I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 979
To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule requiring access
to AM broadcast stations in motor vehicles, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY5, 2025
Mr. B
ILIRAKIS(for himself and Mr. PALLONE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in
addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, and Transportation
and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule
requiring access to AM broadcast stations in motor vehi-
cles, 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 ‘‘AM Radio for Every 4
Vehicle Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 2
Emergency Management Agency. 3
(2) AM
BROADCAST BAND .—The term ‘‘AM 4
broadcast band’’ means the band of frequencies be-5
tween 535 kilohertz and 1705 kilohertz, inclusive. 6
(3) AM
BROADCAST STATION.—The term ‘‘AM 7
broadcast station’’ means a radio broadcast sta-8
tion— 9
(A) licensed by the Federal Communica-10
tions Commission for the dissemination of radio 11
communications intended to be received by the 12
public; and 13
(B) operated on a channel in the AM 14
broadcast band. 15
(4) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -16
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-17
gress’’ means— 18
(A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 19
and Transportation of the Senate; 20
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 21
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 22
(C) the Committee on Transportation and 23
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; 24
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(D) the Committee on Homeland Security 1
of the House of Representatives; and 2
(E) the Committee on Energy and Com-3
merce of the House of Representatives. 4
(5) C
OMPTROLLER GENERAL .—The term 5
‘‘Comptroller General’’ means the Comptroller Gen-6
eral of the United States. 7
(6) D
EVICE.—The term ‘‘device’’ means a piece 8
of equipment or an apparatus that is designed— 9
(A) to receive signals transmitted by a 10
radio broadcast station; and 11
(B) to play back content or programming 12
derived from those signals. 13
(7) D
IGITAL AUDIO AM BROADCAST STATION .— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘digital 15
audio AM broadcast station’’ means an AM 16
broadcast station that uses an In Band On 17
Channel DAB System (as defined in section 18
73.402 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations 19
(or a successor regulation)) for broadcasting 20
purposes. 21
(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘digital audio 22
AM broadcast station’’ does not include an All- 23
digital AM station (as defined in section 73.402 24
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of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or a 1
successor regulation)). 2
(8) IPAWS.—The term ‘‘IPAWS’’ means the 3
public alert and warning system of the United 4
States described in section 526 of the Homeland Se-5
curity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 321o). 6
(9) M
ANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac-7
turer’’ has the meaning given the term in section 8
30102(a) of title 49, United States Code. 9
(10) P
ASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLE .—The term 10
‘‘passenger motor vehicle’’ has the meaning given 11
the term in section 32101 of title 49, United States 12
Code. 13
(11) R
ADIO BROADCAST STATION .—The term 14
‘‘radio broadcast station’’ has the meaning given the 15
term in section 3 of the Communications Act of 16
1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 17
(12) R
ADIO STATION LICENSE .—The term 18
‘‘radio station license’’ has the meaning given the 19
term in section 3 of the Communications Act of 20
1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 21
(13) R
ECEIVE.—The term ‘‘receive’’ means to 22
receive a broadcast signal via over-the-air trans-23
mission. 24
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(14) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 1
means the Secretary of Transportation. 2
(15) S
IGNAL.—The term ‘‘signal’’ means radio 3
frequency energy that a holder of a radio station li-4
cense intentionally emits or causes to be emitted at 5
a specified frequency for the purpose of transmitting 6
content or programming to the public. 7
(16) S
TANDARD EQUIPMENT .—The term 8
‘‘standard equipment’’ means motor vehicle equip-9
ment (as defined in section 30102(a) of title 49, 10
United States Code) that— 11
(A) is installed as a system, part, or com-12
ponent of a passenger motor vehicle as origi-13
nally manufactured; and 14
(B) the manufacturer of the passenger 15
motor vehicle recommends or authorizes to be 16
included in the passenger motor vehicle for no 17
additional or separate monetary fee, payment, 18
or surcharge, beyond the base price of the pas-19
senger motor vehicle. 20
(17) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 21
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 22
each commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 23
United States, and each federally recognized Indian 24
Tribe. 25
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SEC. 3. AM BROADCAST STATIONS RULE. 1
(a) R
ULEREQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year after 2
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in con-3
sultation with the Administrator and the Federal Commu-4
nications Commission, shall issue a rule— 5
(1) requiring devices that can receive signals 6
and play content transmitted by AM broadcast sta-7
tions be installed as standard equipment in pas-8
senger motor vehicles— 9
(A) manufactured in the United States for 10
sale in the United States, imported into the 11
United States, or shipped in interstate com-12
merce; and 13
(B) manufactured after the effective date 14
of the rule; 15
(2) requiring access to AM broadcast stations 16
through the devices required under paragraph (1) in 17
a manner that is easily accessible to drivers; and 18
(3) allowing a manufacturer to comply with 19
that rule by installing devices as described in para-20
graph (1) that can receive signals and play content 21
transmitted by digital audio AM broadcast stations. 22
(b) C
OMPLIANCE.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-24
graph (2), in issuing the rule required under sub-25
section (a), the Secretary shall establish an effective 26
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date for the rule that is not less than 2 years, but 1
not more than 3 years, after the date on which the 2
rule is issued. 3
(2) C
ERTAIN MANUFACTURERS .—In issuing the 4
rule required under subsection (a), the Secretary 5
shall establish an effective date for the rule that is 6
at least 4 years after the date on which the rule is 7
issued with respect to manufacturers that manufac-8
tured not more than 40,000 passenger motor vehi-9
cles for sale in the United States in 2022. 10
(c) I
NTERIMREQUIREMENT.—For passenger motor 11
vehicles manufactured after the date of enactment of this 12
Act and manufactured in the United States for sale in 13
the United States, imported into the United States, or 14
shipped in interstate commerce during the period begin-15
ning on the day after the date of enactment of this Act 16
and ending on the day before the effective date of the rule 17
issued under subsection (a) that do not include devices 18
that can receive signals and play content transmitted by 19
AM broadcast stations, the manufacturer of the passenger 20
motor vehicles— 21
(1) shall provide clear and conspicuous labeling 22
to inform purchasers of those passenger motor vehi-23
cles that the passenger motor vehicles do not include 24
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devices that can receive signals and play content 1
transmitted by AM broadcast stations; and 2
(2) may not charge an additional or separate 3
monetary fee, payment, or surcharge, beyond the 4
base price of the passenger motor vehicles, for access 5
to AM broadcast stations for the period described in 6
this subsection. 7
(d) R
ELATIONSHIP TOOTHERLAWS.—After the date 8
of enactment of this Act, a State or a political subdivision 9
of a State may not prescribe or continue in effect a law, 10
regulation, or other requirement applicable to access to 11
AM broadcast stations in passenger motor vehicles. 12
(e) E
NFORCEMENT.— 13
(1) C
IVIL PENALTY.—Any person who violates 14
the rule issued under subsection (a) shall be liable 15
to the United States Government for a civil penalty 16
under section 30165(a)(1) of title 49, United States 17
Code, as if that rule were a regulation described in 18
that section. 19
(2) C
IVIL ACTION.—The Attorney General may 20
bring a civil action under section 30163 of title 49, 21
United States Code, in an appropriate district court 22
of the United States to enjoin a violation of the rule 23
issued under subsection (a) of this section, as if that 24
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rule were a regulation described in subsection (a)(1) 1
of that section 30163. 2
(f) GAO S
TUDY.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Comptroller General 4
shall conduct a comprehensive study on dissemi-5
nating emergency alerts and warnings to the public. 6
(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The study required 7
under paragraph (1) shall include— 8
(A) an assessment of— 9
(i) the role of passenger motor vehi-10
cles in IPAWS communications, including 11
by providing access to AM broadcast sta-12
tions; 13
(ii) the advantages, effectiveness, limi-14
tations, resilience, and accessibility of ex-15
isting IPAWS communication technologies, 16
including AM broadcast stations in pas-17
senger motor vehicles; 18
(iii) the advantages, effectiveness, lim-19
itations, resilience, and accessibility of AM 20
broadcast stations relative to other IPAWS 21
communication technologies in passenger 22
motor vehicles; and 23
(iv) whether other IPAWS commu-24
nication technologies are capable of ensur-25
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ing the President (or a designee) can reach 1
at least 90 percent of the population of the 2
United States at a time of crisis, including 3
at night; and 4
(B) a description of any ongoing efforts to 5
integrate new and emerging technologies and 6
communication platforms into the IPAWS 7
framework. 8
(3) C
ONSULTATION REQUIRED .—In conducting 9
the study required under paragraph (1), the Comp-10
troller General shall consult with— 11
(A) the Secretary of Homeland Security; 12
(B) the Federal Communications Commis-13
sion; 14
(C) the National Telecommunications and 15
Information Administration; 16
(D) the Secretary; 17
(E) Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, and 18
local emergency management officials; 19
(F) first responders; 20
(G) technology experts in resilience and ac-21
cessibility; 22
(H) radio broadcasters; 23
(I) manufacturers of passenger motor vehi-24
cles; and 25
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(J) other relevant stakeholders, as deter-1
mined by the Comptroller General. 2
(4) B
RIEFING AND REPORT.— 3
(A) B
RIEFING.—Not later than 1 year 4
after the date of enactment of this Act, the 5
Comptroller General shall brief the appropriate 6
committees of Congress on the results of the 7
study required by paragraph (1), including rec-8
ommendations for legislation and administrative 9
action as the Comptroller General determines 10
appropriate. 11
(B) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days 12
after the date on which the Comptroller General 13
provides the briefing required under subpara-14
graph (A), the Comptroller General shall sub-15
mit to the appropriate committees of Congress 16
a report describing the results of the study re-17
quired under paragraph (1), including rec-18
ommendations for legislation and administrative 19
action as the Comptroller General determines 20
appropriate. 21
(g) R
EVIEW.—Not less frequently than once every 5 22
years after the date on which the Secretary issues the rule 23
required by subsection (a), the Secretary, in coordination 24
with the Administrator and the Federal Communications 25
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Commission, shall submit to the appropriate committees 1
of Congress a report that shall include an assessment of— 2
(1) the impacts of the rule issued under that 3
subsection, including the impacts on public safety; 4
and 5
(2) possible changes to IPAWS communication 6
technologies that would enable resilient and acces-7
sible alerts to drivers and passengers of passenger 8
motor vehicles. 9
(h) S
UNSET.—The rule issued pursuant to subsection 10
(a) shall sunset and no longer be in effect on the date 11
that is 10 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 12
including the authority of the Secretary to carry out or 13
enforce that rule. 14
Æ
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