Bilirakis: House AM Vehicle Mandate Vote 'Very Soon' as AMFA Backers Renew Linkage Push
Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida, lead GOP sponsor of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-979), acknowledged Tuesday night that the House’s timeline for passing the bill has slipped slightly but insisted that its leaders still plan to bring it to the floor for a vote soon. He and other backers of HR-979 and Senate companion S-315 had expected a fast-track House vote earlier this month on the measure, which would require the Department of Transportation to mandate that future automobiles include AM radio technology.
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Meanwhile, supporters of the American Music Fairness Act (HR-861/S-326) told us they're continuing to urge congressional leaders to move HR-979/S-315 only in tandem with their proposal. They're hoping to break a decades-long block on Hill action on legislation to levy a performance royalty on stations playing music on terrestrial radio. Nonetheless, lawmakers and witnesses at Tuesday afternoon's Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing on HR-861/S-326 didn’t directly bring up the legislative tactic, despite National Religious Broadcasters’ concerns (see 2512040049).
“I know [HR-979] is going to come up very soon” on the House’s floor agenda, Bilirakis said in a brief interview. “I mentioned it to [House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.], and he wants to put it up [for a vote] as soon as possible.” Bilirakis said he and others “wanted to bring it up [earlier] this month” (see 2511260058), although work on a compromise version of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (S-1071) and other major bills may have taken precedence. “It would be nice to get it [passed] next week, but” as of Wednesday, he said it was unclear whether other factors would again stymie HR-979.
Bilirakis said he hasn’t heard the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA) mentioned as a factor shaping the prospects of HR-979/S-315 “in quite a long time.” He noted that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and other chamber Democrats “made an attempt” to add a previous iteration of AMFA into a continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations last year, torpedoing GOP leaders’ plan to attach a previous version of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act to the package (see 2412180033). Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow and 14 other recording artists jointly urged Jeffries and other congressional leaders in November to move the two measures in tandem (see 2511040069).
Senate Hearing
Peter Karafotas, SoundExchange's senior vice president of government relations and public policy, told us after Tuesday's Senate IP hearing that his organization is continuing to pursue a “strategy” of urging lawmakers to link HR-861/S-326 and HR-979/S-315. “Those two things should pass together [because] if you pass the AM mandate without AMFA, you’re putting your seal of approval on a broken system that doesn’t pay artists,” Karafotas said. He named Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, S-326's lead GOP sponsor, as a supporter of that approach. SoundExchange CEO Michael Huppe testified in favor of HR-861/S-326 during the hearing, as did Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons.
An NAB spokesperson emphasized that “there is significant bipartisan support for” HR-979/S-315, given that its number of co-sponsors in both chambers exceeds supermajority vote thresholds. “We look forward to Congress passing legislation soon to ensure AM radio remains a vital lifeline for consumers in automobiles,” the spokesperson added.
Blackburn told us that she still sees AMFA “moving separately” from HR-979/S-315 but hasn’t ruled out backing their tandem advancement. “No one has approached me” so far to seek such a pairing, she said. She was one of S-315’s original co-sponsors and supported advancing that bill out of the Senate Commerce Committee in February (see 2502100072). During and after the Tuesday hearing, Blackburn appeared to be fed up with broadcasters’ resistance to moving HR-861/S-326. “I have made every good-faith effort to work with broadcasters,” she told us. “They’re a great group of people, [but] NAB and its board has been consistently in opposition” to moving on terrestrial royalties.
Blackburn at one point countered Inner Banks Media President Henry Hinton’s testimony showcasing radio’s role in emergency communications, which broadcasters have highlighted as a reason to mandate AM radio technology in vehicles. “The FCC requires you” to do that, Blackburn said. She also resurfaced her claims from earlier this year that broadcasters may be circumventing the FCC’s sponsorship identification rules and ban on payola by pressuring musical artists to perform free radio shows in exchange for airtime (see 2502040062).
Hinton, a member of NAB’s Radio Board, said he was “a little bit surprised that radio is being demonized the way it is” at the hearing, during which Senate IP Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and all other attending lawmakers voiced support for HR-861/S-326. “We are a uniquely free service, and the backbone of our local communities is evident,” Hinton said. He argued that passage of the bill would force broadcasters “to make the choice between covering local football games or paying new fees, between making their payroll or sending more money to the recording industry, [which is] currently making record profits.”