[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1880 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1880

  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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 5, 2025

 Ms. Matsui (for herself, Ms. Barragan, and Ms. McClellan) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Broadcast Freedom and Independence 
Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal Communications Commission (in this section 
        referred to as the ``FCC'') was established as an independent 
        agency by the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et 
        seq.) for the purpose of ``regulating interstate and foreign 
        commerce in communication by wire and radio so as to make 
        available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United 
        States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, 
        religion, national origin, or sex, a rapid, efficient, Nation-
        wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with 
        adequate facilities at reasonable charges. . .''.
            (2) Commissioners at the FCC, an independent agency, are 
        confirmed by Congress for specified terms and the President 
        does not have the power to remove them at will.
            (3) The independence of the FCC is paramount to the FCC 
        carrying out its mission without political pressure or 
        intimidation.
            (4) The FCC's priorities and agenda must be set by the FCC 
        without undue influence from the President or any advisors to 
        the President who do not work for the FCC.
            (5) As established in section 326 of the Communications Act 
        of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 326), nothing in the FCC's authority ``shall 
        be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of 
        censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted 
        by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be 
        promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere 
        with the right of free speech by means of radio 
        communication''.
            (6) Investigations and threats of Commission action or 
        inaction must not be used to suppress certain viewpoints or 
        intimidate broadcast licensees into aligning with any political 
        agenda.

SEC. 3. VIEWPOINT PROTECTION.

    Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 14. VIEWPOINT PROTECTION.

    ``(a) Prohibition Against Retaliation on Basis of Viewpoint.--The 
Commission may not revoke any license or other authorization of, or 
otherwise take action against, any person on the basis, in whole or in 
part, of viewpoints broadcast or otherwise disseminated by that person 
or any person affiliated with that person.
    ``(b) Prohibition Against Conditions on Viewpoint in Transaction 
Review.--The Commission may not place on any approval under subsections 
(a), (b), and (c) of section 214 or section 310(d) any condition with 
respect to viewpoints broadcast or otherwise disseminated by the person 
seeking that approval, any successor of that person, or any person 
affiliated with that person or successor.
    ``(c) No Effect on Certain Other Authority of Commission.--Nothing 
in this section shall be construed to affect the authority of the 
Commission to take action on the basis of, or to place a condition on 
an approval described in subsection (b) with respect to--
            ``(1) a violation of--
                    ``(A) section 1304 of title 18, United States Code, 
                or conduct that would constitute a violation of that 
                section if content disseminated by means other than 
                radio or television broadcast were disseminated by 
                means of radio or television broadcast;
                    ``(B) section 1343 of title 18, United States Code; 
                or
                    ``(C) section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, 
                or conduct that would constitute a violation of that 
                section if content disseminated by means other than 
                radio communication were disseminated by means of radio 
                communication; or
            ``(2) the broadcast or other dissemination of content that 
        constitutes incitement under the First Amendment to the 
        Constitution of the United States.''.
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