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 Com-
mittee 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. 
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 ‘‘Fairness in Political 
Advertising Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. ALLOCATION TO POLITICAL CANDIDATES OF FREE 
BROADCAST TIME FOR POLITICAL ADVER-
TISING. 
(a) CONDITION
OF LICENSE RENEWAL.—Section 
309(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
309(h)) is amended by inserting before the period at the 
end the following: ‘‘; and (4) every television broadcast 
station license issued under this Act shall be subject to 
the free broadcast time obligations imposed by section 
315(c)’’. 
(b) FREE TIME OBLIGATIONS.—Section 315 of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) 
as subsections (d) through (f), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(c)(1) Each licensee for a television broadcasting 
station shall annually make available free broadcast time 
for political advertising in accordance with the require-
ments of this subsection. The Commission shall not renew 
the license of any licensee who substantially fails or re-
fuses to comply with the requirements of this subsection, 
but such licensee shall not be subject to any other sanction 
or remedy for such failure or refusal. 
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‘‘(2) A licensee subject to this subsection shall allot 
free broadcast time to each qualified political candidate 
in accordance with the following standards: 
‘‘(A) Such licensee shall allot an equal amount, 
but not less than 2 hours, of free broadcast time 
each even-numbered year to each qualified political 
candidate in a statewide or national election. In the 
case of a television station whose market does not 
encompass all of a congressional district, such li-
censee may apportion to each qualified candidate 
from such district a fraction of such 2 hours that is 
equal to the fraction of such district’s population 
that resides within such market, as determined in 
accordance with regulations prescribed by the Com-
mission. 
‘‘(B) The free broadcast time allotted to any 
candidate under subparagraph (A) shall be com-
posed of units of varying lengths of not more than 
5 minutes nor less than 10 seconds, as determined 
by negotiation between such candidate and the li-
censee. 
‘‘(C) The broadcast time allotted by any li-
censee shall be allotted so that— 
‘‘(i) at least one-half is broadcast during 
the hours of 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; 
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‘‘(ii) during any election year, at least two- 
thirds is broadcast during the 2 months imme-
diately preceding election day and at least one- 
half is broadcast during the 3 weeks imme-
diately preceding election day; 
‘‘(iii) each qualified candidate is allotted 
free broadcast time that is comparable, by time 
of day and day of week, to the time allotted to 
other qualified candidates for the same office; 
and 
‘‘(iv) no broadcaster shall allot more than 
41⁄2 hours per week of free broadcast time for 
political advertising and, if the amount of time 
required to be allotted by this paragraph would 
exceed 41⁄2 hours, the time required to be allot-
ted each qualified candidate shall be reduced 
proportionately. 
‘‘(D) The broadcast time shall be used solely 
for programming consisting of unedited segments in 
which the candidate speaks directly to the camera. 
‘‘(3) A candidate shall be treated as a qualified polit-
ical candidate for purposes of paragraph (2)(A) if the can-
didate’s party, in the most recent statewide or national 
election, received more than 2 percent of the total number 
of votes. 
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‘‘(4) A licensee allots free broadcast time as required 
by this subsection by broadcasting statements without re-
muneration or compensation in any form, whether by pub-
lic or private funds, tax deduction or credit, or otherwise. 
‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection, and no use of free 
broadcast time allotted under this subsection, shall be con-
strued to restrict or otherwise affect the purchase of ad-
vertising time under subsection (b) of this section.’’. 
SEC. 3. CABLE BROADCASTING OF POLITICAL ADVER-
TISING. 
Section 611 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 531) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub-
section (g); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(f) A cable operator shall annually make available 
free cable time for political advertising in accordance with 
the requirements of regulations prescribed by the Commis-
sion. Such regulations shall, to the extent practicable, re-
quire each such cable operator to provide such free cable 
time in the same amounts and manner, to the same eligi-
ble political candidates, and subject to the same conditions 
as free broadcast time is required to be provided by tele-
vision broadcast station licensees under section 315(c). No 
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franchise authority shall renew the franchise of any cable 
operator that fails to comply with such regulations, but 
such operator shall not be subject to any other sanction 
or remedy for such failure or refusal.’’. 
Æ 
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