FINAL BILL REPORT

SSB 5285

                                  C 308 L 87

BYSenate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators McDermott, Deccio, Moore, von Reichbauer, Kreidler, Zimmerman, Stratton, Warnke, Saling, Vognild, Rinehart, Hansen, Gaspard, Wojahn, Fleming, Garrett, Talmadge and Kiskaddon)

Providing funding for public broadcasting stations.

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

House Committe on Ways & Means

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

Public nonprofit radio and television companies complement private broadcasting companies in providing added program diversity for the utilization of Washington citizens.

Public broadcasting companies face increasing costs and potentially decreasing federal support.

SUMMARY:

Procedures are established for the Department of Community Development to allocate grants to public broadcasting stations.  One program is for public broadcasting companies licensed in Washington and qualified to receive grants from the Federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Seventy-five percent of the money appropriated to this program is allocated to public television corporations and 25 percent to public radio stations.  Both the radio and television funds are divided into basic and incentive grant pools.

Another program is for grants to broadcast stations with a noncommercial education license, but not eligible for grants from the Federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  These stations must have facilities and equipment for program origination and production.  They also must have daily broadcast schedules, with some programs locally produced, devoted primarily to serving the educational, informational, and cultural needs of the community within its primary service area.  The programming shall be intended for a general audience and not designed to further a particular religious philosophy or political organization.  Maximum grants awarded to eligible stations under this section are determined by the number of hours a day the station broadcasts.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      Senate    32    15

      House 91   4

EFFECTIVE:July 26, 1987