[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6055 Introduced in House (IH)]
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114th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6055
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
September 15, 2016
Ms. Kaptur introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee 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 Representatives 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 2016''.
SEC. 2. ALLOCATION TO POLITICAL CANDIDATES OF FREE BROADCAST TIME FOR
POLITICAL ADVERTISING.
(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 thereof 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 amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) as
subsections (d) through (f), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following 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 requirements of this subsection. The Commission
shall not renew the license of any licensee who substantially fails or
refuses 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.
``(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
licensee 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 Commission.
``(B) The free broadcast time allotted to any candidate
under subparagraph (A) shall be composed 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
licensee.
``(C) The broadcast time allotted by any licensee 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.;
``(ii) during any election year, at least two-
thirds is broadcast during the 2 months immediately
preceding election day and at least one-half is
broadcast during the 3 weeks immediately 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 4\1/2\
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 4\1/2\ hours,
the time required to be allotted 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 political
candidate for purposes of paragraph (2)(A) if the candidate's party, in
the most recent statewide or national election, received more than 2
percent of the total number of votes.
``(4) A licensee allots free broadcast time as required by this
subsection by broadcasting statements without remuneration or
compensation in any form, whether by public 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 construed to restrict or
otherwise affect the purchase of advertising time under subsection (b)
of this section.''.
SEC. 3. CABLE BROADCASTING OF POLITICAL ADVERTISING.
Section 611 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 531) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following 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 Commission. Such regulations shall, to
the extent practicable, require each such cable operator to provide
such free cable time in the same amounts and manner, to the same
eligible political candidates, and subject to the same conditions as
free broadcast time is required to be provided by television broadcast
station licensees under section 315(c). No 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.''.
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