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On February 17, H.R. 310, "The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005," passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 389-38. This bill eliminates existing warnings and allows the FCC to assess half million-dollar ($500,000) fines against both licensees and individual performers for each and every utterance deemed "indecent." The FCC’s standard for indecency, however, remains unclear at best and arbitrary at worst.

Now, the Senate is poised to take up legislation that addresses indecency.  The AFM’s position is that fining individual performers at the same rate as media conglomerates is inherently unfair, that the impact that such huge fines will have on free speech and artistic expression is detrimental and the fining of individuals rather than broadcast licensees is unprecedented.  You can help us make this message as clearly as possible by taking action and contacting your senators to let them know that the House bill will be detrimental to professional musicians across the country.  Please take a few moments to fill out and send a letter to your senators.  

There have already been competing bills introduced in the Senate.  Both bills are more sympathetic towards performers than the House version is.  Senator Brownback (R-KS) has introduced an indecency bill that would increase the fines on broadcasters, but not on performers.  Senators Rockefeller (D-WV) and Hutchison (R-TX) have introduced a similar bill that would also fine broadcasters and not performers.  Send the message to your senators that fining individuals instead of broadcasters is both unfair and unprecedented. 

As the Senate is going to act on indecency legislation in one form or another this year, the AFM feels that the Senate bills are more reasonable than the version passed in the House, which fines individual performers the same as it fines multi-billion dollar media companies.  Take action and let your senators know how you feel.

Thank you for taking the time to take action on this important issue.

Sincerely,
Hal Ponder
Director of Government Relations