The AM for Every Vehicle Act has been introduced in the new Congress after dying when the last session of Congress ended in December without it getting to a vote, despite having the announced support of a majority of both the House and Senate. Pending bills do not carry over to a new session of Congress. Thus, the bill had to be reintroduced in the current Congress – which it was last week by Senate co-sponsors Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX). The National Association of Broadcasters quickly released a statement supporting the bill’s reintroduction, stating that the bill “will protect AM radio’s role as an essential public safety tool and ensure Americans can continue to rely on this life-saving resource in their vehicles.”
Opposition to the bill remains, with opponents arguing that it interferes with automakers’ ability to innovate and provide car buyers with the technologies that they want. As part of that opposition, Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Technology Association, sent a letter to NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt, opposing the mandate, arguing among other things that AM is an outdated technology and suggesting that the CTA would support a performance royalty making broadcasters pay SoundExchange royalties for their over-the-air broadcasts if the NAB continued to push the AM legislation. While the legislation is essentially the same as that considered in the last Congress, we should again look at what it provides.
The legislation, if enacted, would require the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a rulemaking proceeding (consulting with the FCC and FEMA), to be completed within one year, to mandate that AM receivers be included in all vehicles sold in the US as a standard feature, without any additional cost to new car buyers. The rule would go into effect between two and three years after enactment. Manufacturers who sold less than 40,000 vehicles in the US in 2022 (which would include electric vehicle manufacturers Rivian, Polestar, and Lucid) would have at least 4 years to comply. Until the effective date of the new rule, before any vehicle could be sold without an AM radio, the seller would need to have “clear and conspicuous labeling” to inform any buyer that the vehicle does not have an AM radio, and auto dealers could not charge for the installation of such a radio.
The bill would require not only that AM radios be standard equipment in vehicles shipped in interstate commerce or imported after the effective date of the rules, but also that access to AM be “easily accessible by the driver.” The bill would allow this access either through standard AM receivers or through receivers that play content from “digital audio AM broadcast stations.” The definition of digital audio AM broadcast station includes stations that use the in-band, on-channel transmission system, but excludes all-digital AM stations. This exclusion is likely meant to avoid any implication that a carmaker could satisfy the requirement by installing a radio only capable of picking of all-digital AM stations, which would force all AMs to go all-digital to be received. Congress of course does not want to force AMs to go all-digital, as that would make their signals inaccessible to those with legacy analog AM receivers – likely the majority today as digital AM receivers still are not the norm for most listeners.
The bill would also require the Government Accountability Office to study whether there was any other available technology to replicate the reach and effectiveness of AM in delivering emergency alerts to the public. Any alternative system would have to reach 90% of the population of the US. The study would also need to review the cost of any alternative system. The GAO would brief the appropriate Congressional committees about the study within one year and deliver the report to Congress within 180 days of the briefing, presumably to allow Congress to reassess any mandate imposed by this Act.
The FCC’s role in the process would be limited. The FCC would coordinate with the Secretary of Transportation in his initial rulemaking, and with the GAO on its study. But, because it is the transportation safety issue that is driving this push to mandate AM in cars, and not issues in the FCC’s jurisdiction, activity mandated by this legislation would be largely conducted outside of the FCC.
As we noted two years ago when this legislation was first introduced, many have asked why the FCC does not mandate AM radios in all radio receivers, just as they mandated all TV receivers contain both VHF and UHF tuners. The FCC’s authority to mandate both television bands in all TVs was specifically granted to the FCC by Congress through the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, when UHF stations were struggling economically because many TVs simply could not pick up their signals. Congress has never given the FCC similar authority over radio tuners. Thus, without explicit Congressional approval, the FCC has no jurisdiction over radio receiver manufacturers. Instead of giving the FCC a mandate to require AM in all radio receivers, this bill focuses on mandates where the need is now most critical – ensuring that vehicles maintain AM radios. Thus, it puts the burden on the Department of Transportation, which is more familiar with regulating carmakers than the FCC.
This bill has just been introduced in Congress. It must pass both Houses of Congress and be signed by the President before it becomes law. As noted above, it has already drawn significant opposition. As the relevant committees in Congress consider this legislation, there will likely be hearings where other objections will be raised (it is scheduled to be considered in a Senate committee this week). The introduction of this bill is just the first step to ensuring that AM remains in the car. As broadcasters learned in the last Congress, even with significant bipartisan support, legislation can still not make it to the President’s desk. We will be watching to see how the legislation moves forward in this new Congress.