II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 459
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY6 (legislative day, FEBRUARY5), 2025
Mr. W
ICKER(for himself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
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 section 207 of the Telecommunications 15
Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 303 note; Public Law 104– 16
104), Congress provided guidance, direction, and au-17
thority to the Commission by directing the Commis-18
sion to promulgate regulations that have preempted 19
all private land use restrictions applicable to exterior 20
communications facilities that impair the ability of 21
citizens to receive television broadcast signals, direct 22
broadcast satellite services, or multichannel 23
multipoint distribution services, or to transmit and 24
receive wireless 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) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
‘‘(1) A
MATEUR OPERATOR .—The term ‘amateur 15
operator’— 16
‘‘(A) has the meaning given such term in 17
section 97.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regu-18
lations, or any successor regulation; and 19
‘‘(B) includes any other person authorized 20
to operate an amateur station in the United 21
States. 22
‘‘(2) A
MATEUR STATION.—The term ‘amateur 23
station’ has the meaning given such term in section 24
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97.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 1
successor regulation. 2
‘‘(3) A
NTENNA.—The term ‘antenna’ in-3
cludes— 4
‘‘(A) the transmitting and receiving ele-5
ments; 6
‘‘(B) any feedline, control enclosures, or 7
electrical enclosures necessary for effective 8
transmission or reception; and 9
‘‘(C) any support structure, guy wire, an-10
chor, or tie-off. 11
‘‘(4) C
OMMUNITY ASSOCIATION .—The term 12
‘community association’ means— 13
‘‘(A) a condominium association (as de-14
fined in section 604 of the Condominium and 15
Cooperative Abuse Relief Act of 1980 (15 16
U.S.C. 3603)); 17
‘‘(B) a cooperative association (as defined 18
in such section); and 19
‘‘(C) a residential real estate management 20
association (as defined in section 528 of the In-21
ternal Revenue Code of 1986). 22
‘‘(5) L
ESSEE.—The term ‘lessee’ means a per-23
son who, in exchange for payment— 24
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‘‘(A) takes temporary possession of resi-1
dential real estate through a lease; or 2
‘‘(B) takes possession, in whole or in part, 3
by lease or purchase, of residential real estate 4
subject to a ground lease. 5
‘‘(6) P
RIVATE LAND USE RESTRICTION .—The 6
term ‘private land use restriction’ means— 7
‘‘(A) a publicly recorded provision (whether 8
such provision is denoted as a covenant, deed 9
restriction, declaration, use restriction, covenant 10
that runs with the land, or otherwise) that— 11
‘‘(i) touches or concerns the real es-12
tate to which the provision applies; and 13
‘‘(ii) limits or restricts the use of the 14
real estate or imposes conditions on the 15
use of the real estate; or 16
‘‘(B) a rule or regulation of a community 17
association, whether publicly recorded or not, 18
that limits or restricts the use of real estate or 19
imposes conditions on the use of real estate. 20
‘‘(b) C
ERTAINRESTRICTIONSPROHIBITED.—A pri-21
vate land use restriction that prohibits, restricts, or im-22
pairs, or has the effect of prohibiting, restricting, or im-23
pairing, an amateur operator from operating, installing, 24
or maintaining any amateur station antenna on property 25
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subject to the control of the amateur operator may not 1
be adopted or enforced, except as permitted by subsection 2
(c). 3
‘‘(c) P
ERMISSIBLERESTRICTIONS.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 5
the following private land use restrictions applicable 6
to amateur station antennas may be adopted or en-7
forced: 8
‘‘(A) A restriction that requires an ama-9
teur station antenna to be installed in compli-10
ance with the specifications of the manufacturer 11
of the antenna, applicable zoning ordinances, 12
amateur radio tower ordinances (if any), and 13
governmentally adopted building codes. 14
‘‘(B) A restriction that requires an ama-15
teur station antenna to be maintained in a 16
structurally safe condition. 17
‘‘(C) A restriction that requires any dete-18
riorated or structurally unsafe component of an 19
amateur station antenna to be repaired, re-20
placed, or removed. 21
‘‘(D) A restriction that requires an ama-22
teur station antenna to be removed if the prop-23
erty on which the antenna is located ceases to 24
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be subject to the control of an amateur oper-1
ator. 2
‘‘(E) A restriction that requires an ama-3
teur station antenna ground-mounted electrical 4
enclosure, ground-mounted control enclosure, or 5
guy wire anchor to be visually screened if such 6
enclosure or anchor— 7
‘‘(i) is visible from the street faced by 8
the dwelling; or 9
‘‘(ii) is located in an unfenced side or 10
rear yard and is visible from an adjoining 11
property. 12
‘‘(2) R
EASONABLE APPLICATION AND ENFORCE -13
MENT.—A private land use restriction permitted by 14
paragraph (1) shall be reasonably applied and en-15
forced. 16
‘‘(d) L
IMITATIONS ONPRIORAPPROVAL.— 17
‘‘(1) R
EQUIREMENT NOT PRESENT IN LAND 18
RECORDS AT TIME OF PURCHASE OR LEASE .—A re-19
quirement in a private land use restriction for an 20
amateur operator to obtain prior approval for the in-21
stallation of an amateur station antenna may not be 22
adopted or enforced if such requirement for prior 23
approval was not present in the publicly recorded 24
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land records prior to the purchase or lease of the 1
property by the amateur operator. 2
‘‘(2) I
NFORMATION REQUIRED FOR PRIOR AP -3
PROVAL.—A private land use restriction that re-4
quires an amateur operator to submit an application 5
for approval of an amateur station antenna prior to 6
installation may not be adopted or enforced if the in-7
formation required to be submitted as part of the 8
application is greater or more detailed than the in-9
formation required to be submitted as part of an ap-10
plication for any other improvement. 11
‘‘(3) D
EEMED APPROVAL.—If a community as-12
sociation or other person authorized to enforce a pri-13
vate land use restriction applicable to an amateur 14
station antenna does not approve or deny an appli-15
cation of an amateur operator for approval of the in-16
stallation of an amateur station antenna by the day 17
that is 45 days after the date on which the applica-18
tion is submitted, the application shall be deemed to 19
be approved on the 45th day. 20
‘‘(4) E
XISTING APPROVAL.—If a private land 21
use restriction requires an amateur operator to sub-22
mit an application for approval of an amateur sta-23
tion antenna prior to installation, after a community 24
association or other person authorized to enforce the 25
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restriction approves the application, no further ap-1
proval of the antenna may be required, unless there 2
is a material change in the dimensions or structural 3
integrity of the antenna. 4
‘‘(e) A
NTENNASTHATDONOTREQUIREPRIORAP-5
PROVAL.—A requirement in a private land use restriction 6
for an amateur operator to obtain prior approval for the 7
installation of an amateur station antenna may not be 8
adopted or enforced with respect to any of the following 9
types of amateur station antennas: 10
‘‘(1) 1
METER OR LESS IN DIAMETER OR DI -11
AGONAL MEASUREMENT .—An antenna for use by an 12
amateur operator that is less than 1 meter in diame-13
ter or diagonal measurement, or having other meas-14
urements prescribed by the Commission. 15
‘‘(2) F
LAGPOLE ANTENNAS .—A flagpole, capa-16
ble of dual use as a flagpole and an amateur station 17
antenna, not greater than 43 feet in height above 18
ground. 19
‘‘(3) W
IRE ANTENNAS.—Minimally obtrusive 20
wire antennas, of a length necessary for the fre-21
quency of use intended. 22
‘‘(4) V
ERTICAL ANTENNAS.—Vertical antennas, 23
not to exceed 43 feet in height above ground, includ-24
ing collapsible whip and tilt-over antennas. 25
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‘‘(f) RULES OFCONSTRUCTION.— 1
‘‘(1) C
ONTROL OF PROPERTY .—For purposes of 2
this section, property is subject to the control of an 3
amateur operator if the amateur operator is an 4
owner, lessee, or legal resident of the property. 5
‘‘(2) I
MPAIRMENT OF INSTALLATION , MAINTE-6
NANCE, OR OPERATION.—For purposes of this sec-7
tion, a private land use restriction prohibits, re-8
stricts, or impairs the installation, maintenance, or 9
operation of an amateur station antenna if the re-10
striction— 11
‘‘(A) unreasonably delays or prevents in-12
stallation, maintenance, or operation of the an-13
tenna; 14
‘‘(B) unreasonably increases the costs or 15
difficulty of installation, maintenance, or oper-16
ation of the antenna; or 17
‘‘(C) prevents or degrades reception or 18
transmission of a signal acceptable to the ama-19
teur operator. 20
‘‘(3) L
IMITED COMMON AREA .— 21
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of this 22
section, if there exists, within the property for 23
which a community association is responsible, a 24
limited common area to which an amateur oper-25
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ator has the right to exclude use by others, the 1
limited common area shall be treated as prop-2
erty under the control of the amateur operator. 3
‘‘(B) P
ERMISSION ACCESS.—For purposes 4
of subparagraph (A), access by a community 5
association for roof repairs, landscaping, or 6
other maintenance activities shall be treated as 7
a permission, or authorized access, which does 8
not limit or destroy the control of the amateur 9
operator. 10
‘‘(g) E
NFORCEMENT.— 11
‘‘(1) S
TAY OF ENFORCEMENT .—If an action is 12
initiated to seek a declaratory ruling from the Com-13
mission or a court of competent jurisdiction regard-14
ing whether a private land use restriction complies 15
with this section, any community association or 16
other person seeking to enforce the restriction shall 17
suspend all enforcement efforts with respect to the 18
restriction until a ruling in the action has become 19
final. 20
‘‘(2) P
ROHIBITION ON ACCRUAL OF PENALTIES 21
OR OTHER COSTS.—No penalty or other cost related 22
to an amateur station antenna may accrue against 23
an amateur operator under a private land use re-24
striction while an action described in paragraph (1) 25
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is pending to determine whether the restriction com-1
plies with this section. 2
‘‘(3) B
URDEN OF PROOF.— 3
‘‘(A) R
EGARDING COMPLIANCE WITH THIS 4
SECTION.—In any action before the Commis-5
sion or a court of competent jurisdiction involv-6
ing the interpretation of any provision of this 7
section, the burden of demonstrating that a 8
particular private land use restriction complies 9
with this section shall be on the party that 10
seeks to impose, maintain, or enforce the re-11
striction. 12
‘‘(B) R
EGARDING VIOLATION OF PRIVATE 13
LAND USE RESTRICTION .—In any action before 14
the Commission or a court of competent juris-15
diction to determine whether an amateur sta-16
tion antenna violates a private land use restric-17
tion, the party alleging the violation bears the 18
burden of proof. 19
‘‘(h) P
RIVATERIGHT OFACTION.—A person harmed 20
by a violation of this section may bring an action against 21
the person alleged to have committed the violation in an 22
appropriate district court of the United States without 23
first exhausting remedies under State law. 24
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‘‘(i) AFFIRMATION OF LIMITEDPREEMPTION OF 1
S
TATE ANDLOCALLANDUSEREGULATION.—Nothing in 2
this section shall be construed to modify or otherwise limit 3
the applicability of section 97.15(b) of title 47, Code of 4
Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.’’. 5
(b) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 6
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu-7
nications Commission shall promulgate regulations to im-8
plement the amendment made by subsection (a). 9
Æ
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