I 115THCONGRESS 1STSESSION H. R. 555 To direct the Federal Communications Commission to amend its rules so as to prohibit the application to amateur stations of certain private land use restrictions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY13, 2017 Mr. KINZINGER(for himself, Mr. COURTNEY, and Mr. WALDEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Federal Communications Commission to amend its rules so as to prohibit the application to amateur stations of certain private land use restrictions, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Amateur Radio Parity 4Act of 2017’’. 5SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6Congress finds the following: 7VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Jan 20, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H555.IH H555srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 •HR 555 IH(1) More than 730,000 radio amateurs in the 1United States are licensed by the Federal Commu- 2nications Commission in the amateur radio services. 3(2) Amateur radio, at no cost to taxpayers, pro- 4vides a fertile ground for technical self-training in 5modern telecommunications, electronics technology, 6and emergency communications techniques and pro- 7tocols. 8(3) There is a strong Federal interest in the ef- 9fective performance of amateur stations established 10at the residences of licensees. Such stations have 11been shown to be frequently and increasingly pre- 12cluded by unreasonable private land use restrictions, 13including restrictive covenants. 14(4) Federal Communications Commission regu- 15lations have for three decades prohibited the applica- 16tion to stations in the amateur service of State and 17local regulations that preclude or fail to reasonably 18accommodate amateur service communications, or 19that do not constitute the minimum practicable reg- 20ulation to accomplish a legitimate State or local pur- 21pose. Commission policy has been and is to require 22States and localities to permit erection of a station 23antenna structure at heights and dimensions suffi- 24VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Jan 20, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H555.IH H555srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 •HR 555 IHcient to accommodate amateur service communica- 1tions. 2(5) The Commission has sought guidance and 3direction from Congress with respect to the applica- 4tion of the Commission’s limited preemption policy 5regarding amateur service communications to private 6land use restrictions, including restrictive covenants. 7(6) There are aesthetic and common property 8considerations that are uniquely applicable to private 9land use regulations and the community associations 10obligated to enforce covenants, conditions, and re- 11strictions in deed-restricted communities. These con- 12siderations are dissimilar to those applicable to State 13law and local ordinances regulating the same resi- 14dential amateur radio facilities. 15(7) In recognition of these considerations, a 16separate Federal policy than exists at section 1797.15(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, is 18warranted concerning amateur service communica- 19tions in deed-restricted communities. 20(8) Community associations should fairly ad- 21minister private land use regulations in the interest 22of their communities, while nevertheless permitting 23the installation and maintenance of effective outdoor 24amateur radio antennas. There exist antenna de- 25VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Jan 20, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H555.IH H555srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 •HR 555 IHsigns and installations that can be consistent with 1the aesthetics and physical characteristics of land 2and structures in community associations while ac- 3commodating communications in the amateur radio 4services. 5SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF PRIVATE LAND USE RESTRIC-6TIONS TO AMATEUR STATIONS. 7(a) AMENDMENT OFFCC RULES.—Not later than 8120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 9Federal Communications Commission shall amend section 1097.15 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, by adding 11a new paragraph that prohibits the application to amateur 12stations of any private land use restriction, including a 13restrictive covenant, that— 14(1) on its face or as applied, precludes commu- 15nications in an amateur radio service; 16(2) fails to permit a licensee in an amateur 17radio service to install and maintain an effective out- 18door antenna on property under the exclusive use or 19control of the licensee; or 20(3) does not constitute the minimum practicable 21restriction on such communications to accomplish 22the lawful purposes of a community association seek- 23ing to enforce such restriction. 24VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Jan 20, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H555.IH H555srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 •HR 555 IH(b) ADDITIONALREQUIREMENTS.—In amending its 1rules as required by subsection (a), the Commission 2shall— 3(1) require any licensee in an amateur radio 4service to notify and obtain prior approval from a 5community association concerning installation of an 6outdoor antenna; 7(2) permit a community association to prohibit 8installation of any antenna or antenna support 9structure by a licensee in an amateur radio service 10on common property not under the exclusive use or 11control of the licensee; and 12(3) subject to the standards specified in para- 13graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a), permit a com- 14munity association to establish reasonable written 15rules concerning height, location, size, and aesthetic 16impact of, and installation requirements for, outdoor 17antennas and support structures for the purpose of 18conducting communications in the amateur radio 19services. 20SEC. 4. AFFIRMATION OF LIMITED PREEMPTION OF STATE 21AND LOCAL LAND USE REGULATION. 22The Federal Communications Commission may not 23change section 97.15(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regu- 24VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Jan 20, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H555.IH H555srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 •HR 555 IHlations, which shall remain applicable to State and local 1land use regulation of amateur service communications. 2SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 3In this Act: 4(1) COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION.—The term 5‘‘community association’’ means any non-profit man- 6datory membership organization composed of owners 7of real estate described in a declaration of covenants 8or created pursuant to a covenant or other applica- 9ble law with respect to which a person, by virtue of 10the person’s ownership of or interest in a unit or 11parcel, is obligated to pay for a share of real estate 12taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance, improve- 13ment, services, or other expenses related to common 14elements, other units, or any other real estate other 15than the unit or parcel described in the declaration. 16(2) TERMS DEFINED IN REGULATIONS.—The 17terms ‘‘amateur radio services’’, ‘‘amateur service’’, 18and ‘‘amateur station’’ have the meanings given 19such terms in section 97.3 of title 47, Code of Fed- 20eral Regulations. 21Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Jan 20, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H555.IH H555srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS