119-hr1880

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1880 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 1880

 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that the Federal 
 Communications Commission may not take action against a broadcast 
 licensee or any other person on the basis of viewpoint, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 5, 2025

 Ms. Matsui (for herself, Ms. Barragan, and Ms. McClellan) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
 Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that the Federal 
 Communications Commission may not take action against a broadcast 
 licensee or any other person on the basis of viewpoint, and for other 
 purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Broadcast Freedom and Independence 
Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) The Federal Communications Commission (in this section 
 referred to as the ``FCC'') was established as an independent 
 agency by the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et 
 seq.) for the purpose of ``regulating interstate and foreign 
 commerce in communication by wire and radio so as to make 
 available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United 
 States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, 
 religion, national origin, or sex, a rapid, efficient, Nation-
 wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with 
 adequate facilities at reasonable charges. . .''.

    (2) Commissioners at the FCC, an independent agency, are 
 confirmed by Congress for specified terms and the President 
 does not have the power to remove them at will.

    (3) The independence of the FCC is paramount to the FCC 
 carrying out its mission without political pressure or 
 intimidation.

    (4) The FCC's priorities and agenda must be set by the FCC 
 without undue influence from the President or any advisors to 
 the President who do not work for the FCC.

    (5) As established in 

section 326 of the Communications Act 
 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 326), nothing in the FCC's authority ``shall 
 be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of 
 censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted 
 by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be 
 promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere 
 with the right of free speech by means of radio 
 communication''.

    (6) Investigations and threats of Commission action or 
 inaction must not be used to suppress certain viewpoints or 
 intimidate broadcast licensees into aligning with any political 
 agenda.

SEC. 3. VIEWPOINT PROTECTION.

 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

``

SEC. 14. VIEWPOINT PROTECTION.

 ``

    (a) Prohibition Against Retaliation on Basis of Viewpoint.--The 
Commission may not revoke any license or other authorization of, or 
otherwise take action against, any person on the basis, in whole or in 
part, of viewpoints broadcast or otherwise disseminated by that person 
or any person affiliated with that person.
 ``

    (b) Prohibition Against Conditions on Viewpoint in Transaction 
Review.--The Commission may not place on any approval under subsections

    (a) ,

    (b) , and
            (c) of 

section 214 or 

section 310
            (d) any condition with 
respect to viewpoints broadcast or otherwise disseminated by the person 
seeking that approval, any successor of that person, or any person 
affiliated with that person or successor.
 ``
            (c) No Effect on Certain Other Authority of Commission.--Nothing 
in this section shall be construed to affect the authority of the 
Commission to take action on the basis of, or to place a condition on 
an approval described in subsection

    (b) with respect to--
 ``

    (1) a violation of--
 ``
        (A) section 1304 of title 18, United States Code, 
 or conduct that would constitute a violation of that 
 section if content disseminated by means other than 
 radio or television broadcast were disseminated by 
 means of radio or television broadcast;
 ``
        (B) section 1343 of title 18, United States Code; 
 or
 ``
            (C) section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, 
 or conduct that would constitute a violation of that 
 section if content disseminated by means other than 
 radio communication were disseminated by means of radio 
 communication; or
 ``

    (2) the broadcast or other dissemination of content that 
 constitutes incitement under the First Amendment to the 
 Constitution of the United States.''.
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