Senate Indecency Bill Remains on Hold
The Senate Commerce Committee has no immediate plans to mark up an indecency bill that it had previously considered putting on the calendar for this week, Hill sources said. The committee Tues. announced its markup schedule, which didn’t include the bill (S-193), and a spokesman confirmed it wouldn’t be marked up this week.
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“I would like to… have a chance to get it to conference and let it be worked out there,” Chmn. Stevens (R- Alaska) said. Stevens said he supported the bill, which was introduced by Sen. Brownback (R-Kan.), because it’s a “clean” bill that wouldn’t be subject to “all sorts of amendments.” Stevens said he'd told Brownback that he'd help him get a bill to conference.
Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-Tenn.) still hopes to pass a bill this year, his spokeswoman said Tues.: “We are examining options for moving indecency legislation, including options for bringing a fines-only bill directly to the Senate floor.” Two weeks ago, Frist tried to “hotline” the bill, which involves asking senators to approve legislation by unanimous consent. But too many objections cropped up on both sides of the aisle, so the effort failed.
Frist’s interest in the bill comes as many conservative groups push for indecency and a la carte legislation during the election cycle. Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) is close to announcing plans for an a la carte bill that would give companies incentives to offer individual channels, a staffer said. But such legislation is difficult to maneuver during an election year, industry sources said: Lawmakers don’t want to annoy campaign contributors like cable and broadcast companies, but also want to appear responsive to voters’ interests.
The committee had considered marking up S-193 introduced in Jan. 2005 by Brownback. It would set fines of $325,000 for each violation under rules banning broadcast of “obscene, indecent or profane” language, with a cap of $3 million. The bill has a softer touch than the measure that passed the House in Feb. 2005, which boosts fines more than 10 times to $500,000 per violation. Neither measure applies to the cable or satellite industry, the focus of an education campaign on parental controls led by former MPAA Pres. Jack Valenti.
Meanwhile, a net neutrality provision will be included in the Senate telecom bill (S-2686) to accommodate Ranking Member Inouye’s concerns, Stevens said Tues. at the Republican policy lunches. Stevens said the provision responds to something that Inouye “commented on when I introduced it,” he said. He wouldn’t offer further detail, and Inouye’s staff had no information on the provision. “I've been working with Senator Inouye and his staff to try to see if we can find a common ground on net neutrality,” Stevens said.
When Stevens unveiled his telecom bill May 1 (CD May 2 p1), Inouye released an uncharacteristically critical statement. Concerning net neutrality provisions, the statement said: “We cannot ignore concerns about the potential for discrimination by network operators, but the draft appears to do just that by failing to create enforceable protections that will ensure network neutrality.”
Video franchise and universal service fund reform will be the focus of the committee’s hearing on Thurs. -- the first of 2 planned to examine the 10-title bill before a scheduled June 8 markup. Two panels are planned. The witnesses set are NCTA Pres. Kyle McSlarrow; USTelecom Walter McCormick; Michael Guido, vice chmn.-U.S. Conference of Mayors; Julia Johnson, chmn.-Video Access Alliance; Gene Kimmelman, senior dir.-public policy, Consumers Union; Shirley Bloomfield, vp-govt. affairs, NATOA; CTIA Pres. Steve Largent; Satellite Industry Assn. Chmn. Joslyn Read; and Philip McClelland, senior asst. consumer advocate, Pa. Office of Consumer Advocate.