On May 18, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, S. 193, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 (S. 193), which would increase the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) fines on incidents of indecency. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) brought the bill directly to the floor, bypassing the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, to which the bill had been referred. The House approved its version (H.R. 310) last February (See The Source, 2/18/05).
Sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), the bill would increase the FCC fine for any incident of indecency to $325,000. The House version would increase the fine to a maximum of $500,000 for each incident.
