I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2212
To require the Federal Communications Commission to comply with the 
Administrative Procedures Act and to adhere to the policies and purposes 
of Communications Act of 1934 favoring diversity of media voices, vig-
orous economic competition, technological advancement, and promotion 
of the public interest, convenience, and necessity, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 22, 2003
Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Mr. CASE, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. LEE, Mr. FILNER, Ms. 
WATSON, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. PETERSON 
of Minnesota, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, and Mr. WATT) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To require the Federal Communications Commission to com-
ply with the Administrative Procedures Act and to ad-
here to the policies and purposes of Communications 
Act of 1934 favoring diversity of media voices, vigorous 
economic competition, technological advancement, and 
promotion of the public interest, convenience, and neces-
sity, 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 ‘‘Maintaining and En-
suring Diversity and Integrity on the Airwaves Act of 
2003’’ or the ‘‘MEDIA Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCE-
DURES ACT. 
Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(e) Notwithstanding subsection (b)(3), an agency 
may not prescribe substantial and extensive revisions to 
its regulations unless such revised regulations have been 
published in proposed form to afford interested persons 
the opportunity under subsection (c) to submit data, 
views, or arguments thereon.’’. 
SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF INTERVAL FOR REVIEWS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Subsection (a) of section 11 of 
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 161(a)) is 
amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘BIENNIAL’’ in the heading of 
such subsection; and 
(2) by striking ‘‘In every even-numbered year 
(beginning with 1998),’’ and inserting ‘‘Once each 5 
years (beginning with 2008),’’.
(b) ELIMINATION
OF
SPECIAL
TREATMENT
OF 
MEDIA RULES.—Section 202 of the Telecommunications 
Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–104; 110 Stat. 111) is 
amended by striking subsection (h). 
SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES AND PURPOSES OF 
THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934. 
Section 257 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 257) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(d) COMPLIANCE
WITH
POLICIES
AND
PUR-
POSES.—
‘‘(1) COMPLETION
OF
REVIEW
AND
REPORT 
PRIOR TO DEREGULATORY ACTIONS.—The Commis-
sion shall not take any action under section 11 of 
this Act to repeal or modify any regulation the Com-
mission determines to be no longer necessary in the 
public interest unless—
‘‘(A) the Commission has completed the re-
port to Congress required by subsection (c) of 
this section to be submitted during 2003; 
‘‘(B) the Commission has included in a re-
port to Congress under subsection (c) of this 
section an analysis of how any change of the ex-
isting regulations (i) is consistent with the na-
tional policy as set forth in subsection (b), and
(ii) would affect the barriers to entry identified 
under subsection (a) of this section; and 
‘‘(C) the Commission determines that such 
repeal or modification is consistent with the re-
moval of such barriers and with the policies and 
purposes set forth in subsection (b) of this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION
OF
LICENSE
TRANSFERS 
PENDING COMPLETION OF REQUIREMENTS.—Unless 
the Commission has complied with the requirements 
of this section (including the requirements of para-
graph (1) of this subsection), the Commission shall 
not approve any application, or group of interrelated 
applications, for the transfer or assignment under 
section 309 of any license licenses for a television or 
radio broadcast station or stations to any party if—
‘‘(A) such aggregate value of the trans-
action or transactions involving such station or 
stations is in excess of $50,000,000; and 
‘‘(B) such party or any of its principal 
stockholders, partners, or members, officers, or 
directors, directly or indirectly, owns, operates, 
or controls another television or radio broadcast 
station.’’.
Æ