United States · Bill · HR
H.R. 501 (109th)
Fairness and Accountability in Broadcasting Act
Introduced
1 February 2005
Last action
—
Status
Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
Sponsors
—
Subjects
Discovery layer
Source updated
15 August 2025
Summary
Fairness and Accountability in Broadcasting Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from issuing or renewing any license for a broadcasting station based upon a finding that the issuance or renewal serves the public interest, convenience, and necessity unless such station: (1) covers issues of importance to the local community in a fair manner, taking into account diverse interests and viewpoints of the local community; (2) holds two public hearings each year in the local community to ascertain the needs and interests of the local communities that they serve; and (3) documents and reports in writing, on a biannual basis to the FCC, the programming that is broadcast to cover the issues of public importance as ascertained through the hearings process, and how such coverage reflects the diverse interests and viewpoints in the local community. Allows any interested person to file a petition with the FCC to deny a license renewal for a broadcast station's failure to follow the above requirements. Reduces from eight to four years the term of a broadcast license.
This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.
Timeline
No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.
Votes
No vote records are attached yet.
Versions
No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.
Documents
3 official files
Introduced in House (text)
Introduced in House (text)
Introduced in House · EN · 1 February 2005
Introduced in House (PDF)
Introduced in House · EN · 1 February 2005
Introduced in House
summary · EN · 1 February 2005
Sponsors
No sponsors or actors listed by the source.
Related records
No cross-record relationships stored yet.
Sources
PoliticalRepo is an index and interpretation layer, not the authoritative legal source.
- Official source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/501
- Open data entity: https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/109/hr/501