Local Radio Freedom Act Gets Cochran’s Senate Support

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As of midday Thursday (3/23), eight more members of the U.S. House of Representatives and another U.S. Senator have signed on as co-sponsors of a resolution that opposes “any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge” on local broadcast radio stations.


With their addition, The Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA) now has 164 co-sponsors in the House and 18 in the Senate.

Adding their support for the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House are Reps. Dave Brat (VA-7), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Tom Graves (GA-14), Alcee Hastings (FL-20), Albio Sires (NJ-8), Filemon Vela (TX-34), Peter Visclosky (IN-1) and Lee Zeldin (NY-01).

The new Senate co-sponsor is Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense. He also serves on the Senate Subcommittee of Homeland Security, and his involvement on this subcommittee may heighten Cochran’s interest in the preservation of “local radio freedom,” given the importance of AM and FM broadcasters in a time of emergency.

The new support comes after House members Reps. Joe Barton (TX), Katherine Clark (MA), Sean Duffy (WI), Sam Graves (MO), Walter Jones (NC), Kenny Marchant (TX), Roger Marshall (KS), Martha McSally (AZ), Paul Mitchell (MI), Tom O’Halleran (AZ), Pete Olson (TX), Erik Paulsen (MN), Stacey Plaskett (AL) and Bill Shuster (PA) on Wednesday added their support for the resolution.

Sens Susan Collins (R-ME) and Steve Daines (R-MT) were also named Wednesday as new co-sponsors of the Senate resolution.

Reps. Michael Conaway (R-TX) and Gene Green (D-TX) are the principal cosponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act (H. Con. Res. 13) in the House of Representatives.

Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) introduced a companion resolution in the Senate (S. Con. Res. 6).

The Act reads, “Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over the air, or on any business for the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station broadcast over the air.”