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March 27, 2019
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Dennis Wharton
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Bipartisan Cosponsorship Grows for Local Radio Freedom Act in House, Senate

152 House Members, 17 Senators now oppose performance royalty on radio broadcasters

NAB ad thanks bipartisan coalition in Congress for their cosponsorship of resolution

WASHINGTON, DC -- Five Members of the House of Representatives and four Senators 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 152 cosponsors in the House and 17 in the Senate.

NAB is running an ad today in Politico thanking Members of Congress who have signed on as cosponsors of the LRFA as of March 21, 2019.

Adding their support recently for the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House are Reps. Sanford Bishop (D-GA-2), Jim Costa (D-CA-16), Josh Harder (D-CA-10), John Katko (R-NY-24) and Ralph Norman (R-SC-5). Adding their support for the companion resolution in the Senate are Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), John Hoeven (R-ND), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).

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.

The 152 House cosponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act include (new cosponsors in bold):

Rick Allen (R-GA-12)
Mark Amodei (R-NV-2)
Jodey Arrington (R-TX-19)
Brian Babin (R-TX-36)
Don Bacon (R-NE-2)
Jim Banks (R-IN-3)
Andy Barr (R-KY-6)
Joyce Beatty (D-OH-3)
Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12)
Sanford Bishop (D-GA-2)
Mike Bost (R-IL-12)
Brendan Boyle (D-PA-2)
Mo Brooks (R-AL-5)
Susan Brooks (R-IN-5)
Anthony Brown (D-MD-4)
Vern Buchanan (R-FL-16)
Ted Budd (R-NC-13)
Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17)
G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-1)
Bradley Byrne (R-AL-1)
Ken Calvert (R-CA-42)
Andre Carson (D-IN-7)
Buddy Carter (R-GA-1)
Kathy Castor (D-FL-14)
Steve Chabot (R-OH-1)
Liz Cheney (R-WY-AL)
Lacy Clay (D-MO-1)
Tom Cole (R-OK-4)
Chris Collins (R-NY-27)
James Comer (R-KY-1)
Michael Conaway (R-TX-11)
Paul Cook (R-CA-8)
Jim Costa (D-CA-16)
Joe Courtney (D-CT-2)
Rick Crawford (R-AR-1)
Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28)
Warren Davidson (R-OH-8)
Rodney Davis (R-IL-13)
Madeleine Dean (D-PA-4)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4)
Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12)
Sean Duffy (R-WI-7)
Jeff Duncan (R-SC-3)
Neal Dunn (R-FL-2)
Tom Emmer (R-MN-6)
Dwight Evans (D-PA-3)
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1)
Bill Flores (R-TX-17)
Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE-1)
Virginia Foxx (R-NC-5)
Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8)

Greg Gianforte (R-MT-AL)
Bob Gibbs (R-OH-7)
Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15)
Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon (R-PR-DL)
Paul Gosar (R-AZ-4)
Sam Graves (R-MO-6)
Tom Graves (R-GA-14)
Glenn Grothman (R-WI-6)
Michael Guest (R-MS-3)
Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2)
Jim Hagedorn (R-MN-1)
Josh Harder (D-CA-10)
Andy Harris (R-MD-1)
Alcee Hastings (D-FL-20)
Kevin Hern (R-OK-1)
Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA-3)
Jody Hice (R-GA-10)
French Hill (R-AR-2)
Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN-9)
Richard Hudson (R-NC-8)
Bill Johnson (R-OH-6)
Jim Jordan (R-OH-4)
David Joyce (R-OH-14)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9)
John Katko (R-NY-24)
Bill Keating (D-MA-9)
Mike Kelly (R-PA-16)
Trent Kelly (R-MS-1)
Derek Kilmer (D-WA-6)
Ron Kind (D-WI-3)
Adam Kinzinger (R-IL-16)
Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-2)
Annie Kuster (D-NH-2)
Darin LaHood (R-IL-18)
Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-1)
Doug Lamborn (R-CO-5)
Bob Latta (R-OH-5)
Al Lawson (D-FL-5)
Dave Loebsack (D-IA-2)
Billy Long (R-MO-7)
Frank Lucas (R-OK-3)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO-3)
Stephen Lynch (D-MA-8)
Roger Marshall (R-KS-1)
Thomas Massie (R-KY-4)
Betty McCollum (D-MN-4)
Donald McEachin (D-VA-4)
Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10)
David McKinley (R-WV-1)
Mark Meadows (R-NC-11)
Gregory Meeks (D-NY-5)

Paul Mitchell (R-MI-10)
Alex Mooney (R-WV-2)
Seth Moulton (D-MA-6)
Markwayne Mullin (R-OK-2)
Dan Newhouse (R-WA-4)
Ralph Norman (R-SC-5)
Devin Nunes (R-CA-22)
Tom O'Halleran (D-AZ-1)
Pete Olson (R-TX-22)
Steven Palazzo (R-MS-4)
Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6)
Donald Payne (D-NJ-10)
Greg Pence (R-IN-6)
Bill Posey (R-FL-8)
Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS-DL)
Tom Reed (R-NY-23)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-5)
Hal Rogers (R-KY-5)
Mike Rogers (R-AL-3)
David Rouzer (R-NC-7)
Bobby Rush (D-IL-1)
Tim Ryan (D-OH-13)
David Scott (D-GA-13)
Terri Sewell (D-AL-7)
John Shimkus (R-IL-15)
Mike Simpson (R-ID-2)
Adrian Smith (R-NE-3)
Pete Stauber (R-MN-8)
Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21)
Bryan Steil (R-WI-1)
Chris Stewart (R-UT-2)
Steve Stivers (R-OH-15)
Mike Turner (R-OH-10)
Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ-2)
Fred Upton (R-MI-6)
Ann Wagner (R-MO-2)
Tim Walberg (R-MI-7)
Greg Walden (R-OR-2)
Mark Walker (R-NC-6)
Jackie Walorski (R-IN-2)
Steve Watkins (R-KS-2)
Randy Weber (R-TX-14)
Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2)
Bruce Westerman (R-AR-4)
Roger Williams (R-TX-25)
Joe Wilson (R-SC-2)
Steve Womack (R-AR-3)
John Yarmuth (D-KY-3)
Don Young (R-AK-AL)
Lee Zeldin (R-NY-1)

The Local Radio Freedom Act's 17 Senate cosponsors are (new cosponsor in bold):

John Barrasso (R-WY)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Steve Daines (R-MT)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
Martin Heinrich (D-NM)

John Hoeven (R-ND)
Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)
Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
Jon Tester (D-MT)
Tom Udall (D-CO)
Todd Young (R-IN)

About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America's broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.






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