Upton Urges Senate to Take Up House Decency Bill

Legislation, which passed the House last February, would raise the amount the FCC can fine for indecency from $32,500 to $500,000 per violation

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, made the following statement in response to today's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on decency. Upton authored the Broadcast Indecency Act of 2005, H.R. 310, which would raise the amount the FCC can fine for indecency from $32,500 to $500,000 per violation. H.R. 310 overwhelmingly passed the House last February 16th by a vote of 389 to 38. The Senate passed similar legislation by a vote of 99 to 1 in June of 2004.

"I am pleased that the Senate Commerce Committee chose to have their first hearing of this New Year on the important issue of decency," said Upton. "Just over 11 months ago, the House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation to raise the fines for indecent material broadcast over the public's airwaves. Our bill is a common sense measure that will stand up to any court challenge as it does not change the current standards that have been on the books for decades. The Senate passed similar legislation 99 to 1 in 2004, and now is the time for the Senate to step up to the plate and deliver something of real value to families across the nation. The House passed bill, coupled with initiatives taken by the cable industry to offer family tier programming, will provide families a sense of comfort when their kids reach for the remote control."

By increasing the fines for indecency to $500,000, the fines will be at a level where they cannot be ignored. The current cap for fines is $32,500 - to put that into perspective, a 30 second commercial aired during this year's Super Bowl will cost $2.6 million - averaging more than $86,000 per second.

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