111 HR 226 IH: Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 U.S. House of Representatives 2009-01-07 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

111th CONGRESS 1st Session

H. R. 226

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 7, 2009

Mr. Pence (for himself, Mr. Walden, Mr. Upton, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Cantor, Mr. McCarthy of California, Mr. McCotter, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Dreier, Mr. Carter, Mr. Price of Georgia, Mr. Hensarling, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Akin, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Austria, Mr. Bachus, Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Barton of Texas, Mr. Bilbray, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Bishop of Utah, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Bonner, Mrs. Bono Mack, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Boustany, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. Broun of Georgia, Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida, Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Camp, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Chaffetz, Mr. Coble, Mr. Cole, Mr. Conaway, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Culberson, Mr. Davis of Kentucky, Mr. Deal of Georgia, Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Ms. Fallin, Mr. Flake, Mr. Forbes, Ms. Foxx, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Gallegly, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey, Mr. Gerlach, Mr. Gingrey of Georgia, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Goodlatte, Ms. Granger, Mr. Graves, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Hall of Texas, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Heller, Mr. Herger, Mr. Hoekstra, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Inglis, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Illinois, Mr. Jones, Mr. Jordan of Ohio, Mr. Kingston, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Kline of Minnesota, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Latta, Mr. Lewis of California, Mr. Linder, Mr. LoBiondo, Mr. Lucas, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Daniel E. Lungren of California, Mr. Mack, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Marchant, Mr. McCaul, Mr. McClintock, Mr. McHenry, Mr. McHugh, Mr. McKeon, Mr. Mica, Mr. Miller of Florida, Mrs. Miller of Michigan, Mr. Moran of Kansas, Mr. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, Mr. Paul, Mr. Petri, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Platts, Mr. Posey, Mr. Putnam, Mr. Rehberg, Mr. Reichert, Mr. Royce, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Scalise, Mrs. Schmidt, Mr. Schock, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Shadegg, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Shuster, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Souder, Mr. Stearns, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Terry, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Tiahrt, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Westmoreland, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, and Mr. Wolf) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To prevent the Federal Communications Commission from repromulgating the fairness doctrine.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the

Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009

Fairness doctrine prohibited

Title III of the Communications Act of 1934 is amended by inserting after section 303 (47 U.S.C. 303) the following new section:

303A.

Limitation on general powers: fairness doctrine

Notwithstanding section 303 or any other provision of this Act or any other Act authorizing the Commission to prescribe rules, regulations, policies, doctrines, standards, or other requirements, the Commission shall not have the authority to prescribe any rule, regulation, policy, doctrine, standard, or other requirement that has the purpose or effect of reinstating or repromulgating (in whole or in part) the requirement that broadcasters present opposing viewpoints on controversial issues of public importance, commonly referred to as the Fairness Doctrine, as repealed in General Fairness Doctrine Obligations of Broadcast Licensees, 50 Fed. Reg. 35418 (1985).