Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009

Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), notwithstanding any other provision of any Act, from having the authority to require broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on controversial issues of public importance, commonly referred to as the Fairness Doctrine.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 226 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 226

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    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.

    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 ``Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. 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:

``SEC. 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).''.
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