Two House Members Add Support for Local Radio Freedom Act

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, October 10, 2019 | 11:28am CT

Two Members of the House of Representatives have added their co-sponsorship 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 194 cosponsors in the House and 24 in the Senate.

Adding their support recently for the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House are Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD-7), chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and Ron Wright (R-TX-6).

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.