lished a uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of American children. (3) The average American child is exposed to 25 hours of television each week and some children are exposed to as much as 11 hours of television a day. (4) Studies have shown that children exposed to violent video programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children not so exposed, and that children exposed to violent video programming are prone to assume that acts of violence are acceptable behavior. (5) Children in the United States are, on average, exposed to an estimated 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television by the time the child completes elementary school. (6) Studies indicate that children are affected by the pervasiveness and casual treatment of sexual material on television, eroding the ability of parents to develop responsible attitudes and behavior in their children. (7) Parents express grave concern over violent and sexual video programming and strongly support technology that would give them greater control to block video programming in the home that they consider harmful to their children. (8) There is a compelling governmental interest in empowering parents to limit the negative influences of video programming that is harmful to children. (9) Providing parents with timely information about the nature of upcoming video programming and with the technological tools that allow them easily to block violent, sexual, or other programming that they believe harmful to their children is a nonintrusive and narrowly tailored means of achieving that compelling governmental interest. (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEVISION RATING CODE. * * * (2) [47 U.S.C. 303 nt] ADVISORY COMMITTEE REQUIREMENTS.-In establishing an advisory committee for purposes of the amendment made by paragraph (1)1 of this subsection, the Commission shall (A) ensure that such committee is composed of parents, television broadcasters, television programming producers, cable operators, appropriate public interest groups, and other interested individuals from the private sector and is fairly balanced in terms of political affiliation, the points of view represented, and the functions to be performed by the committee; (B) provide to the committee such staff and resources as may be necessary to permit it to perform its functions efficiently and promptly; and 1Paragraph (1) of subsection (b) added subsection (w) to section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934. (C) require the committee to submit a final report of its recommendations within one year after the date of the appointment of the initial members. (e) [47 U.S.C. 303 nt] APPLICABILITY AND EFFECTIVE DATES.(1) APPLICABILITY OF RATING PROVISION.-The amendment made by subsection (b)1 of this section shall take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, but only if the Commission determines, in consultation with appropriate public interest groups and interested individuals from the private sector, that distributors of video programming have not, by such date (A) established voluntary rules for rating video programming that contains sexual, violent, or other indecent material about which parents should be informed before it is displayed to children, and such rules are acceptable to the Commission; and (B) agreed voluntarily to broadcast signals that contain ratings of such programming. (2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF MANUFACTURING PROVISION.—In prescribing regulations to implement the amendment made by subsection (c), 2 the Federal Communications Commission shall, after consultation with the television manufacturing industry, specify the effective date for the applicability of the requirement to the apparatus covered by such amendment, which date shall not be less than two years after the date of enactment of this Act. SEC. 552. [47 U.S.C. 303 nt] TECHNOLOGY FUND. It is the policy of the United States to encourage broadcast television, cable, satellite, syndication, other video programming distributors, and relevant related industries (in consultation with appropriate public interest groups and interested individuals from the private sector) to (1) establish a technology fund to encourage television and electronics equipment manufacturers to facilitate the development of technology which would empower parents to block programming they deem inappropriate for their children and to encourage the availability thereof to low income parents; (2) report to the viewing public on the status of the development of affordable, easy to use blocking technology; and (3) establish and promote effective procedures, standards, systems, advisories, or other mechanisms for ensuring that users have easy and complete access to the information necessary to effectively utilize blocking technology and to encourage the availability thereof to low income parents. 1 Paragraph (1) of subsection (b) added subsection (w) to section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934. 2 Subsection (c) added subsection (x) to section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934. Subtitle C-Judicial Review SEC. 561. [47 U.S.C. 223 nt] EXPEDITED REVIEW. (a) THREE-JUDGE DISTRICT COURT HEARING.-Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any civil action challenging the constitutionality, on its face, of this title or any amendment made by this title, or any provision thereof, shall be heard by a district court of 3 judges convened pursuant to the provisions of section 2284 of title 28, United States Code. (b) APPELLATE REVIEW.-Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an interlocutory or final judgment, decree, or order of the court of 3 judges in an action under subsection (a) holding this title or an amendment made by this title, or any provision thereof, unconstitutional shall be reviewable as a matter of right by direct appeal to the Supreme Court. Any such appeal shall be filed not more than 20 days after entry of such judgment, decree, or order. TITLE VI-EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS SEC. 601. [47 U.S.C. 152 nt] APPLICABILITY OF CONSENT DECREES AND OTHER LAW. (a) APPLICABILITY OF AMENDMENTS TO FUTURE CONDUCT.— (1) AT&T CONSENT DECREE.-Any conduct or activity that was, before the date of enactment of this Act, subject to any restriction or obligation imposed by the AT&T Consent Decree shall, on and after such date, be subject to the restrictions and obligations imposed by the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by this Act and shall not be subject to the restrictions and the obligations imposed by such Consent Decree. (2) GTE CONSENT DECREE.-Any conduct or activity that was, before the date of enactment of this Act, subject to any restriction or obligation imposed by the GTE Consent Decree shall, on and after such date, be subject to the restrictions and obligations imposed by the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by this Act and shall not be subject to the restrictions and the obligations imposed by such Consent Decree. (3) MCCAW CONSENT DECREE.-Any conduct or activity that was, before the date of enactment of this Act, subject to any restriction or obligation imposed by the McCaw Consent Decree shall, on and after such date, be subject to the restrictions and obligations imposed by the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by this Act and subsection (d) of this section and shall not be subject to the restrictions and the obligations imposed by such Consent Decree. (b) ANTITRUST LAWS. (1) SAVINGS CLAUSE.-Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to modify, impair, or supersede the applicability of any of the antitrust laws. (2) REPEAL.-Subsection (a) of section 221 (47 U.S.C. 221(a)) is repealed. (3) CLAYTON ACT.-Section 7 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18) is amended in the last paragraph by striking “Federal Communications Commission," (c) FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW. (1) NO IMPLIED EFFECT.-This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall not be construed to modify, impair, or supersede Federal, State, or local law unless expressly so provided in such Act or amendments. (2) STATE TAX SAVINGS PROVISION.-Notwithstanding paragraph (1), nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to modify, impair, or supersede, or authorize the modification, impairment, or supersession of, any State or local law pertaining to taxation, except as provided in sections 622 and 653(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 and section 602 of this Act. (d) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE JOINT MARKETING.-Notwithstanding section 22.903 of the Commission's regulations (47 C.F.R. 22.903) or any other Commission regulation, a Bell operating company or any other company may, except as provided in sections 271(e)(1) and 272 of the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by this Act as they relate to wireline service, jointly market and sell commercial mobile services in conjunction with telephone exchange service, exchange access, intraLATA telecommunications service, interLATA telecommunications service, and information services. (e) DEFINITIONS.-As used in this section: (1) AT&T CONSENT DECREE.-The term "AT&T Consent Decree" means the order entered August 24, 1982, in the antitrust action styled United States v. Western Electric, Civil Action No. 82-0192, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and includes any judgment or order with respect to such action entered on or after August 24, 1982. (2) GTE CONSENT DECREE.-The term "GTE Consent Decree" means the order entered December 21, 1984, as restated January 11, 1985, in the action styled United States v. GTE Corp., Civil Action No. 83-1298, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and any judgment or order with respect to such action entered on or after December 21, 1984. (3) MCCAW CONSENT DECREE.-The term "McCaw Consent Decree" means the proposed consent decree filed on July 15, 1994, in the antitrust action styled United States v. AT&T Corp. and McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc., Civil Action No. 94-01555, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Such term includes any stipulation that the parties will abide by the terms of such proposed consent decree until it is entered and any order entering such proposed consent decree. (4) ANTITRUST LAWS.-The term "antitrust laws" has the meaning given it in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12(a)), except that such term includes the Act of June 19, 1936 (49 Stat. 1526; 15 U.S.C. 13 et seq.), commonly known as the Robinson-Patman Act, and section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the ex tent that such section 5 applies to unfair methods of competition. SEC. 602. [47 U.S.C. 152 nt] PREEMPTION OF LOCAL TAXATION WITH RESPECT TO DIRECT-TO-HOME SERVICES. (a) PREEMPTION.-A provider of direct-to-home satellite service shall be exempt from the collection or remittance, or both, of any tax or fee imposed by any local taxing jurisdiction on direct-tohome satellite service. (b) DEFINITIONS.-For the purposes of this section (1) DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE SERVICE.-The term "directto-home satellite service" means only programming transmitted or broadcast by satellite directly to the subscribers' premises without the use of ground receiving or distribution equipment, except at the subscribers' premises or in the uplink process to the satellite. (2) PROVIDER OF DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE SERVICE.-For purposes of this section, a "provider of direct-to-home satellite service" means a person who transmits, broadcasts, sells, or distributes direct-to-home satellite service. (3) LOCAL TAXING JURISDICTION.-The term "local taxing jurisdiction" means any municipality, city, county, township, parish, transportation district, or assessment jurisdiction, or any other local jurisdiction in the territorial jurisdiction of the United States with the authority to impose a tax or fee, but does not include a State. (4) STATE.-The term "State" means any of the several States, the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United States. (5) TAX OR FEE.-The terms "tax" and "fee" mean any local sales tax, local use tax, local intangible tax, local income tax, business license tax, utility tax, privilege tax, gross receipts tax, excise tax, franchise fees, local telecommunications tax, or any other tax, license, or fee that is imposed for the privilege of doing business, regulating, or raising revenue for a local taxing jurisdiction. (c) PRESERVATION OF STATE AUTHORITY.-This section shall not be construed to prevent taxation of a provider of direct-to-home satellite service by a State or to prevent a local taxing jurisdiction from receiving revenue derived from a tax or fee imposed and collected by a State. TITLE VII-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS * * * SEC. 704. FACILITIES SITING; RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSION STAND (b) RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSIONS.-Within 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall complete action in ET Docket 93-62 to prescribe and make effective rules regarding the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions. |