AM Bill Sponsor Says Pre-Holiday Vote Is Possible As Music Royalty Tie-In Loses Steam.

The broadcast industry’s holiday wish list includes seeing legislation that would require AM remain in vehicle dashboards make headway in Congress. That wish just might come true. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) says a vote on the American Music Fairness Act will happen “very soon,” possibly as soon as next week. Bilirakis tells Communications Daily that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who is among the lawmakers co-sponsoring the bill, and was told that he wants to bring it to a vote as soon as possible.

The proposed AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R.979/S. 315) was placed on the House union calendar last month, meaning the bill has been approved by a committee and is on the official list of legislation eligible for House floor debate and voting. But after the chamber went into a nearly eight-week recess during the government shutdown, progress slowed. And another hurdle is looming.

Bilirakis says debate over the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act and potential stopgap measure to address skyrocketing health care premiums threaten to divert attention once again. Bilirakis tells Communications Daily that he is hoping the AM bill will be passed by the House next week, but it remains unclear whether it will be brought to the floor.

If and when the bill makes it to a vote, there will be little drama about the outcome. There are 318 co-sponsors for the bill — giving it nearly 100 more than it needs to pass when non-voting members’ support is excluded.

One hurdle has been removed in recent weeks with an amended version being passed out of committee last month. Supporters have agreed to a compromise that would sunset the requirement two years earlier. It means that rather than mandating AM radio remain in passenger cars for 10 years, the bill will require the service for eight years. Insiders say that was a move to appease some lawmakers uneasy about a mandate.

Other key provisions remain the same. If passed, the bill will require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule requiring access to AM broadcast stations in motor vehicles. If they don’t, carmakers could be fined. Before the effective date of the rule, manufacturers who do not include AM would be required to put a warning label on vehicles. And carmakers would be prohibited from charging extra for AM. The proposal would also direct the Government Accountability Office to study whether alternative communication systems could fully replicate the reach and effectiveness of AM broadcast radio for alerting the public to emergencies.

Meanwhile, the Senate has had the bill on its legislative calendar since April after it was passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee in February. But Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) hasn’t yet brought it to the floor for a vote.

One potential ripple might be Senate sponsors Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Edward Markey (D-MA) have not yet signaled they are willing to scale back their bill to match the House version. It could mean that two different bills with two different timelines are passed in each chamber, with a compromise worked out between them during the reconciliation process.

Efforts to tie the legislation to a proposal to require radio stations to pay copyright royalties for on-air music use have dimmed in recent weeks. The music industry sees it as their best hope in the current Congress, but supporters of the AM bill say the maneuverer doesn’t seem to be gaining traction. That was on display this week when a Senate subcommittee held a hearing about performance royalties, and not a single word about AM in dashboards was uttered.