I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1094
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the application of
certain private land use restrictions to amateur station antennas, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY6, 2025
Mr. P
FLUGER(for himself and Mr. COURTNEY) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the
application of certain private land use restrictions to
amateur station antennas, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Amateur Radio Emer-4
gency Preparedness Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) More than 770,000 amateur operators in 8
the United States are licensed by the Federal Com-9
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munications Commission (in this section referred to 1
as the ‘‘Commission’’) in the amateur radio services, 2
and, by treaty, amateur operators licensed by other 3
countries are authorized to operate within the 4
United States. 5
(2) Amateur radio, in addition to providing life- 6
saving emergency communications at no cost to tax-7
payers, provides a fertile ground for technical self- 8
training in modern telecommunications, electronics 9
technology, and emergency communications tech-10
niques and protocols. 11
(3) There is a strong Federal interest in the ef-12
fective performance of amateur stations established 13
at the residences of amateur operators. Among other 14
reasons, when an emergency arises, it can be too 15
late, and too dangerous, to erect an effective an-16
tenna. However, amateur stations have been shown 17
to be frequently and increasingly precluded by un-18
reasonable private land use restrictions, including re-19
strictive covenants. 20
(4) Commission regulations have for more than 21
3 decades prohibited State and local regulation of 22
amateur station antenna structures that precludes 23
or fails to reasonably accommodate amateur service 24
communications, or that does not constitute the min-25
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imum practicable regulation to accomplish a legiti-1
mate State or local purpose. The policy of the Com-2
mission has been and is to require States and local-3
ities to permit erection of a station antenna struc-4
ture at heights and dimensions sufficient to reason-5
ably accommodate amateur service communications. 6
The Commission struck an appropriate balance by 7
enabling effective use of the amateur service without 8
burdening localities and adjoining properties. 9
(5) The Commission has sought guidance and 10
direction from Congress with respect to the applica-11
tion of the Commission’s limited preemption policy 12
regarding amateur service communications to private 13
land use restrictions, including restrictive covenants. 14
(6) In 1996, Congress provided guidance, direc-15
tion, and authority to the Commission by directing 16
the Commission to promulgate regulations (Public 17
Law 104–104, title II, section 207, 110 Stat. 114; 18
47 U.S.C. 303 note) that have preempted all private 19
land use restrictions applicable to exterior commu-20
nications facilities that impair the ability of citizens 21
to receive television broadcast signals, direct broad-22
cast satellite services, or multichannel multipoint 23
distribution services, or to transmit and receive wire-24
less internet services. 25
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(7) To further the public interest benefits that 1
amateur radio brings to society, private land use re-2
strictions that prohibit, restrict, or impair amateur 3
operators from operating, installing, or maintaining 4
effective outdoor amateur station antenna structures 5
should also be preempted. 6
SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF PRIVATE LAND USE RESTRIC-7
TIONS TO AMATEUR STATION ANTENNAS. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Part I of title III of the Commu-9
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended 10
by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘SEC. 346. APPLICATION OF PRIVATE LAND USE RESTRIC-12
TIONS TO AMATEUR STATION ANTENNAS. 13
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—A private land use restriction 14
that prohibits, restricts, or impairs, or has the effect of 15
prohibiting, restricting, or impairing, an amateur operator 16
from operating, installing, or maintaining any amateur 17
station antenna on property subject to the control of the 18
amateur operator may not be adopted or enforced, except 19
as permitted by subsection (b). 20
‘‘(b) P
ERMISSIBLERESTRICTIONS.— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 22
the following private land use restrictions applicable 23
to amateur station antennas may be adopted or en-24
forced: 25
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‘‘(A) A restriction that requires an ama-1
teur station antenna to be installed in compli-2
ance with the specifications of the manufacturer 3
of the antenna, applicable zoning ordinances, 4
amateur radio tower ordinances (if any), and 5
governmentally adopted building codes. 6
‘‘(B) A restriction that requires an ama-7
teur station antenna to be maintained in a 8
structurally safe condition. 9
‘‘(C) A restriction that requires any dete-10
riorated or structurally unsafe component of an 11
amateur station antenna to be repaired, re-12
placed, or removed. 13
‘‘(D) A restriction that requires an ama-14
teur station antenna to be removed if the prop-15
erty on which the antenna is located ceases to 16
be subject to the control of an amateur oper-17
ator. 18
‘‘(E) A restriction that requires an ama-19
teur station antenna ground-mounted electrical 20
enclosure, ground-mounted control enclosure, or 21
guy wire anchor to be visually screened if such 22
enclosure or anchor— 23
‘‘(i) is visible from the street faced by 24
the dwelling; or 25
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‘‘(ii) is located in an unfenced side or 1
rear yard and is visible from an adjoining 2
property. 3
‘‘(2) R
EASONABLE APPLICATION AND ENFORCE -4
MENT.—A private land use restriction permitted by 5
paragraph (1) shall be reasonably applied and en-6
forced. 7
‘‘(c) L
IMITATIONS ONPRIORAPPROVAL.— 8
‘‘(1) R
EQUIREMENT NOT PRESENT IN LAND 9
RECORDS AT TIME OF PURCHASE OR LEASE .—A re-10
quirement in a private land use restriction for an 11
amateur operator to obtain prior approval for the in-12
stallation of an amateur station antenna may not be 13
adopted or enforced if such requirement for prior 14
approval was not present in the publicly recorded 15
land records prior to the purchase or lease of the 16
property by the amateur operator. 17
‘‘(2) I
NFORMATION REQUIRED FOR PRIOR AP -18
PROVAL.—A private land use restriction that re-19
quires an amateur operator to submit an application 20
for approval of an amateur station antenna prior to 21
installation may not be adopted or enforced if the in-22
formation required to be submitted as part of the 23
application is greater or more detailed than the in-24
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formation required to be submitted as part of an ap-1
plication for any other improvement. 2
‘‘(3) D
EEMED APPROVAL.—If a community as-3
sociation or other person authorized to enforce a pri-4
vate land use restriction applicable to an amateur 5
station antenna does not approve or deny an appli-6
cation of an amateur operator for approval of the in-7
stallation of an amateur station antenna by the day 8
that is 45 days after the date on which the applica-9
tion is submitted, the application shall be deemed to 10
be approved on the 45th day. 11
‘‘(4) E
XISTING APPROVAL.—If a private land 12
use restriction requires an amateur operator to sub-13
mit an application for approval of an amateur sta-14
tion antenna prior to installation, after a community 15
association or other person authorized to enforce the 16
restriction approves the application, no further ap-17
proval of the antenna may be required, unless there 18
is a material change in the dimensions or structural 19
integrity of the antenna. 20
‘‘(d) A
NTENNASTHATDONOTREQUIREPRIORAP-21
PROVAL.—A requirement in a private land use restriction 22
for an amateur operator to obtain prior approval for the 23
installation of an amateur station antenna may not be 24
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adopted or enforced with respect to any of the following 1
types of amateur station antennas: 2
‘‘(1) 1
METER OR LESS IN DIAMETER OR DI -3
AGONAL MEASUREMENT .—An antenna for use by an 4
amateur operator that is less than 1 meter in diame-5
ter or diagonal measurement, or having other meas-6
urements prescribed by the Commission. 7
‘‘(2) F
LAGPOLE ANTENNAS .—A flagpole, capa-8
ble of dual use as a flagpole and an amateur station 9
antenna, not greater than 43 feet in height above 10
ground. 11
‘‘(3) W
IRE ANTENNAS.—Minimally obtrusive 12
wire antennas, of a length necessary for the fre-13
quency of use intended. 14
‘‘(4) V
ERTICAL ANTENNAS.—Vertical antennas, 15
not to exceed 43 feet in height above ground, includ-16
ing collapsible whip and tilt-over antennas. 17
‘‘(e) R
ULES OFCONSTRUCTION.— 18
‘‘(1) C
ONTROL OF PROPERTY .—For purposes of 19
this section, property is subject to the control of an 20
amateur operator if the amateur operator is an 21
owner, lessee, or legal resident of the property. 22
‘‘(2) I
MPAIRMENT OF INSTALLATION , MAINTE-23
NANCE, OR OPERATION.—For purposes of this sec-24
tion, a private land use restriction prohibits, re-25
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stricts, or impairs the installation, maintenance, or 1
operation of an amateur station antenna if the re-2
striction— 3
‘‘(A) unreasonably delays or prevents in-4
stallation, maintenance, or operation of the an-5
tenna; 6
‘‘(B) unreasonably increases the costs or 7
difficulty of installation, maintenance, or oper-8
ation of the antenna; or 9
‘‘(C) prevents or degrades reception or 10
transmission of a signal acceptable to the ama-11
teur operator. 12
‘‘(3) L
IMITED COMMON AREA .— 13
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of this 14
section, if there exists, within the property for 15
which a community association is responsible, a 16
limited common area to which an amateur oper-17
ator has the right to exclude use by others, the 18
limited common area shall be treated as prop-19
erty under the control of the amateur operator. 20
‘‘(B) P
ERMISSION ACCESS.—For purposes 21
of subparagraph (A), access by a community 22
association for roof repairs, landscaping, or 23
other maintenance activities shall be treated as 24
a permission, or authorized access, which does 25
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not limit or destroy the control of the amateur 1
operator. 2
‘‘(f) E
NFORCEMENT.— 3
‘‘(1) S
TAY OF ENFORCEMENT .—If an action is 4
initiated to seek a declaratory ruling from the Com-5
mission or a court of competent jurisdiction regard-6
ing whether a private land use restriction complies 7
with this section, any community association or 8
other person seeking to enforce the restriction shall 9
suspend all enforcement efforts with respect to the 10
restriction until a ruling in the action has become 11
final. 12
‘‘(2) P
ROHIBITION ON ACCRUAL OF PENALTIES 13
OR OTHER COSTS.—No penalty or other cost related 14
to an amateur station antenna may accrue against 15
an amateur operator under a private land use re-16
striction while an action described in paragraph (1) 17
is pending to determine whether the restriction com-18
plies with this section. 19
‘‘(3) B
URDEN OF PROOF.— 20
‘‘(A) R
EGARDING COMPLIANCE WITH THIS 21
SECTION.—In any action before the Commis-22
sion or a court of competent jurisdiction involv-23
ing the interpretation of any provision of this 24
section, the burden of demonstrating that a 25
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particular private land use restriction complies 1
with this section shall be on the party that 2
seeks to impose, maintain, or enforce the re-3
striction. 4
‘‘(B) R
EGARDING VIOLATION OF PRIVATE 5
LAND USE RESTRICTION .—In any action before 6
the Commission or a court of competent juris-7
diction to determine whether an amateur sta-8
tion antenna violates a private land use restric-9
tion, the party alleging the violation bears the 10
burden of proof. 11
‘‘(g) P
RIVATERIGHT OFACTION.—A person harmed 12
by a violation of this section may bring an action against 13
the person alleged to have committed the violation in an 14
appropriate district court of the United States without 15
first exhausting remedies under State law. 16
‘‘(h) A
FFIRMATION OF LIMITEDPREEMPTION OF 17
S
TATE ANDLOCALLANDUSEREGULATION.—Nothing in 18
this section shall be construed to modify or otherwise limit 19
the applicability of section 97.15(b) of title 47, Code of 20
Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation. 21
‘‘(i) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 22
‘‘(1) A
MATEUR OPERATOR .—The term ‘amateur 23
operator’— 24
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‘‘(A) has the meaning given such term in 1
section 97.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regu-2
lations, or any successor regulation; and 3
‘‘(B) includes any other person authorized 4
to operate an amateur station in the United 5
States. 6
‘‘(2) A
MATEUR STATION.—The term ‘amateur 7
station’ has the meaning given such term in section 8
97.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 9
successor regulation. 10
‘‘(3) A
NTENNA.—The term ‘antenna’ in-11
cludes— 12
‘‘(A) the transmitting and receiving ele-13
ments; 14
‘‘(B) any feedline, control enclosures, or 15
electrical enclosures necessary for effective 16
transmission or reception; and 17
‘‘(C) any support structure, guy wire, an-18
chor, or tie-off. 19
‘‘(4) C
OMMUNITY ASSOCIATION .—The term 20
‘community association’ means— 21
‘‘(A) a condominium association (as de-22
fined in section 604 of the Condominium and 23
Cooperative Abuse Relief Act of 1980 (15 24
U.S.C. 3603)); 25
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‘‘(B) a cooperative association (as defined 1
in such section); and 2
‘‘(C) a residential real estate management 3
association (as defined in section 528 of the In-4
ternal Revenue Code of 1986). 5
‘‘(5) L
ESSEE.—The term ‘lessee’ means a per-6
son who, in exchange for payment— 7
‘‘(A) takes temporary possession of resi-8
dential real estate through a lease; or 9
‘‘(B) takes possession, in whole or in part, 10
by lease or purchase, of residential real estate 11
subject to a ground lease. 12
‘‘(6) P
RIVATE LAND USE RESTRICTION .—The 13
term ‘private land use restriction’ means— 14
‘‘(A) a publicly recorded provision (whether 15
such provision is denoted as a covenant, deed 16
restriction, declaration, use restriction, covenant 17
that runs with the land, or otherwise) that— 18
‘‘(i) touches or concerns the real es-19
tate to which the provision applies; and 20
‘‘(ii) limits or restricts the use of the 21
real estate or imposes conditions on the 22
use of the real estate; or 23
‘‘(B) a rule or regulation of a community 24
association, whether publicly recorded or not, 25
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that limits or restricts the use of real estate or 1
imposes conditions on the use of real estate.’’. 2
(b) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 3
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu-4
nications Commission shall promulgate regulations to im-5
plement the amendment made by subsection (a). 6
Æ
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