I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1665
To shorten the term of broadcasting licenses under the Communications 
Act of 1934 from 8 to 3 years, to provide better public access to 
broadcasters’ public interest issues and programs lists and children’s 
programming reports, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 14, 2005
Ms. SLAUGHTER (for herself, Mr. DUNCAN, Ms. WATSON, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. 
MCDERMOTT, Ms. LEE, Ms. CARSON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. 
OWENS, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mrs. JO 
ANN DAVIS of Virginia, and Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To shorten the term of broadcasting licenses under the Com-
munications Act of 1934 from 8 to 3 years, to provide 
better public access to broadcasters’ public interest issues 
and programs lists and children’s programming reports, 
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 ‘‘Localism in Broad-
casting Reform Act of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. 3-YEAR TERM FOR BROADCAST LICENSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 307(c)(1) of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 307(c)(1)) is amended 
by striking ‘‘8’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘3’’. 
(b) EXISTING LICENSES.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply to licenses granted or renewed 
after the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. FULL COMMISSION REVIEW REQUIRED FOR 5 PER-
CENT OF APPLICATIONS. 
Section 309(a) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 309(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: ‘‘The determination required by this subsection 
shall be made by the full Commission en banc in no fewer 
than 5 percent of the applications filed with it in each 
calendar year to which section 308 applies.’’. 
SEC. 4. ISSUES AND PROGRAMS REPORTS; CHILDREN’S 
TELEVISION REPORTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) ELECTRONIC
FILING.—The Commission 
shall amend its regulations to require every broad-
caster to file, electronically, a copy of its public in-
terest issues and programs list and its children’s 
programming reports with the Commission, in such 
form as the Commission may require, within 10 days 
after the end of each calendar quarter.
(2) WAIVER.—The Commission may waive or 
defer compliance with the regulations promulgated 
in paragraph (1) by a broadcaster in any specific in-
stance for good cause shown where such action 
would be consistent with the public interest. 
(b) LICENSEE WEBSITE REQUIREMENT.—The Com-
mission shall amend its regulations to require every broad-
cast station for which there is a publicly accessible website 
on the Internet—
(1) to make its public interest issues and pro-
grams list and its children’s programming reports 
available to the public on that website; or 
(2) to provide a hyperlink on that website to 
that information on the Commission’s website. 
(c) COMMISSION
WEBSITE
REQUIREMENT.—The 
Commission shall provide access to the public to the public 
interest issues and programs lists and children’s program-
ming reports filed electronically by broadcasting stations 
with the Commission. 
(d) TIMEFRAME.—The Commission shall amend its 
regulations to carry out the requirements of this section 
not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
SEC. 5. STANDARDS FOR BROADCAST STATION RENEWAL 
TO INCLUDE REVIEW OF LICENSEE’S OTHER 
STATIONS. 
Section 309(k)(1) of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(k)(1)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘with respect to that station,’’ 
and inserting ‘‘with respect to that station (and all 
stations operated by the licensee),’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘its’’ and inserting ‘‘that sta-
tion’s’’; and 
(3) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘the sta-
tion has’’ and inserting ‘‘the station has, and such 
other stations have,’’. 
SEC. 6. PARTY IN INTEREST REQUIREMENT FOR PETITIONS 
TO OPPOSE THE GRANT OR RENEWAL OF A 
LICENSE. 
Section 309(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 309(d)(1)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(3) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ‘party 
in interest’ includes any individual who—
‘‘(A) is a listener or viewer of the specific sta-
tion to which the application relates (determined 
without regard to such individual’s place of resi-
dence);
‘‘(B) asserts an interest in vindicating the gen-
eral public interest; and 
‘‘(C) 
makes 
the 
specific 
allegations 
and 
showings required by this subsection.’’. 
SEC. 7. COMPLETION OF CERTAIN PENDING PROCEEDINGS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 9 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall com-
plete action on—
(1) In the Matter of Standardized and En-
hanced Disclosure Requirements for Television 
Broadcast Licensee Public Interest Obligations, MM 
Docket No. 00–168; and 
(2) In the Matter of Public Interest Obligations 
of Television Broadcast Licensees, MM Docket No. 
99–360. 
(b) STANDARDIZED FORMS FOR ELECTRONICALLY 
FILED REPORTS.—As part of the proceedings described 
in subsection (a), the Commission shall—
(1) give consideration to requiring standardized 
forms for broadcasters to use in preparing public in-
terest issues and programs lists for electronic filing; 
and 
(2) if it determines that such standardized 
forms would be in the public interest, develop and