BILL REQ. #:  H-4705.2 

Read first time 01/22/08.   Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The Federal Communications Commission is an independent United States government agency, directly responsible to Congress; and
     WHEREAS, The Federal Communications Commission is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable and has jurisdiction over the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and United States possessions; and
     WHEREAS, The Federal Communications Commission on December 18, 2007, delivered a decision amending newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules to allow a newspaper to own one television station or one radio station in the twenty largest markets in the United States; and
     WHEREAS, The Federal Communications Commission ignored repeated pleas of the American people and their representatives in Congress to defer their newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership decision and conduct a more inclusive process before amending the rules; and
     WHEREAS, The members of the United States Congress, in a nonpartisan manner, through the Media Ownership Act, seek to overturn all Federal Communications Commission decisions relating to newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership made after October 1, 2007, to set new standards for the Federal Communications Commission to be more responsive to public input in their decision making, and to provide for more opportunities for people of color and women to own media outlets; and
     WHEREAS, The Washington State Legislature condemns the Federal Communications Commission decision to expand newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership and the process that the Federal Communications Commission followed to deliver their decision;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the United States Congress work in a nonpartisan manner to pass the Media Ownership Act that overturns Federal Communications Commission decisions after October 1, 2007, ensures that future Federal Communications Commission regulatory processes are open to and inclusive of the American people, and provides improved opportunities for people of color and women to participate as media outlet owners.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin, Commissioners Michael J. Copps, Jonathan S. Adelstein, Deborah Taylor Tate, and Robert M. McDowell, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.