Union Calendar No. 219
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 486
[Report No. 106–384]
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to re-
quire the Federal Communications Commission
to preserve low-power television stations that pro-
vide community broadcasting, and for other pur-
poses.
OCTOBER 14, 1999
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed
IB
Union Calendar No. 219
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 486
[Report No. 106–384]
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Commu-
nications Commission to preserve low-power television stations that pro-
vide community broadcasting, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 2, 1999
Mr. NORWOOD (for himself, Mr. KLINK, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. OXLEY,
Mr. BURR of North Carolina, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. BISHOP, Mr.
CONDIT, and Mr. WEYGAND) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Commerce
OCTOBER 14, 1999
Additional sponsors: Mr. WAMP, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. WOLF, Mr. ADERHOLT,
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. FORBES, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. PETER-
SON of Minnesota, Mr. HOLT, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. OBERSTAR,
Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. MURTHA, Ms. CARSON, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. SABO, Mr.
GILLMOR, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. JENKINS, Mr. BUYER, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr.
CRAMER, Mr. LUTHER, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania,
Mr. MINGE, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Mr. MASCARA, Mr. LARGENT, Mr.
HOUGHTON, Mr. WICKER, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. HUTCH-
INSON, Mr. FILNER, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. LUCAS of
Oklahoma, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington,
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. KIND, Mr. DICKEY, Mr.
GORDON, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RILEY, Mr. RADANOVICH,
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr.
BAKER, Mr. COBURN, Mr. COYNE, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mrs. BONO, Mr.
THUNE, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr. SWEENEY, Mr.
COOKSEY, Mr. MOORE, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr.
DOOLEY of California, Mr. SCARBOROUGH, Mr. TURNER, Mr. BILBRAY,
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. Wynn, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr.
KANJORSKI, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. LINDER, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. KINGSTON,
Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. FORD, Mr. HERGER, Mr. PICKERING, Ms. BROWN
of Florida, Mr. JOHN, Mr. POMEROY, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. REGULA,
Mrs. WILSON, and Mr. SAWYER
OCTOBER 14, 1999
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 February 2, 1999]
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the
Federal Communications Commission to preserve low-
power television stations that provide community broad-
casting, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Community Broad-
casters Protection Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Since the creation of low-power television li-
censes by the Federal Communications Commission, a
small number of license holders have operated their
stations in a manner beneficial to the public good
providing broadcasting to their communities that
would not otherwise be available.
(2) These low-power broadcasters have operated
their stations in a manner consistent with the pro-
gramming objectives and hours of operation of full-
power broadcasters providing worthwhile services to
their respective communities while under severe li-
cense limitations compared to their full-power coun-
terparts.
(3) License limitations, particularly the tem-
porary nature of the license, have blocked many low-
power broadcasters from having access to capital, and
have severely hampered their ability to continue to
provide quality broadcasting, programming, or im-
provements.
(4) The passage of the Telecommunications Act
of 1996 has added to the uncertainty of the future sta-
tus of these stations by the lack of specific provisions
regarding the permanency of their licenses, or their
treatment during the transition to high definition,
digital television.
(5) It is in the public interest to promote diver-
sity in television programming such as that currently
provided by low-power television stations to foreign-
language communities.
SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF LOW-POWER COMMUNITY TELE-
VISION BROADCASTING.
Section 336 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 336) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as
subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following
new subsection:
‘‘(f) PRESERVATION OF LOW-POWER COMMUNITY TEL-
EVISION BROADCASTING.—
‘‘(1) CREATION OF CLASS A LICENSES.—
‘‘(A) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—Within 120
days after the date of enactment of the Commu-
nity Broadcasters Protection Act of 1999, the
Commission shall prescribe regulations to estab-
lish a class A television license to be available to
licensees of qualifying low-power television sta-
tions. Such regulations shall provide that—
‘‘(i) the license shall be subject to the
same license terms and renewal standards
as the licenses for full-power television sta-
tions except as provided in this subsection;
and
‘‘(ii) each such class A licensee shall be
accorded primary status as a television
broadcaster as long as the station continues
to meet the requirements for a qualifying
low-power station in paragraph (2).
‘‘(B) NOTICE TO AND CERTIFICATION BY LI-
CENSEES.—Within 30 days after the enactment
of the Community Broadcasters Protection Act of
1999, the Commission shall send a notice to the
licensees of all low-power televisions licenses that
describes the requirements for class A designa-
tion. Within 60 days after such date of enact-
ment, licensees intending to seek class A designa-
tion shall submit to the Commission a certifi-
cation of eligibility based on the qualification re-
quirements of this subsection. Absent a material
deficiency, the Commission shall grant certifi-
cation of eligibility to apply for class A status.
‘‘(C) APPLICATION FOR AND AWARD OF LI-
CENSES.—Consistent with the requirements set
forth in paragraph (2)(A) of this subsection, a li-
censee may submit an application for class A
designation under this paragraph within 30
days after final regulations are adopted pursu-
ant to subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. Ex-
cept as provided in paragraphs (6) and (7), the
Commission shall, within 30 days after receipt of
an application of a licensee of a qualifying low-