CALM Modernization Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2422 To amend the CALM Act to include video streaming services, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 30, 2023 Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, and Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the CALM Act to include video streaming services, 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 ‘‘Commercial Advertise- 4 ment Loudness Mitigation Modernization Act of 2023’’ or 5 the ‘‘CALM Modernization Act of 2023’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2422.IH H2422 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2422 IH SEC. 2. MODERNIZATION OF THE CALM ACT AND RULE- 1 MAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS ON 2 STREAMING VIDEO. 3 (a) AMENDMENTS.—The CALM Act (Public Law 4 111–311; 124 Stat. 3294) is amended— 5 (1) in section 2 (47 U.S.C. 621)— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘Federal Communications 7 Commission’’ each place the term appears and 8 inserting ‘‘Commission’’; 9 (B) by striking subsection (c) and insert- 10 ing the following: 11 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE.— 12 ‘‘(1) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—There is a 13 rebuttable presumption that any television broadcast 14 station, cable operator, or other multichannel video 15 programming distributor that installs, uses, and 16 maintains in a commercially reasonable manner the 17 equipment and associated software in compliance 18 with the regulations issued by the Commission in ac- 19 cordance with subsection (a) is in compliance with 20 those regulations. 21 ‘‘(2) FACTORS TO DETERMINE REBUTTAL.—In 22 determining whether the presumption of compliance 23 under paragraph (1) has been rebutted with respect 24 to a television broadcast station, cable operator, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2422.IH H2422 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2422 IH other multichannel video programming distributor, 1 the Commission shall consider the following: 2 ‘‘(A) The number of complaints regarding 3 loud commercials the Commission has received 4 with respect to that station, operator, or other 5 distributor. 6 ‘‘(B) Substantive patterns or trends from 7 complaints on loud commercials the Commis- 8 sion has received. 9 ‘‘(C) Data and conclusions in any report 10 issued by a Federal agency (including the Gov- 11 ernment Accountability Office) regarding the 12 effectiveness of this Act in moderating the loud- 13 ness of commercials in comparison with accom- 14 panying video programming. 15 ‘‘(D) Any other factor established by the 16 Commission by regulation.’’; and 17 (C) in subsection (d)— 18 (i) by redesignating paragraph (1) as 19 paragraph (3) and moving it to appear 20 after paragraph (2); 21 (ii) in paragraph (3), as so redesig- 22 nated, by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end and 23 inserting a period; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2422.IH H2422 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2422 IH (iii) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 1 paragraph (1); 2 (iv) in paragraph (1), as so redesig- 3 nated— 4 (I) by striking ‘‘multi-channel’’ 5 and inserting ‘‘multichannel’’; and 6 (II) by striking the period at the 7 end and inserting a semicolon; and 8 (v) by inserting after paragraph (1), 9 as so redesignated, the following: 10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Commission’ means the Federal 11 Communications Commission; and’’; and 12 (2) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘SEC. 3. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS ON 14 STREAMING VIDEO. 15 ‘‘(a) RULEMAKING REQUIRED FOR LOUD STREAM- 16 ING VIDEO COMMERCIALS.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 18 the date of enactment of this section, the Commis- 19 sion shall prescribe pursuant to the Communications 20 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a regulation 21 that prohibits video streaming services from trans- 22 mitting the audio of commercial advertisements 23 louder than the video content the advertisements ac- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2422.IH H2422 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2422 IH company in a manner that is similar in effect to the 1 regulation prescribed under section 2. 2 ‘‘(2) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—In pre- 3 scribing the regulation under paragraph (1), the 4 Commission may include a rebuttable presumption 5 provision that is similar to the rebuttable presump- 6 tion under section 2(c) if it is practicable and war- 7 ranted for effective enforcement of this section. 8 ‘‘(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in 9 paragraph (4), the regulation required under para- 10 graph (1) shall take effect 180 days after the date 11 on which the regulation is published in the Federal 12 Register. 13 ‘‘(4) EXTENSION OF EFFECTIVE DATE.—The 14 Commission may extend the effective date described 15 in paragraph (3) for 1 year for any video streaming 16 service that demonstrates that complying with the 17 regulation would result in significant financial hard- 18 ship. 19 ‘‘(5) UPDATES.—The Commission shall update 20 the regulation prescribed under paragraph (1) as 21 necessary. 22 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 23 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘Commission’ 24 means the Federal Communications Commission. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2422.IH H2422 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2422 IH ‘‘(2) VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘video 1 programming’ has the meaning given the term in 2 section 713(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 3 (47 U.S.C. 613(h)). 4 ‘‘(3) VIDEO STREAMING SERVICE.—The term 5 ‘video streaming service’— 6 ‘‘(A) means an entity that makes available 7 directly to the end user through a distribution 8 method that uses internet protocol— 9 ‘‘(i) video programming; or 10 ‘‘(ii) video content the entity makes 11 available for users to view; and 12 ‘‘(B) does not include— 13 ‘‘(i) a television broadcast station, 14 cable operator, or other multichannel video 15 programming distributor (as those terms 16 are defined in section 2(d)), only with re- 17 spect to commercial advertisements and 18 video programming subject to section 2; or 19 ‘‘(ii) an entity that serves video pro- 20 gramming or video content that is served 21 without video commercial advertisements. 22 ‘‘SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communications 24 Commission shall implement and enforce this Act as if this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2422.IH H2422 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 2422 IH Act were a part of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 1 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 2 ‘‘(b) VIOLATIONS.—A violation of this Act, or a regu- 3 lation promulgated under this Act, shall be considered to 4 be a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, or a 5 regulation promulgated under that Act, respectively. 6 ‘‘(c) NO CITATION REQUIRED.—Paragraph (5) of 7 section 503(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 8 U.S.C. 503(b)) shall not apply to a determination of for- 9 feiture liability under that subsection against a person who 10 commits a violation described in subsection (b) of this sec- 11 tion.’’. 12 (b) GAO REPORT ON CALM ACT ENFORCEMENT.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comp- 15 troller General of the United States shall submit to 16 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans- 17 portation of the Senate and the Committee on En- 18 ergy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 19 a report on section 2 of the CALM Act (47 U.S.C. 20 621), as amended by subsection (a), that— 21 (A) analyzes the effectiveness of that sec- 22 tion in moderating the loudness of commercials 23 in comparison to accompanying video program- 24 ming; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2422.IH H2422 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 2422 IH (B) evaluates the ability of the Federal 1 Communications Commission to effectively mod- 2 erate the loudness of commercials in compari- 3 son to accompanying video programming under 4 subsection (c) of that section; and 5 (C) as appropriate, recommends policy so- 6 lutions that would enable better moderation of 7 the loudness of commercials in comparison to 8 accompanying video programming. 9 (2) VIDEO PROGRAMMING DEFINED.—In this 10 subsection, the term ‘‘video programming’’ has the 11 meaning given the term in section 713(h) of the 12 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 613(h)). 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2422.IH H2422 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB