S. 193 is the Senate number for the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 introduced by Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas. The House version is H.R. 310. Here's the brief description of the bill:
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to provide that, if the violator of the terms and conditions of any Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license, permit, or certificate is either a broadcast station licensee or permittee or an applicant for a broadcast license, permit, or certificate, and such violator is determined by the FCC to have broadcast obscene, indecent, or profane language, the amount of forfeiture penalty shall not exceed $325,000 for each violation or day of such violation, to a maximum of $3 million for any single act or failure to act.
Passage of this bill wouldn't solve the entire problem of indecency on the TV and radio airwaves, of course, but it is an important start -- one that the FCC Chairman understands is quite necessary to start cleaning up what has become a very large mess.
S. 193 (and its counterpart, H.R. 310) are common sense improvements and are certainly the type of legislative efforts that conservative political representatives promise their constituents to enact. So where does the Nebraska delegation stand? Though there are 27 Senate co-sponsors from both parties (Thune, Lieberman, Santorum, Coburn, Martinez, McCain, Inhofe, Graham, Dole, et al) and 67 co-sponsors in the House, the only Nebraskans to sign on have been Senator Chuck Hagel and Congressman Tom Osborne.
Letters of thanks and encouragement are in order for these gentlemen as are letters requesting Senator Nelson, Representative Terry, and Representative Fortenberry to climb on board soon.
For quick info on addresses and phone numbers, check out Citizen Link right here.
