[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2212 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2212

  To require the Federal Communications Commission to comply with the 
    Administrative Procedures Act and to adhere to the policies and 
  purposes of Communications Act of 1934 favoring diversity of media 
 voices, vigorous economic competition, technological advancement, and 
 promotion of the public interest, convenience, and necessity, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2003

 Mr. Conyers (for himself, Mr. Hinchey, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. 
Cummings, Mr. Case, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Lee, Mr. Filner, Ms. Watson, Ms. 
  Solis, Mr. Michaud, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Peterson of Minnesota, Mrs. 
 Jones of Ohio, and Mr. Watt) introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 
    the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Federal Communications Commission to comply with the 
    Administrative Procedures Act and to adhere to the policies and 
  purposes of Communications Act of 1934 favoring diversity of media 
 voices, vigorous economic competition, technological advancement, and 
 promotion of the public interest, convenience, and necessity, 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 ``Maintaining and Ensuring Diversity 
and Integrity on the Airwaves Act of 2003'' or the ``MEDIA Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ACT.

    Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following new subsection:
    ``(e) Notwithstanding subsection (b)(3), an agency may not 
prescribe substantial and extensive revisions to its regulations unless 
such revised regulations have been published in proposed form to afford 
interested persons the opportunity under subsection (c) to submit data, 
views, or arguments thereon.''.

SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF INTERVAL FOR REVIEWS.

    (a) Amendment.--Subsection (a) of section 11 of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 161(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Biennial'' in the heading of such 
        subsection; and
            (2) by striking ``In every even-numbered year (beginning 
        with 1998),'' and inserting ``Once each 5 years (beginning with 
        2008),''.
    (b) Elimination of Special Treatment of Media Rules.--Section 202 
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-104; 110 Stat. 
111) is amended by striking subsection (h).

SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES AND PURPOSES OF THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT 
              OF 1934.

    Section 257 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 257) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Compliance With Policies and Purposes.--
            ``(1) Completion of review and report prior to deregulatory 
        actions.--The Commission shall not take any action under 
        section 11 of this Act to repeal or modify any regulation the 
        Commission determines to be no longer necessary in the public 
        interest unless--
                    ``(A) the Commission has completed the report to 
                Congress required by subsection (c) of this section to 
                be submitted during 2003;
                    ``(B) the Commission has included in a report to 
                Congress under subsection (c) of this section an 
                analysis of how any change of the existing regulations 
                (i) is consistent with the national policy as set forth 
                in subsection (b), and (ii) would affect the barriers 
                to entry identified under subsection (a) of this 
                section; and
                    ``(C) the Commission determines that such repeal or 
                modification is consistent with the removal of such 
                barriers and with the policies and purposes set forth 
                in subsection (b) of this section.
            ``(2) Prohibition of license transfers pending completion 
        of requirements.--Unless the Commission has complied with the 
        requirements of this section (including the requirements of 
        paragraph (1) of this subsection), the Commission shall not 
        approve any application, or group of interrelated applications, 
        for the transfer or assignment under section 309 of any license 
        licenses for a television or radio broadcast station or 
        stations to any party if--
                    ``(A) such aggregate value of the transaction or 
                transactions involving such station or stations is in 
                excess of $50,000,000; and
                    ``(B) such party or any of its principal 
                stockholders, partners, or members, officers, or 
                directors, directly or indirectly, owns, operates, or 
                controls another television or radio broadcast 
                station.''.
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