[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 283 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 283

   Affirming the need to protect children in the United States from 
                         indecent programming.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 9, 2003

 Mr. Sessions (for himself, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Brownback, Mr. 
    Nickles, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Talent, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Craig, Mr. 
     Domenici, Mr. Kyl, and Mr. Hollings) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Affirming the need to protect children in the United States from 
                         indecent programming.

Whereas millions of people in the United States are increasingly concerned with 
        the patently offensive television and radio programming being sent into 
        their homes;
Whereas millions of families in the United States are particularly concerned 
        with the adverse impact of this programming on children;
Whereas indecent and offensive programming is contributing to a dramatic 
        coarsening of civil society of the United States;
Whereas the Federal Communications Commission is charged with enforcing 
        standards of decency in broadcast media;
Whereas the Federal Communications Commission established a standard defining 
        what constitutes indecency in the declaratory order In the Matter of a 
        Citizen's Complaint Against Pacifica Foundation Station WBAI(FM), 56 
        F.C.C.2d 94 (1975) (referred to in this Resolution as the ``Pacifica 
        order'');
Whereas the Federal Communications Commission has not used all of its available 
        authority to impose penalties on broadcasters that air indecent material 
        even when egregious and repeated violations have been found in the cases 
        of WKRK-FM, Detroit, MI, File No. EB-02-IH-0109 (April 3, 2003) and 
        WNEW-FM, New York, New York, EB-02-IH-0685 (September 30, 2003).
Whereas the standard established in the Pacifica order focuses on protecting 
        children from exposure to indecent language;
Whereas the standard established in the Pacifica order was upheld as 
        constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Federal 
        Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978);
Whereas the Enforcement Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission has 
        refused to sanction the airing of indecent language during the broadcast 
        of the Golden Globe Awards, at a time when millions of children were in 
        the potential audience; and
Whereas as of December 2003, an application for review is pending before the 
        Federal Communications Commission, requesting that the full Commission 
        review that decision of the Enforcement Bureau: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the Federal Communications Commission should reconsider 
        the Enforcement Bureau's decision in the Matter of Complaints 
        Against Various Broadcast Licensees Regarding Their Airing of 
        the ``Golden Globe Awards'' Program, File No. EB-03-IH-0110, 
        2003 FCC LEXIS 5382, (October 3, 2003), in light of the public 
        policy considerations in protecting children from indecent 
        material.
            (2) the Federal Communications Commission should return to 
        vigorously and expeditiously enforcing its own United States 
        Supreme Court-approved standard for indecency in broadcast 
        media, as established in the declaratory order In the Matter of 
        a Citizen's Complaint Against Pacifica Foundation Station 
        WBAI(FM), 56 F.C.C.2d 94 (1975);
            (3) the Federal Communications Commission should reassert 
        its responsibility as defender of the public interest by 
        undertaking new and serious efforts to sanction broadcast 
        licensees that refuse to adhere to the standard established in 
        that order; and
            (4) the Federal Communications Commission should make every 
        reasonable and lawful effort to protect children from the 
        degrading influences of indecent programming.
            (5) The Federal Communications Commission should use all of 
        its available authority to protect the public from indecent 
        broadcasts including:
                    (A) the discretion to impose fines up to a 
                statutory maximum for each separate ``utterance'' or 
                ``material'' found to be indecent; and
                    (B) the initiation of license revocation 
                proceedings for repeated violations of its indecency 
                rules;
            (6) The Federal Communications Commission should resolve 
        all indecency complaints expeditiously and should consider 
        reviewing such complaints at the full Commission level; and
            (7) The Federal Communications Commission should 
        aggressively investigate and enforce all indecency allegations.
                                 <all>