Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB867 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 867
5	5	To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that the Federal
6	6	Communications Commission may not take action against a broadcast
7	7	licensee or any other person on the basis of viewpoint, and for other
8	8	purposes.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	MARCH5, 2025
11	11	Mr. L
12	12	UJA´N(for himself, Ms. ROSEN, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the fol-
13	13	lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Com-
14	14	merce, Science, and Transportation
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that
17	17	the Federal Communications Commission may not take
18	18	action against a broadcast licensee or any other person
19	19	on the basis of viewpoint, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadcast Freedom 4
24	24	and Independence Act of 2025’’. 5
25	25	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
26	26	Congress finds the following: 7
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29	29	•S 867 IS
30	30	(1) The Federal Communications Commission 1
31	31	(in this section referred to as the ‘‘FCC’’) was estab-2
32	32	lished as an independent agency by the Communica-3
33	33	tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) for the 4
34	34	purpose of ‘‘regulating interstate and foreign com-5
35	35	merce in communication by wire and radio so as to 6
36	36	make available, so far as possible, to all the people 7
37	37	of the United States, without discrimination on the 8
38	38	basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, 9
39	39	a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire 10
40	40	and radio communication service with adequate fa-11
41	41	cilities at reasonable charges. . .’’. 12
42	42	(2) Commissioners at the FCC, an independent 13
43	43	agency, are confirmed by Congress for specified 14
44	44	terms and the President does not have the power to 15
45	45	remove them at will. 16
46	46	(3) The independence of the FCC is paramount 17
47	47	to the FCC carrying out its mission without political 18
48	48	pressure or intimidation. 19
49	49	(4) The FCC’s priorities and agenda must be 20
50	50	set by the FCC without undue influence from the 21
51	51	President or any advisors to the President who do 22
52	52	not work for the FCC. 23
53	53	(5) As established in section 326 of the Com-24
54	54	munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 326), nothing 25
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57	57	•S 867 IS
58	58	in the FCC’s authority ‘‘shall be understood or con-1
59	59	strued to give the Commission the power of censor-2
60	60	ship over the radio communications or signals trans-3
61	61	mitted by any radio station, and no regulation or 4
62	62	condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Com-5
63	63	mission which shall interfere with the right of free 6
64	64	speech by means of radio communication’’. 7
65	65	(6) Investigations and threats of Commission 8
66	66	action or inaction must not be used to suppress cer-9
67	67	tain viewpoints or intimidate broadcast licensees into 10
68	68	aligning with any political agenda. 11
69	69	SEC. 3. VIEWPOINT PROTECTION. 12
70	70	Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 13
71	71	U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 14
72	72	following: 15
73	73	‘‘SEC. 14. VIEWPOINT PROTECTION. 16
74	74	‘‘(a) P
75	75	ROHIBITIONAGAINSTRETALIATION ONBASIS 17
76	76	OFVIEWPOINT.—The Commission may not revoke any li-18
77	77	cense or other authorization of, or otherwise take action 19
78	78	against, any person on the basis, in whole or in part, of 20
79	79	viewpoints broadcast or otherwise disseminated by that 21
80	80	person or any person affiliated with that person. 22
81	81	‘‘(b) P
82	82	ROHIBITIONAGAINSTCONDITIONS ONVIEW-23
83	83	POINT INTRANSACTIONREVIEW.—The Commission may 24
84	84	not place on any approval under subsections (a), (b), and 25
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87	87	•S 867 IS
88	88	(c) of section 214 or section 310(d) any condition with 1
89	89	respect to viewpoints broadcast or otherwise disseminated 2
90	90	by the person seeking that approval, any successor of that 3
91	91	person, or any person affiliated with that person or suc-4
92	92	cessor. 5
93	93	‘‘(c) N
94	94	OEFFECT ONCERTAINOTHERAUTHORITY 6
95	95	OFCOMMISSION.—Nothing in this section shall be con-7
96	96	strued to affect the authority of the Commission to take 8
97	97	action on the basis of, or to place a condition on an ap-9
98	98	proval described in subsection (b) with respect to— 10
99	99	‘‘(1) a violation of— 11
100	100	‘‘(A) section 1304 of title 18, United 12
101	101	States Code, or conduct that would constitute a 13
102	102	violation of that section if content disseminated 14
103	103	by means other than radio or television broad-15
104	104	cast were disseminated by means of radio or 16
105	105	television broadcast; 17
106	106	‘‘(B) section 1343 of title 18, United 18
107	107	States Code; or 19
108	108	‘‘(C) section 1464 of title 18, United 20
109	109	States Code, or conduct that would constitute a 21
110	110	violation of that section if content disseminated 22
111	111	by means other than radio communication were 23
112	112	disseminated by means of radio communication; 24
113	113	or 25
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117	117	‘‘(2) the broadcast or other dissemination of 1
118	118	content that constitutes incitement under the First 2
119	119	Amendment to the Constitution of the United 3
120	120	States.’’. 4
121	121	Æ
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