Title: Enhancing Broadcaster DIVERSITY Data Act
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Enhancing Broadcaster Diversity and Inclusion by Verifying and Ensuring the Reporting required by Statute Is Transpiring and Yielding Data Act or the Enhancing Broadcaster DIVERSITY Data Act
This bill requires the collection of certain broadcast and cable ownership data to inform the analysis of barriers to market entry.
Specifically, the bill directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to complete the rulemaking on broadcast and cable equal employment opportunity rules and policies. The bill also prohibits the FCC from making certain revisions to the reporting requirements on commercial broadcast station ownership.
In addition, the bill requires the FCC to include such ownership data in its biennial communications marketplace report and to analyze how such data relates to market entry barriers that prevent diversity in media ownership. The FCC must also create a public, searchable database of media ownership information.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5564 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5564

    To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for certain 
  requirements with respect to ownership and diversity reporting for 
   television broadcast stations and cable operators, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2020

    Ms. Clarke of New York introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for certain 
  requirements with respect to ownership and diversity reporting for 
   television broadcast stations and cable operators, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Enhancing Broadcaster Diversity and 
Inclusion by Verifying and Ensuring the Reporting required by Statute 
Is Transpiring and Yielding Data Act'' or the ``Enhancing Broadcaster 
DIVERSITY Data Act''.

SEC. 2. OWNERSHIP AND DIVERSITY REPORTING.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--Recognizing the long history of exclusion 
of women and people of color from media resources in the United States, 
and the responsibility of broadcasters to be responsive to the needs 
and interests of their communities of license, it is the sense of 
Congress that the Commission should carry out policies promoting 
diversity, localism, and inclusion in the broadcast and cable 
industries. As such, Congress directs the Commission to take the 
actions described in subsection (b) and the amendments made by such 
subsection.
    (b) Media Ownership and Diversity.--
            (1) Employment data.--Not later than 18 months after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, in accordance with sections 
        334(a) and 634(d)(3)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
        U.S.C. 334(a); 554(d)(3)(A)), the Commission, after notice and 
        comment, shall complete the proceeding initiated in the Third 
        Report and Order and Fourth Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 
        the ongoing Review of the Commission's Broadcast and Cable 
        Equal Employment Opportunity Rules and Policies, MM Docket No. 
        98-204.
            (2) Ownership data.--Part I of title III of the 
        Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended 
        by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 344. OWNERSHIP DATA.

    ``(a) In General.--Except as specifically provided in subsection 
(b), the Commission may not revise--
            ``(1) section 73.3615 of title 47, Code of Federal 
        Regulations (relating to ownership reports), as in effect on 
        the date of the enactment of this section, as such section 
        73.3615 applies to television broadcast station licensees and 
        permittees; or
            ``(2) the forms used by the licensees and permittees 
        described in paragraph (1) to report pertinent ownership data 
        to the Commission.
    ``(b) Technical Revisions or Improvements.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Commission 
        may revise the regulations described in subsection (a) to 
        augment the quality and sufficiency of the reports required 
        under such regulations, to make nonsubstantive technical or 
        clerical revisions in such regulations as necessary to reflect 
        changes in technology, terminology, or Commission organization, 
        or to ensure the anonymity of station-specific ownership data 
        unnecessary to the analysis of aggregated industry ownership 
        trends.
            ``(2) Limitation.--The Commission may not diminish or 
        otherwise reduce the frequency or quality of the reports 
        required under the regulations described in subsection (a).''.
            (3) Ownership and diversity report.--
                    (A) In general.--Section 13(d)(3) of the 
                Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 163(d)(3)) is 
                amended by striking ``in accordance with the national 
                policy under section 257(b)'' and inserting the 
                following: ``and include in the report required by 
                subsection (a) the most recent data collected under the 
                regulations described in sections 334(a), 344(a), and 
                634(d)(3)(A), and analysis of such data, as such 
                barriers and such data relate to the national policy 
                under section 257(b)''.
                    (B) Ownership database.--Not later than 2 years 
                after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
                Commission shall create a public, searchable database 
                of the data collected under the regulations described 
                in section 344(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, as 
                added by paragraph (2), that members of the public may 
                use to search for and produce reports identifying--
                            (i) ownership data with respect to any 
                        particular station;
                            (ii) ownership interests of any person who 
                        holds a license;
                            (iii) industry-wide statistics;
                            (iv) statistics for particular geographic 
                        regions; or
                            (v) statistics for particular licensee 
                        classifications.
    (c) Commission Defined.--In this section, the term ``Commission'' 
means the Federal Communications Commission.
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