'Supermajority' for AM Radio Bill in Senate; House Lawmakers Appear Favorable

House Innovation Subcommittee members appeared overwhelmingly supportive of a revised draft version of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act during a Tuesday hearing, though some expressed reservations about imposing a mandate on automakers. The revised draft and earlier version HR-3413/S-1669 would require DOT to mandate AM radio's inclusion in future electric vehicles. S-1669 lead sponsors earlier that day announced a filibuster-proof Senate majority formally back the measure.

Lawmakers “are being forced to intervene” because “concerns continue to be ignored by corporations making consumer vehicles,” said House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., during the hearing. “I do not consider a mandate for manufacturers to continue including AM radio in vehicles lightly.” However, “the reality is that automakers have been aware of these bipartisan, bicameral concerns for a long time and have yet to adequately address them.” Rodgers led the revised AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act draft after raising concerns last year about imposing a new mandate on automakers (see 2306060088).

S-1669 lead sponsors Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced Tuesday that the measure has 60 backers in the chamber, enough to overcome any future filibuster of floor action. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., objected in December to Cruz’s attempt to pass S-1669 by unanimous consent (see 2312060073). “With a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate, Congress should quickly” move to pass S-1669, Cruz and Markey said. They didn’t indicate whether they back changes included in the Rodgers-led revised draft House Innovation examined Tuesday.

House Innovation Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, separately told us they’re still not committed to backing advancing the AM radio bill but indicated some drift away from their earlier skepticism about mandating that automakers include the technology in future vehicles. “We’re going to discuss it with” Rodgers and Commerce ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., before deciding on marking up the measure, but keeping AM radio technology available is “clearly a bipartisan issue because our constituents are concerned,” Bilirakis told us after the hearing. A mandate could still “be an issue” for Republicans, “but I think we’ve made great progress” toward reaching a consensus and “I’m in favor of keeping AM radio” accessible.

“I haven’t talked to” Rodgers about the AM radio mandate since the House went on a week-long recess that ended Monday, but “there’s a definite mood out there to try to get this thing fixed,” Latta told us. “We really reached out to the automotive manufacturers” to pressure them to “reverse their course” on eliminating AM radio technology from future vehicles. “This is something that affects lives” because of AM radio’s emergency alerting role, he said.

Nearly every legislator who spoke during the House Innovation hearing praised AM’s importance in emergency communications and related it to disasters in their home regions. Pallone discussed Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., talked about tornadoes in his state. Hurricanes appear to be getting worse, said Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. “They're thinking of going to a Category 6. So, I can't imagine that at this time we would go backward in providing that important communications tool,” she said. “People want AM radio, there's no question,” Bilirakis said. “Why is it so difficult? Why is this such a big issue when our constituents really want it for emergency purposes?”

Testimony

Witnesses at the hearing representing electric vehicle manufacturers -- CTA CEO Gary Shapiro and Alliance for Automotive Innovation President John Bozzella -- said there is no data supporting broadcasters' arguments that AM radio is vital to public safety. Bozzella was critical of language in the proposed legislation that would conduct a study of AM’s importance in emergency communication after the mandate is in place. Many other technologies can offer emergency alerts, Shapiro said. “You're putting one medium ahead of every other medium, and you're trying to make it a safety issue, when there's no research, and there's no data showing it is a safety issue.” Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, interrupted. “If you cannot get a signal, I’d say there’s a safety issue.”

Ninety-nine percent of cars on the market have AM radios, and it will take more than 30 years for “the fleet to turn over,” Bozzella said. “Consumers can get it if they want it.” The legislation would expand the sorts of mandates the National Highway Traffic Administration can require, creating a dangerous precedent, he said. Bozzella said electric vehicle makers eliminating AM from their cars have committed to making sure customers buying an AM-free car are notified ahead of time, handing out freestanding hand crank-powered emergency radios with their cars, and ensuring that Integrated Public Alert Warning System “alerts will be delivered at no cost to customers. For free.” A spokesperson clarified that the IPAWS alerts would be transmitted via satellite radio even to consumers who don’t have subscriptions, and also by automotive phone apps like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

If AM radio were as essential to public safety as broadcasters claim, Congress should be mandating it in all public areas, Shapiro said. “You have to be listening to AM to know there’s a crisis,” he said. “That’s why you tune in when there is a crisis,” interjected Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga. Shapiro also criticized broadcasters for ignoring calls from CTA to improve AM radio technology.

Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., asked Bozzella for precise figures about additional costs or weight an AM mandate would impose on electric vehicles per car. He said he would provide those figures later. Bozzella estimated, though, that the additional cost per car would equal automaker estimates of $3.8 billion in additional costs per year divided by roughly 15 million cars produced per year, or around $253 in additional costs per car. Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., one of the few lawmakers who appeared more sympathetic to the EV manufacturers, asked how he would tell his constituents that Congress was forcing them to spend more on cars that include AM radios they don’t want. “Why on earth would we force people to invest in older technology instead of if this was really our concern, trying to build out a new technology that has those advantages?”

Melody Spann Cooper, CEO of Chicago-based Midway Broadcasting and Navajo Nation Executive Director Justin Ahasteen spoke in favor of the AM legislation Tuesday, and were the focus of most of the lawmakers' questions. “The foremost reason that Congress should care about AM radio is that it is a lifesaver,” said Spann Cooper. “No other communications medium has the reach or resiliency of AM radio. A single station can be heard as far as 700 miles away.” Ahasteen said that AM is the only practical way to get important information in the Navajo language to the remote reaches of the 27,000-square-mile Navajo nation. “As we work to bridge the digital divide, we cannot afford to undermine the existing tools that serve our community so effectively,” he said.

Lawmakers also emphasized AM’s reach and the importance of broadcast localism, which they said AM provides in a way that tech such as satellite radio doesn’t. “Ensuring diverse voices are able to engage in a changing media landscape is a priority of mine,” said Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill. Satellite radio and internet-based tech can't provide reach similar to AM in North Dakota, said Armstrong. “When low-orbit satellites are allowed to do all of this, I'm in! Whatever is the best way to communicate with my constituents, I'm all for it. But where we're at in my state right now, it's AM radio,” he said.