I
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:
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).
.