[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

                                _______
                                

   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).

                                  
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