I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1807
To provide means of limiting the exposure of children to violent programming
on television, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 8, 1995
Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. LAUGHLIN, Mr. MONTGOMERY,
Mr. SPRATT, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. MILLER
of California, Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. HILLIARD,
Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. KAPTUR,
Mrs. CLAYTON, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. JACOBS, Mr. HALL
of Ohio, Mr. THORNTON, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr.
CLYBURN, Mr. FROST, and Mr. HEFNER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To provide means of limiting the exposure of children to
violent programming on television, 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 ‘‘Children’s Media Pro-
tection Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On average, a child in the United States is
exposed to 27 hours of television each week, and
some children are exposed to as much as 11 hours
of television each day.
(2) The average American child watches 8,000
murders and 100,000 acts of other violence on tele-
vision by the time the child completes elementary
school.
(3) By the age of 18 years, the average Amer-
ican teenager has watched 200,000 acts of violence
on television, including 40,000 murders.
(4) The Times Mirror Center reports that a re-
cent poll of Americans indicates that 72 percent of
the American people believe that there is too much
violence on television, and, according to a survey by
U.S. News and World Report dated May 1994, 91
percent of American voters believe that mayhem in
the media contributes to violence in real life.
(5) On several occasions since 1975, The Jour-
nal of the American Medical Association has alerted
the medical community to the adverse effects of tele-
vised violence on child development, including an in-
crease in the level of aggressive behavior and violent
behavior among children who view it.
(6) The National Commission on Children rec-
ommended in 1991 that producers of television pro-
grams exercise greater restraint in the content of
programming for children.
(7) A report of the Harry Frank Guggenheim
Foundation, dated May 1993, indicates that there is
an irrefutable connection between the amount of vio-
lence depicted in the television programs watched by
children and increased aggressive behavior among
children.
(8) It is in the national interest that parents be
empowered with the technology to block the viewing
of television programs that are clearly inappropriate
for children because of their sexual, violent, or inde-
cent content.
(9) Technology currently exists to permit the
manufacture of television receivers that are capable
of permitting parents to block such television pro-
grams.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEVISION RATING CODE.
Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 303) is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘(v) Prescribe—
‘‘(1) on the basis of recommendations from an
advisory committee established by the Commission
that is composed of television broadcasters, television
programming producers, cable operators, appro-
priate public interest groups, and other interested
individuals from the private sector and that is fairly
balanced in terms of the points of view represented
and the functions to be performed by the committee,
rules to identify and rate sexual, violent, and inde-
cent television programming that is clearly inappro-
priate for children, and
‘‘(2) rules for the transmission by distributors
of television programming of signals that contain an
identification of the rating (pursuant to the rules
prescribed under paragraph (1)) of the programming
being distributed and that permit television viewers
to block sexual, violent, and indecent television pro-
gramming that is clearly inappropriate for chil-
dren.’’.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR MANUFACTURE OF TELE-
VISIONS THAT BLOCK PROGRAMS.
Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 303), as amended by section 3, is further amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(w) Require, in the case of apparatus designed to
receive television signals that are manufactured in the
United States or imported for use in the United States
and that have a picture screen 13 inches or greater in
size (measured diagonally), that such apparatus—
‘‘(1) be equipped with circuitry designed to en-
able viewers to block the display of channels, pro-
grams, and time slots; and
‘‘(2) enable viewers to block display of all pro-
grams with a common rating.’’.
SEC. 5. SHIPPING OR IMPORTING OF TELEVISIONS THAT
BLOCK PROGRAMS.
(a) REGULATIONS.—Section 330 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 330) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-
section (d); and
(2) by adding after subsection (b) the following
new subsection (c):
‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no per-
son shall ship in interstate commerce, manufacture, as-
semble, or import from any foreign country into the
United States any apparatus described in section 303(w)
of this Act except in accordance with rules prescribed by
the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that
section.