The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 Bill

The wardrobe "malfunction" heard 'round the world. Janet Jackson, and Justin Timberlake are the halftime entertainment for Super Bowl XXXVIII, (Super Bowl 38) and at the end of the show, Justin Timberlake unveiled a partially exposed breast that did not show nipple. Most people that were watching the Super Bowl missed this action. There were some people that claimed they were offended by the partially covered breast. Some people feel that this inspired the "Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005" which was introduced to the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives is only one part of the federal legislature. Soon I will have a page that describes how a bill becomes a law.

         This is not the first time that such a bill has been introduced. The House of Representatives bill, “Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004” was introduced back in January 21, 2004 by Congressman Fred Upton. This same congressman introduced the “Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005” on January 25, 2005. Both bills were passed by the House of Representatives, and where then submitted to the Senate for their vote.

         According to the THOMAS website of the Library of Congress, the 2004 version was read twice and then referred to the “Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation” of which Congressman Fred Upton is a member. About two months later, the bill was returned to the Senate with amendments. The Senate placed it on the legislative calendar to be reviewed later. Basically the same thing happened to the 2005 version, except that the bill went through further scrutiny before being passed onto the Senate. This means that the bill may not be passed onto the President who has the final say about a bill becoming a law. Just the introduction of these bills have scared the entertainment industry so much that they are overly cautious about what they broadcast on television and the radio. The main argument by those that support the passage of the bills say, that there have been an overwhelming amount of complaints by the public. There are approximately 300 million citizens in the country. The FCC has received thousands, not millions of complaints, even though it is well known that the Parent Television Council has sent the majority of the complaints.

        Do you feel that the Parent Television Council and others like them have the right to speak for you and your family? I surely do not feel that they have the right to speak for others. We need to let the FCC know that we have not given others permission to speak for us. For now please send an email to the FCC letting them know that the PTC and others like them do not speak for you. The email address is fccinfo@fcc.gov. I will soon have a page that visitors can use to send an email to the FCC to praise a show rather than complain about it.

UPDATE - The senate introduced it's own version of this bill, and it was passed the senate on May 18, 2006. This bill will have to be passed by the house and then it will be sent to the President. I urge every one to let their Congress representative know how they feel about this subject matter. The White House website let's you send an e-mail to the President. We need to make our voices heard.

UPDATE - The bill was passed by both the House of Representatives and Congress, and the President signed the bill on June 15th, 2006. Click here for the PDF containing the full text of the new Public Law: 109-235.

Source: The Library of Congress - THOMAS
Source Date: January 25, 2005

You are visitor number: 535

Please forward all questions and/or comments via the contact page.