[House Report 109-6]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
109th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session 109-6
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PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 310, BROADCAST DECENCY ENFORCEMENT
ACT OF 2005
_______
February 15, 2005.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
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Mrs. Capito, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H. Res. 95]
The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration
House Resolution 95, by a nonrecord vote, report the same to
the House with the recommendation that the resolution be
adopted.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF THE RESOLUTION
The resolution provides for the consideration of H.R. 310,
the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005, under a
structured rule. The rule provides one hour of debate in the
House equally divided and controlled by the chairman and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and
Commerce.
The rule waives all points of order against consideration
of the bill. The rule makes in order the amendment printed in
this report, if offered by Representative Upton of Michigan or
his designee, which shall be considered as read, and which
shall be debatable for 20 minutes equally divided and
controlled by the proponent and an opponent. The rule waives
all points of order against the amendment printed in this
report.
Finally, the rule provides one motion to recommit with or
without instructions.
COMMITTEE VOTES
Pursuant to clause 3(b) of House rule XIII the results of
each record vote on an amendment or motion to report, together
with the names of those voting for and against, are printed
below:
Rules Committee record vote No. 3
Date: February 15, 2005.
Measure: H.R. 310, Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of
2005.
Motion by: Ms. Slaughter.
Summary of motion: To make in order and provide appropriate
waivers for the amendment offered by Mr. Hinchey to require the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the connection
between media consolidation and broadcast indecency. It also
reinstates the FCC's media ownership rules as they were on June
1, 2003.
Results: Defeated 3 to 8.
Vote by Members: Diaz-Balart--Nay; Hastings (WA)--Nay;
Sessions--Nay; Putnam--Nay; Capito--Nay; Cole--Nay; Bishop--
Nay; Gingrey--Nay; Slaughter--Yea; McGovern--Yea; Hastings
(FL)--Yea.
Rules Committee record vote No. 4
Date: February 15, 2005.
Measure: H.R. 310, Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of
2005.
Motion by: Mr. Hastings of Florida.
Summary of motion: To make in order and provide appropriate
waivers for the amendment offered by Ms. Slaughter to require
broadcast licensees to air programming that offers diverse
views on issues important to the local communities in which the
licensees broadcast.
Results: Defeated 3 to 8.
Vote by Members: Diaz-Balart--Nay; Hastings (WA)--Nay;
Sessions--Nay; Putnam--Nay; Capito--Nay; Cole--Nay; Bishop--
Nay; Gingrey--Nay; Slaughter--Yea; McGovern--Yea; Hastings
(FL)--Yea.
SUMMARY OF AMENDMENT MADE IN ORDER
(Summary derived from information provided by the amendment
sponsor.)
Upton/Markey: Manager's Amendment. Makes seven changes: (1)
clarifies that the liability standard for non-licensees
(performers, networks) is ``willful and intentional''; (2)
clarifies that for non-licensees to be found liable, the
indecent statement must have been made ``knowing or having a
reason to know'' that the statement would be broadcast; (3)
changes the reference to the ``General Accounting Office'' to
its new name of ``Government Accountability Office''; (4)
provides that if a violator of the provisions of the Act is an
individual, the financial impact of a penalty can be taken into
account; (5) requires the FCC's annual indecency enforcement
report to include data going back to 2000; (6) requires the
GAO's indecency enforcement report to include data going back
to 2000; and (7) requires the FCC to promptly, and regularly
thereafter, update its Policy Statement that provides guidance
on the Indecency Standard. With an increase in penalties on
those who are bound to this standard, it is important that they
have a clear understanding of the precedents affecting them.
(20 minutes.)
TEXT OF AMENDMENT MADE IN ORDER
In section 503(b)(2)(F)(ii) of the Communications Act of 1934
as amended by section 3 of the bill, strike ``and'' at the end
of subclause (I), strike the period at the end of subclause
(II) and insert ``; and'', and after subclause (II) insert the
following new subclause:
(III) if the violator is an
individual, the financial
impact of a forfeiture penalty
on that individual.
In section 503(b)(5)(B)(iv) of the Communications Act of 1934
as amended by section 4(4)(D) of the bill, strike ``willfully
or intentionally made the utterance'' and insert ``willfully
and intentionally made the utterance, knowing or having reason
to know that the utterance would be broadcast''.
In paragraphs (1), (3), (4), and (6) of section 10, strike
``year covered'' and insert ``years covered''.
In section 10, by strike ``Each calendar'' and insert the
following:
(a) Required Contents.--Each calendar
Add at the end of section 10 the following new subsection:
(b) Years Covered.--For purposes of this section, the ``years
covered'' by the report required under this section shall be
the years beginning with calendar year 2000 through the
calendar year preceding the year in which the report is
submitted.
In section 11 of the bill, strike ``General Accounting
Office'' each place it appears and insert ``Government
Accountability Office''.
In section 11(a) of the bill, after ``study examining''
insert the following: ``, with respect to calendar year 2000
through the calendar year preceding the year in which the
report is submitted''.
After section 10, insert the following new section (and
redesignate the succeeding sections accordingly):
SEC. 11. UPDATING GUIDANCE TO THE BROADCAST INDUSTRY REGARDING
INDECENCY.
Within 9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and
at least once every 3 years thereafter, the Federal
Communications Commission shall revise, on the basis of recent
developments in the Commission indecency case law, the
Commission's policy statement to provide industry guidance on
the Commission's interpretation of, and enforcement policies
regarding, the laws and regulations concerning broadcast
indecency, as contained in the policy statement adopted March
14, 2001, and released April 6, 2001 (FCC 01-90).