The Senate Commerce Committee wasted no time moving forward with the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act S.315. Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R), who is now chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, moved the bill forward with the support of Democratic Senators. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey (D) is a cosponsor. It passed the committee by voice vote (27-1) with only Sen. John Curtis of Utah voting against the bill.
The legislation (S. 315) is similar to last year’s bill. The Secretary of Transportation will develop rules requiring automakers to keep AM receivers in their vehicles according to the following schedule:
The Secretary of Transportation will adopt a rule implementing the legislation not less than one year after the bill is enacted.
The effective date of the rule cannot be less than 2 years nor more than 3 years after the rule is adopted. (However, for automakers that manufactured not more than 40,000 cars in 2022, the rule would become effective at least 4 years after it was adopted.)
There is one difference. As a compromise, the authority of the Secretary to issue a rule sunsets 10 years from the date the legislation is enacted. This 10-year sunset was going to be part of the bill last year.
This is a huge step forward. There is overwhelming bipartisan support for the bill. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued a statement supporting the legislation. The bill now awaits a vote by the full Senate.
Congressman Frank Pallone (D. NJ), ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee, and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R. FL) have introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives. The legislation is the same as that was introduced in the Senate. We are waiting for it to receive a bill number.
We will be advocating for this bill when we meet in DC in a few weeks.
You can access the text of the bill here.
You can access a press release by Rep. Frank Pallone (D. NJ) here.
Chairman Brendan Carr’s statement is here.
Our previous story on the new legislation can be found here.