[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4712 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4712

 To improve the procedures of the Federal Communications Commission in 
              the conduct of congressional communications.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 21, 2000

 Mr. Oxley (for himself, Mr. Stearns, Mr. Largent, and Mr. Pickering) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve the procedures of the Federal Communications Commission in 
              the conduct of congressional communications.

    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 ``FCC De-Politicization Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR CONGRESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS.

    Section 4(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154(j)) 
is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(j)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), no member 
(including the chairman), officer, or employee of the Commission shall 
take any action--
            ``(i) to express the support or opposition of the 
        Commission for any legislation or appropriation, or
            ``(ii) to request or suggest on behalf of the Commission 
        that any organization, entity, or person should communicate to 
        any Member of Congress the support or opposition of the 
        organization, entity, or person for any legislation or 
        appropriation,
unless such action has been approved by majority vote of the 
Commission.
    ``(B) After an action described in clause (i) or (ii) of 
subparagraph (A) has been approved by majority vote, such action may 
only be carried out by the members of the Commission (including the 
chairman) and the staffs in the offices of such members, and may not be 
carried out by the officers or employees of any other bureau, office, 
or other component of the Commission.
    ``(C) Subparagraph (A) shall not prohibit any member of the 
Commission (including the chairman) from expressing the individual 
opinion of such member with respect to any legislation or 
appropriation.
    ``(D) Nothing in this paragraph authorizes any conduct in violation 
of section 1913 of title 18, United States Code.''.
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