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COVID-19, Infrastructure Vehicles

Supporters of Prison Phone Rates, Media Diversity Bills Get Momentum

The amplified national conversation about racism after recent police-involved deaths of Black people is providing an open­ing to grow momentum on Capitol Hill for legislation to place new limits on prison phone charges and increase media ownership diversity, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Lawmakers sponsoring some of the bills told us they are pushing to ensure such language is included in the next COVID-19 aid measure and other vehicles, including the House Democrats’ Moving Forward Act infrastructure legislative package (HR-2).

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., want wording mirroring their Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act (S-1764) to become part of the next COVID-19 bill passing that chamber. Senate work on the next pandemic measure is expected to largely happen when the chamber returns July 20 from a two-week recess expected to begin later this week. S-1764 would affirm FCC ability to use its procedures and authority to address “unjust and unreasonable” inmate calling rates (see 1906120076). Text from the similar Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act (HR-6389) was included (see 2005130059) in the House-passed Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-6800).

There’s good evidence that by being in touch with family, people end up coming out of the system better adjusted and less likely” to commit crimes, Portman told us. “Some of the rates are outrageous because it’s a captive audience.” It “particularly makes sense” to include S-1764 in COVID-19 legislation “because family members can’t visit” loved ones in prison while epidemic health restrictions are in place, he said. Portman noted the Federal Bureau of Prisons agreed in April to make inmate phone calls and videoconferencing services free during the epidemic (see 2004150061).

There seems to be a lot of support” outside of Congress for S-1764, including from Verizon and Incompas, Portman said. It’s not something Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has committed to supporting as part of a future pandemic bill. “It’s a small issue, but it’s an important one” that Portman said he plans to talk to McConnell about as work on the coming legislation continues. Duckworth noted “bipartisan support” from fellow Senate Commerce Committee members for the measure. She was “optimistic that we can get it moved” via some legislative vehicle. McConnell’s office didn’t comment.

Media Diversity

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., told us he “asked [House] leadership to include” language from his Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act (HR-3957) in HR-2. HR-3957 would restore the minority tax certificate and direct the FCC to make recommendations on ways to improve ownership diversity. It was one of four media diversity measures the House Communications Subcommittee advanced during a March markup session (see 2003100067). The others were House Resolution 549, the Enhancing Broadcaster Diversity and Inclusion by Verifying and Ensuring the Reporting Required by Statute is Transpiring and Yielding Data Act (HR-5564) and the Measuring the Economics Driving Investments and Access for Diversity Act (HR-5567).

HR-3957 is “budget-neutral, so it wouldn’t cost anything,” Butterfield said. “I don’t know of any significant opposition to it, so I think that we can get it passed this year” as part of HR-2 or another measure. House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon and other Republicans supported HR-3957 during the Communications markup, despite concerns that Butterfield jettisoned what that would have required the FCC to set up an incubator program. The House Rules Committee began consideration of proposed amendments Monday. An available list didn’t include Butterfield’s proposal.

House Commerce Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., told us she’s optimistic about advancing HR-3957 this year as part of a legislative vehicle, “especially because so many disparities have been laid bare” during the pandemic. She was less optimistic about prospects this year for the other three media diversity measures. H. Res. 549 would reaffirm the House’s “commitment to diversity as a core tenet of the public interest standard in media policy.” HR-5564 would require the FCC to complete its equal employment opportunity enforcement NPRM (see 1904290176). HR-5567 would require the FCC “consider market entry barriers for socially disadvantaged individuals in the communications marketplace” in video competition reports.

I know that we’re doing a disparities working group” within House Commerce and media diversity legislation is “going to be one of our focuses,” Clarke said. “I don’t know that anything necessarily gets through before the end of this Congress, but we’re definitely going to work on it.” She said her Algorithmic Accountability Act is another priority for the working group. HR-2231/S-1108 would authorize FTC regulations to “study and fix flawed” algorithms “that result in inaccurate, unfair, biased or discriminatory decisions impacting Americans” (see 1904100045).

'Changed' Landscape

“I think the world has changed” since House Communications advanced HR-3157 and the other media diversity bills, chiefly because of heightened public attention on institutional racism, said National Urban League Senior Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Clint Odom in an interview. “We’ve seen corporations responding in unexpected and positive ways to the movement that’s happening in the country” (see 2006160038), including NAB CEO Gordon Smith’s endorsement of HR-3157. “I’m encouraged and think that’s a positive sign for getting something done on media diversity,” Odom said.

There may be a lot of partisan” divisions on criminal justice revamp legislation given the party-line votes on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (HR-7120) and the Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (Justice) Act (S-3985), but “wherever members can find some agreement on matters of social justice, I think at this moment they’re really looking to do it,” Odom said. “If it can’t be done in an environment like this, I question when it can be done.” It’s “not always clear how these things are going to happen,” but since HR-3157 "has been 30 years in the making, the fact that it has accumulated the amount of support it has is a very good sign. This is a moment to get it done.”

You see people” protesting in the streets “when they’re not being heard, and one of the ways they can be heard is to have their own voices and people who understand their communities and their struggles widely represented in the media,” said United Church of Christ lawyer Cheryl Leanza. “I’m sure it’s on [House leaders’] minds very much … as they plan out the course of the rest of the year.” She highlighted the need for Congress to mandate the FCC include additional data on representation in communications market reports and for social media platforms to be “called to account” on racial issues.

Leanza and Odom noted the improved prospects for Congress to enact prison phone legislation like HR-6389 and S-1764. “Members of Congress tend to think of the Judiciary committees as the only place where questions about policing and incarceration can be considered, but of course the Commerce [panels] also have an important role to play for communications for incarcerated people, particularly during” the pandemic,” Leanza said. “The notion of making sure that inmates and their families remain connected, they’re far less likely to return,” Odom said. “This is an important piece of legislation that I hope will move, if not as part of” the next COVID-19 bill, “then as part of the next steps in criminal justice reform.”

Editor’s note: This is the second in an occasional series of articles about diversity and the communications sector. An earlier story was on corporate diversity and culture. It's in front of the pay wall. See here.