IB
Union Calendar No. 368
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4201
[Report No. 106–662]
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the service obligations
of noncommercial educational broadcast stations.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 6, 2000
Mr. PICKERING (for himself, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. LARGENT, and Mr.
STEARNS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Commerce
JUNE 9, 2000
Additional sponsors: Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. EHRLICH,
Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. DELAY, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr.
COX, Mr. BAKER, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr.
RAMSTAD, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. BURR of North Carolina, Mr. DICKEY,
Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. ROGAN, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mrs. WIL-
SON, Mr. COBURN, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. HALL of Texas,
Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. TERRY, Mr. SHOWS, and Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin
JUNE 9, 2000
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 6, 2000]
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the
service obligations of noncommercial educational broad-
cast stations.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Noncommercial Broad-
casting Freedom of Expression Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) In the additional guidance contained in the
Federal Communication Commission’s memorandum
opinion and order in WQED Pittsburgh (FCC 99–
393), adopted December 15, 1999, and released De-
cember 29, 1999, the Commission attempted to impose
content-based programming requirements on non-
commercial educational television broadcasters with-
out the benefit of notice and comment in a rule-
making proceeding.
(2) In doing so, the Commission did not ade-
quately consider the implications of its proposed
guidelines on the rights of such broadcasters under
First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restora-
tion Act.
(3) Noncommercial educational broadcasters
should be responsible for using the station to pri-
marily serve an educational, instructional, cultural,
or religious purpose in its community of license, and
for making judgments about the types of program-
ming that serve those purposes.
(4) Religious programming contributes to serv-
ing the educational and cultural needs of the public,
and should be treated by the Commission on a par
with other educational and cultural programming.
(5) Because noncommercial broadcasters are not
permitted to sell air time, they should not be required
to provide free air time to commercial entities or po-
litical candidates.
(6) The Commission should not engage in regu-
lating the content of speech broadcast by noncommer-
cial educational stations.
SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF SERVICE OBLIGATIONS OF NON-
COMMERCIAL 
EDUCATIONAL 
OR 
PUBLIC
BROADCAST STATIONS.
(a) SERVICE CONDITIONS.—Section 309 of the Com-
munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309) is amended by
adding at the end the following new subsection:
‘‘(m) SERVICE CONDITIONS ON NONCOMMERCIAL EDU-
CATIONAL AND PUBLIC BROADCAST STATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A nonprofit organization
shall be eligible to hold a noncommercial educational
radio or television license if the station is used pri-
marily to broadcast material that the organization
determines serves an educational, instructional, cul-
tural, or religious purpose (or any combination of
such purposes) in the station’s community of license,
unless that determination is arbitrary or unreason-
able.
‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL
CONTENT-BASED
REQUIRE-
MENTS PROHIBITED.—The Commission shall not—
‘‘(A) impose or enforce any quantitative re-
quirement on noncommercial educational radio
or television licenses based on the number of
hours of programming that serve educational, in-
structional, cultural, or religious purposes; or
‘‘(B) impose or enforce any other require-
ment on the content of the programming broad-
cast by a licensee, permittee, or applicant for a
noncommercial educational radio or television li-
cense that is not imposed and enforced on a li-
censee, permittee, or applicant for a commercial
radio or television license, respectively.
‘‘(3) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this
subsection shall be construed as affecting—
‘‘(A) any obligation of noncommercial edu-
cational television broadcast stations under the
Children’s Television Act of 1990 (47 U.S.C.
303a, 303b); or
‘‘(B) the requirements of section 396, 399,
399A, and 399B of this Act.’’.
(b) POLITICAL BROADCASTING EXEMPTION.—Section
312(a)(7) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
312(a)(7)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, other than a non-
commercial educational broadcast station,’’ after ‘‘use of a
broadcasting station’’.
(c) AUDIT OF COMPLIANCE WITH DONOR PRIVACY
PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 396(l)(3)(B)(ii) of
the 
Communications 
Act 
of 
1934 
(47 
U.S.C.
396(l)(3)(B)(ii)) is amended—
(1) in subclause (I), by inserting before the semi-
colon the following: ‘‘, and shall include a determina-
tion of the compliance of the entity with the require-
ments of subsection (k)(12)’’; and
(2) in subclause (II), by inserting before the
semicolon the following: ‘‘, except that such statement
shall include a statement regarding the extent of the
compliance of the entity with the requirements of sub-
section (k)(12)’’.
(d) IMPLEMENTATION.—Consistent with the require-
ments of section 4 of this Act, the Federal Communications
Commission shall amend sections 73.1930 through 73.1944
of its rules (47 C.F.R. 73.1930–73.1944) to provide that
those sections do not apply to noncommercial educational
broadcast stations.
SEC. 4. RULEMAKING.
(a) LIMITATION.—After the date of enactment of this
Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall not es-
tablish, expand, or otherwise modify requirements relating
to the service obligations of noncommercial educational
radio or television stations except by means of agency rule-
making conducted in accordance with chapter 5 of title 5,
United States Code, and other applicable law (including
the amendments made by section 3).
(b) RULEMAKING DEADLINE.—The Federal Commu-
nications Commission shall prescribe such revisions to its
regulations as may be necessary to comply with the amend-
ment made by section 3 within 270 days after the date of
enactment of this Act.
Union Calendar No. 368
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4201
[Report No. 106–662]
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clar-
ify the service obligations of noncommercial edu-
cational broadcast stations.
JUNE 9, 2000
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed