[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 449 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 449

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require radio and television 
     broadcasters to provide free broadcasting time for political 
                              advertising.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 1993

  Mr. Bliley 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.

    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 ``Political Broadcasting Access Act of 
1993''.

SEC. 2. ALLOCATION TO POLITICAL PARTIES 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 
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) and (d) as subsections 
        (d) and (e), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(c)(1) Each license for a 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 party in accordance with the 
following standards:
            ``(A) Such licensee shall allot an equal amount, but not 
        less than 2 hours, of free broadcast time annually to--
                    ``(i) the national organization of each qualified 
                political party; and
                    ``(ii) the State organization of each qualified 
                political party of the State within which the 
                preponderance of the station's audience resides.
            ``(B) The 2 or more hours of free broadcast time allotted 
        to any organization 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 
        organization 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 to 10 p.m. on weekdays;
                    ``(ii) during any even numbered year, at least two-
                thirds is broadcast during the two months immediately 
                preceding election day and at least one-half is 
                broadcast during the three weeks immediately preceding 
                election day;
                    ``(iii) each national organization of a qualified 
                political party is allotted free broadcast time that is 
                comparable, by time of day and day of week, to the time 
                allotted to other such national organizations, and each 
                State organization of a qualified political party is 
                allotted free broadcast time that is comparable, by 
                time of day and day of week, to the time allotted to 
                other such State organizations.
    ``(3) A political party shall be treated as a qualified political 
party for purposes of paragraph (2)(A) if the candidate for President 
of such party in the most recent presidential election received more 
than 5 percent of the total number of votes cast by individuals for 
that office, except that, in the case of any political party whose 
candidate (as described in subparagraph (A) or (B)) received less than 
33\1/3\ percent of such total votes, the amount of free broadcast time 
required to be allotted under clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (2)(A) 
shall be reduced by 0.4 hours for each percent of such vote received 
that is less than 33\1/3\ percent.
    ``(4) A licensee allots free broadcast time as required by this 
subsection by broadcasting the statements, presentations, 
announcements, or other sounds or visual images requested to be 
broadcast by a political organization 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. FREE CABLE TIME.

    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 organizations, and subject to the same conditions as 
free broadcast time is required to be provided by broadcast station 
licensees under section 315(c) of this Act. 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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