports 

12 available to the public on that website; or 

13 (2) to provide a hyperlink on that website to 

14 that information on the Commission’s website. 

15 (c) COMMISSION WEBSITE REQUIREMENT.—The 

16 Commission shall provide access to the public to the public 

17 interest issues and programs lists and children’s program18 ming reports filed electronically by broadcasting stations 

19 with the Commission. 

20 (d) TIMEFRAME.—The Commission shall amend its 

21 regulations to carry out the requirements of this section 

22 not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 

23 this Act. 
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1 SEC. 5. STANDARDS FOR BROADCAST STATION RENEWAL 

2 TO INCLUDE REVIEW OF LICENSEE’S OTHER 

3 STATIONS. 

4 Section 309(k)(1) of the Communications Act of 

5 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(k)(1)) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘with respect to that station,’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘with respect to that station (and all 

8 stations operated by the licensee),’’; 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘its’’ and inserting ‘‘that sta10 tion’s’’; and 

11 (3) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘the sta12 tion has’’ and inserting ‘‘the station has, and such 

13 other stations have,’’. 

14 SEC. 6. PARTY IN INTEREST REQUIREMENT FOR PETITIONS 

15 TO OPPOSE THE GRANT OR RENEWAL OF A 

16 LICENSE. 

17 Section 309(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 

18 (47 U.S.C. 309(d)(1)) is amended by adding at the end 

19 the following: 

20 ‘‘(3) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ‘party 

21 in interest’ includes any individual who— 

22 ‘‘(A) is a listener or viewer of the specific sta23 tion to which the application relates (determined 

24 without regard to such individual’s place of resi25 dence); 
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1 ‘‘(B) asserts an interest in vindicating the gen2 eral public interest; and 

3 ‘‘(C) makes the specific allegations and 

4 showings required by this subsection.’’. 

5 SEC. 7. COMPLETION OF CERTAIN PENDING PROCEEDINGS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 9 months after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall com8 plete action on— 

9 (1) In the Matter of Standardized and En10 hanced Disclosure Requirements for Television 

11 Broadcast Licensee Public Interest Obligations, MM 

12 Docket No. 00–168; and 

13 (2) In the Matter of Public Interest Obligations 

14 of Television Broadcast Licensees, MM Docket No. 

15 99–360. 

16 (b) STANDARDIZED FORMS FOR ELECTRONICALLY

17 FILED REPORTS.—As part of the proceedings described 

18 in subsection (a), the Commission shall— 

19 (1) give consideration to requiring standardized 

20 forms for broadcasters to use in preparing public in21 terest issues and programs lists for electronic filing; 

22 and 

23 (2) if it determines that such standardized 

24 forms would be in the public interest, develop and 
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1 promulgate such forms and require their use by per2 mittees and licensees. 

3 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) BROADCASTER.—The term ‘‘broadcaster’’ 

6 means a permittee or licensee of a commercial or 

7 non-commercial television or radio broadcast station. 

8 (2) CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING REPORTS.—The 

9 term ‘‘children’s programming reports’’ means the 

10 information that a broadcaster is required to provide 

11 for public inspection by paragraph (e)(11)(iii) of sec12 tion 73.3526 of title 47, Code of Federal Regula13 tions. 

14 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

15 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

16 (4) PUBLIC INTEREST ISSUES AND PROGRAMS

17 LIST.—The term ‘‘public interest issues and pro18 grams list’’ means the information that— 

19 (A) a commercial broadcast station is re20 quired to provide for public inspection by para21 graphs (e)(11)(i) and (12) of section 73.3526 of 

22 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations; and 

23 (B) a non-commercial broadcast station is 

24 required to provide for public inspection by 
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1 paragraph (e)(8) of section 73.3527 of title 47, 

2 Code of Federal Regulations. 

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