Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2220 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the obligations of licensees under section 331 of that Act, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 24, 2021 Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. BOOKER) 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 clarify the obligations of licensees under section 331 of that Act, 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 ‘‘Section 331 Obligation 4 Clarification Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. LICENSEE REQUIREMENTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 331 of the Communica- 7 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 331) is amended by striking 8 subsection (a) and inserting the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2220 IS ‘‘(a) TELEVISION STATIONS IN UNDERSERVED 1 STATES.— 2 ‘‘(1) CHANNEL ALLOCATION.— 3 ‘‘(A) COMMISSION POLICY.—It shall be the 4 policy of the Commission to allocate channels 5 for commercial television broadcasting in a 6 manner which ensures that not less than 1 very 7 high frequency channel and not less than 1 8 ultra high frequency channel shall be allocated 9 to each State, if technically feasible. 10 ‘‘(B) REALLOCATION OF VERY HIGH FRE- 11 QUENCY CHANNELS AND ULTRA HIGH FRE- 12 QUENCY CHANNELS.—In any case in which a li- 13 censee of a very high frequency commercial tele- 14 vision broadcast station or an ultra high fre- 15 quency commercial television broadcast station 16 notifies the Commission to the effect that such 17 licensee will agree to the reallocation of its 18 channel to a community within a State in 19 which, at the time of such notification, there is 20 allocated no very high frequency commercial tel- 21 evision broadcast channel or ultra high fre- 22 quency commercial television broadcast channel, 23 as applicable, the Commission shall, notwith- 24 standing any other provision of law, order such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2220 IS reallocation and issue a license to such licensee 1 for that purpose under section 307. 2 ‘‘(2) LICENSEE REQUIREMENTS.—A licensee of 3 a commercial television broadcast station that re- 4 ceives a license under section 307 based on the noti- 5 fication provided under paragraph (1)(B) (or, with 6 respect to a license received before the date of enact- 7 ment of the Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act, 8 based on the notification provided under the second 9 sentence of this subsection, as in effect before that 10 date of enactment), or to which any such license is 11 transferred, shall— 12 ‘‘(A) broadcast on the channel of the li- 13 censee not fewer than 14 hours of common local 14 programming per week, not fewer than 7 hours 15 of which shall be broadcast between the hours 16 of 6:00 p.m. and midnight; 17 ‘‘(B) include as part of the common local 18 programming broadcast under subparagraph 19 (A) a substantial amount of particularized local 20 content; 21 ‘‘(C) maintain a broadcast studio in the 22 station’s community of license for each license 23 so received or transferred; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2220 IS ‘‘(D) file with the Commission a regular 1 disclosure of all programming broadcast under 2 subparagraph (A) during the period covered by 3 the disclosure, which— 4 ‘‘(i) shall include a detailed expla- 5 nation of how that programming satisfies 6 the requirements of that subparagraph; 7 and 8 ‘‘(ii) the Commission shall make pub- 9 licly available; and 10 ‘‘(E) when developing the programming de- 11 scribed in subparagraph (A), including the par- 12 ticularized local content required under sub- 13 paragraph (B), take steps to determine the pro- 14 gramming needs of the community to which the 15 channel is allocated, which may include con- 16 sulting with community leaders and members of 17 the general public in that community. 18 ‘‘(3) EFFECT OF CHANGES TO ULTRA HIGH 19 FREQUENCY STATION.—If the station of a licensee 20 described in paragraph (2) changes from a very high 21 frequency commercial television broadcast station to 22 an ultra high frequency commercial television broad- 23 cast station— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2220 IS ‘‘(A) the licensee shall ensure that the 1 change does not affect any special service obli- 2 gation imposed on the licensee— 3 ‘‘(i)(I) with respect to a licensee that 4 receives the license before the date of en- 5 actment of the Section 331 Obligation 6 Clarification Act, pursuant to the terms of 7 that license; or 8 ‘‘(II) with respect to a licensee that 9 receives the license on or after the date of 10 enactment of the Section 331 Obligation 11 Clarification Act, because of the fact that 12 the licensee received the license pursuant 13 to paragraph (1)(B); and 14 ‘‘(ii) without regard to whether the 15 Commission imposed the obligation— 16 ‘‘(I) by rule or order; or 17 ‘‘(II) as part of the grant or re- 18 newal of the license; and 19 ‘‘(B) the Commission may not directly or 20 indirectly reduce or eliminate the special service 21 obligation described in subparagraph (A) be- 22 cause of that change. 23 ‘‘(4) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 24 ‘particularized local content’ means programming— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2220 IS ‘‘(A) aired on a commercial television 1 broadcast channel by a licensee described in 2 paragraph (2); and 3 ‘‘(B) that— 4 ‘‘(i) has specific, articulable, and par- 5 ticularized appeal for the community to 6 which the channel described in subpara- 7 graph (A) is allocated (as described in 8 paragraph (2)) that is separate and dis- 9 tinct from the general national or general 10 local television market appeal; 11 ‘‘(ii) includes news or public affairs 12 information about the State, or the region 13 of the State, in which the community de- 14 scribed in clause (i) is located; and 15 ‘‘(iii) is responsive to the unique con- 16 cerns of the community described in clause 17 (i) as part of a State that lacks a television 18 market that is centered in that State.’’. 19 (b) RULEMAKING; GAO REPORT.— 20 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 21 (A) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the 22 Federal Communications Commission; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2220 IS (B) the term ‘‘section 331’’ means section 1 331 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 2 U.S.C. 331), as amended by subsection (a). 3 (2) RULES.—Not later than 1 year after the 4 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 5 issue final rules to implement the amendments made 6 by subsection (a). 7 (3) REQUIREMENTS.—The rules required under 8 paragraph (2) shall— 9 (A) contain specific procedures and re- 10 quirements for how an individual who lives in a 11 community to which a commercial television 12 broadcast channel is reallocated in accordance 13 with subsection (a)(1)(B) of section 331 can 14 challenge whether the licensee with respect to 15 that channel has satisfied the requirements of 16 the licensee under section 331, particularly 17 when that licensee seeks to renew the license 18 with respect to that channel; 19 (B) include guidance regarding what type 20 of evidence the Commission shall accept and re- 21 view in determining whether a licensee de- 22 scribed in subparagraph (A) is satisfying the re- 23 quirements of the licensee under section 331; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2220 IS (C) ensure that the procedure by which an 1 individual described in subparagraph (A) can 2 participate in the review by the Commission of 3 a licensee described in that subparagraph— 4 (i) is simple and straightforward; and 5 (ii) includes holding community fo- 6 rums as necessary. 7 (4) GAO REPORT.— 8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 9 after the date on which the rules issued under 10 paragraph (2) take effect, the Comptroller Gen- 11 eral of the United States shall submit to Con- 12 gress a report that examines the process by 13 which the Commission renews broadcast tele- 14 vision licenses to determine if that process ade- 15 quately meets the obligations of the Commission 16 under the Communications Act of 1934 (47 17 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), particularly how that proc- 18 ess relates to television broadcast stations that 19 have specific statutory or license obligations to 20 serve the needs of the communities in which the 21 stations are located (and the needs of individ- 22 uals in those communities), including stations 23 licensed under section 331. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2220 IS (B) CONTENTS.—In performing the exam- 1 ination required under subparagraph (A), the 2 Comptroller General of the United States shall 3 examine the following issues: 4 (i) The extent to which the renewal 5 process described in that subparagraph ex- 6 amines the needs of the community that a 7 broadcast station is required to serve. 8 (ii) The extent to which the Commis- 9 sion considers and weighs any evidence 10 presented demonstrating that a broadcast 11 station has failed to meet any applicable 12 legal obligation. 13 (iii) Whether the Commission has 14 clarified the types of evidence that a con- 15 cerned local citizen is required to offer for 16 the Commission to refuse to renew a li- 17 cense of a broadcast station under section 18 309(k)(1) of the Communications Act of 19 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(k)(1)) or section 20 331, as applicable, based on the inability 21 or refusal of the broadcast station to serve 22 the local community with respect to the 23 station consistent with the obligations of 24 the licensee. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2220 IS (iv) Whether the Commission has 1 clarified the types of evidence that a broad- 2 cast station is required to present to estab- 3 lish that the station is meeting the obliga- 4 tions of the station under the license 5 granted to the station. 6 (v) Whether the Commission has 7 clarified the circumstances under which the 8 Commission will examine in detail the evi- 9 dence presented by a broadcast station to 10 confirm that the station is in compliance 11 with section 309(k)(1) of the Communica- 12 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(k)(1)) 13 and section 331, as applicable. 14 (vi) Whether the Commission has 15 made clear the circumstances under which 16 the Commission will revoke the license of a 17 station operating under special obligations 18 under section 331. 19 (vii) What, if any, enforcement actions 20 or other investigations the Commission has 21 undertaken to ensure that broadcast sta- 22 tions satisfy the requirement under section 23 309(k)(1) of the Communications Act of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2220 IS 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(k)(1)) to serve the 1 public interest. 2 (viii) The impact that the elimination 3 of what is commonly referred to as the 4 ‘‘Main Studio Rule’’ could have on the spe- 5 cial obligations under section 331. 6 (ix) Whether the Commission has in- 7 dicated how the Commission will enforce 8 the obligations under section 309(k)(1) of 9 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 10 U.S.C. 309(k)(1)) and section 331 in con- 11 sideration of the fact that the Commission 12 has permitted owners of television broad- 13 cast stations to eliminate the main studio 14 of those stations in the community of li- 15 cense. 16 (c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this section, 17 an amendment made by this section, or the application 18 of that provision or amendment to any person or cir- 19 cumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the other provi- 20 sions of this section, the amendments made by this sec- 21 tion, and the application of those provisions or amend- 22 ments to any other person or circumstance shall not be 23 affected by that holding. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2220.IS S2220 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS