II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 867
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that the Federal
Communications Commission may not take action against a broadcast
licensee or any other person on the basis of viewpoint, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH5, 2025
Mr. L
UJA´N(for himself, Ms. ROSEN, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Com-
merce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that
the Federal Communications Commission may not take
action against a broadcast licensee or any other person
on the basis of viewpoint, 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 ‘‘Broadcast Freedom 4
and Independence Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) The Federal Communications Commission 1
(in this section referred to as the ‘‘FCC’’) was estab-2
lished as an independent agency by the Communica-3
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) for the 4
purpose of ‘‘regulating interstate and foreign com-5
merce in communication by wire and radio so as to 6
make available, so far as possible, to all the people 7
of the United States, without discrimination on the 8
basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, 9
a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire 10
and radio communication service with adequate fa-11
cilities at reasonable charges. . .’’. 12
(2) Commissioners at the FCC, an independent 13
agency, are confirmed by Congress for specified 14
terms and the President does not have the power to 15
remove them at will. 16
(3) The independence of the FCC is paramount 17
to the FCC carrying out its mission without political 18
pressure or intimidation. 19
(4) The FCC’s priorities and agenda must be 20
set by the FCC without undue influence from the 21
President or any advisors to the President who do 22
not work for the FCC. 23
(5) As established in section 326 of the Com-24
munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 326), nothing 25
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in the FCC’s authority ‘‘shall be understood or con-1
strued to give the Commission the power of censor-2
ship over the radio communications or signals trans-3
mitted by any radio station, and no regulation or 4
condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Com-5
mission which shall interfere with the right of free 6
speech by means of radio communication’’. 7
(6) Investigations and threats of Commission 8
action or inaction must not be used to suppress cer-9
tain viewpoints or intimidate broadcast licensees into 10
aligning with any political agenda. 11
SEC. 3. VIEWPOINT PROTECTION. 12
Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 13
U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 14
following: 15
‘‘SEC. 14. VIEWPOINT PROTECTION. 16
‘‘(a) P
ROHIBITIONAGAINSTRETALIATION ONBASIS 17
OFVIEWPOINT.—The Commission may not revoke any li-18
cense or other authorization of, or otherwise take action 19
against, any person on the basis, in whole or in part, of 20
viewpoints broadcast or otherwise disseminated by that 21
person or any person affiliated with that person. 22
‘‘(b) P
ROHIBITIONAGAINSTCONDITIONS ONVIEW-23
POINT INTRANSACTIONREVIEW.—The Commission may 24
not place on any approval under subsections (a), (b), and 25
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(c) of section 214 or section 310(d) any condition with 1
respect to viewpoints broadcast or otherwise disseminated 2
by the person seeking that approval, any successor of that 3
person, or any person affiliated with that person or suc-4
cessor. 5
‘‘(c) N
OEFFECT ONCERTAINOTHERAUTHORITY 6
OFCOMMISSION.—Nothing in this section shall be con-7
strued to affect the authority of the Commission to take 8
action on the basis of, or to place a condition on an ap-9
proval described in subsection (b) with respect to— 10
‘‘(1) a violation of— 11
‘‘(A) section 1304 of title 18, United 12
States Code, or conduct that would constitute a 13
violation of that section if content disseminated 14
by means other than radio or television broad-15
cast were disseminated by means of radio or 16
television broadcast; 17
‘‘(B) section 1343 of title 18, United 18
States Code; or 19
‘‘(C) section 1464 of title 18, United 20
States Code, or conduct that would constitute a 21
violation of that section if content disseminated 22
by means other than radio communication were 23
disseminated by means of radio communication; 24
or 25
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‘‘(2) the broadcast or other dissemination of 1
content that constitutes incitement under the First 2
Amendment to the Constitution of the United 3
States.’’. 4
Æ
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