Radio Facts
Three Representatives, One Senator Add Bipartisan Support for Local Radio Freedom Act
By Michael Mitchell
Three Members of the House of Representatives and one Senator have added their cosponsorship to a resolution opposing “any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge” on local broadcast radio stations. The Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA), which signals Members of Congress’s opposition to any potential legislation that imposes new performance royalties on broadcast radio stations for music airplay, now has 184 cosponsors in the House and 24 in the Senate.
Adding their support recently for the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House are Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX-2), Deb Haaland (D-NM-1) and Van Taylor (R-TX-3). Adding her support for the companion resolution in the Senate is Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS).
Reps. Kathy Castor (D-FL-14) and Michael Conaway (R-TX-11) are the principal cosponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House of Representatives (H. Con. Res. 20). Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) are the lead cosponsors of a companion resolution in the Senate (S. Con. Res. 5).
“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,” reads the Local Radio Freedom Act.