Broadcasters Protection Act of 1984

Summary

Broadcasters' Protection Act of 1984 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to declare that provisions requiring a broadcast station licensee to provide equal opportunities for station access to political candidates and prohibiting the licensee from censoring a candidate's broadcast do not require the licensee to broadcast any material the broadcast of which the licensee believes would violate any criminal law. Provides that a licensee's refusal to broadcast material based on such belief shall be a defense to any revocation action by the Federal Communications Commission and shall not be used adversely against the licensee in a comparative licensing process. Permits a broadcaster to petition any appropriate U.S. district court for a determination as to whether the broadcast of such material would violate a criminal law and for declaratory judgment relief. Allows a candidate whose broadcast is denied to petition the court for such a determination and for declaratory judgment relief with respect to such denial.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

1. 14 March 1984

   Introduced

   Introduced in House

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 14 March 1984

   Introduced

   Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

   Source: IntroReferral

3. 14 March 1984

   Introduced

   Introduced in House

   Source: IntroReferral

4. 19 March 1984

   Referred

   Referred to Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Consumer Protection and Finance.

   Source: Committee

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

1 official file

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 14 March 1984

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Rep. Bliley, Tom [R-VA-7] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Applegate, Douglas [D-OH-18] · D · Sponsor
• Rep. Bateman, Herbert H. [R-VA-1] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Daniel, W. C. (Dan) [D-VA-5] · D · Sponsor
• Rep. Dannemeyer, William E. [R-CA-39] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Fish, Hamilton, Jr. [R-NY-19] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Glickman, Dan [D-KS-4] · D · Sponsor
• Rep. Hutto, Earl [D-FL-1] · D · Sponsor
• Rep. Lagomarsino, Robert J. [R-CA-19] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Lungren, Daniel E. [R-CA-3] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. McCain, John [R-AZ] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Nichols, Bill [D-AL-3] · D · Sponsor
• Rep. Parris, Stanford E. (Stan) [R-VA-8] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Robinson, J. Kenneth [R-VA-7] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [R-WI-5] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Siljander, Mark D. [R-MI-4] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Traxler, Bob [D-MI-8] · D · Sponsor
• Rep. Williams, Lyle [R-OH-17] · R · Sponsor
• · hsif00 · Standing

Related records

• related to ← Broadcasters Protection Act of 1984