Legislative Roundup
On May 4, the United States House of Representatives, recognizing the arts as a core academic subject and music as an essential element of the arts, passed a resolution in support of music education.
In June, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch introduced the “Induce Bill” in an effort to curb online piracy. The bill would make liable anyone who aids in violation of copyrights, including companies that knowingly provide tools to commit copyright infringement, such as KaZaa and Imesh.
The Senate also passed the Artists Rights and Theft Prevention Act which provides a means for copyright owners to be compensated for damages. A committee will be working out the differences between a similar bill passed by the House of Representatives before it is voted into law.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia reversed many of the new FCC rule changes allowing greater percentages of radio and TV station ownership in the same market. However, companies will still be allowed to own both a TV station and a newspaper in the same market and the 39% cap on national audience reach by a single company remains.
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NLRB Poised to Restrict Rights—In what could foreshadow a radical change in federal labor law, the Bush National Labor Relations Board announced June 7 it will review the legality of rules regarding majority verification and neutrality procedures workers currently use to win a voice at work. Workers increasingly are using the process to form unions instead of the more onerous NLRB election process, which allows employers to use debilitating obstacles to block workers’ free choice. Because some unscrupulous employers exploit the drawn-out NLRB election process to interfere with workers’ freedom to have a voice on the job, activists are building support for the Employee Free Choice Act, federal legislation that would guarantee workers the right to form unions through majority verification. Activists have persuaded 202 members of the House of Representatives and 31 senators to co-sponsor the bills, H.R. 3619 and S. 1925.
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