The countdown continues in the lame-duck session and yet support continues to build for a bill that would require AM receivers to be included in vehicle dashboards. Three more House members have signed on as co-sponsors for the proposed AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, bringing the total number of supporters in the House to 271.
The latest additions to the list of co-sponsors include Reps. French Hill (R-AR), Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Tim Kenney (D-NY). If passed, the proposed AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 8449) will require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule requiring access to AM broadcast stations in motor vehicles. If they donât, carmakers could be fined. Before the effective date of the rule, manufacturers who do not include AM would be required to put a warning label on vehicles. And carmakers would be prohibited from charging extra for AM.
Under the latest version of the bill, automakers would have at least two years to comply with the rule, although some manufacturers that produce fewer than 40,000 passenger cars for sale in the U.S. would have at least four years to meet the requirement.
The bill as well as its Senate counterpart (S. 1669) have both passed out of committee in both chambers and are awaiting final votes. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is among the co-sponsors, but he has yet to bring the bill up for a vote. The Senate version passed out of committee in July 2023 but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has yet to bring the bill to the floor for a vote despite 63 Senators co-sponsoring it. Schumer is not among the co-sponsors of the legislation.
Emergency management officials have been among the loudest voices pushing for Congress to take action before ending its session. They say the role of radio during a disaster is one of the lessons learned during Hurricane Helene in September.
âDuring our darkest moments, AM radio connects our communities when other means of communication fail. Thatâs why we urge legislators to support the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. The safety of the communities we serve depends on it,â says Chief Joey Webb, President of the North Carolina Association of Fire Chiefs. In a blog post, he points out that iHeartMediaâs talk âNews Radio 570â WWNC served as a âproxy dispatch serviceâ for listeners sharing where they could find essential supplies and gave real-time reports on road closures and government assistance.
In lobbying for the bill, the National Association of Broadcasters has pointed out that 77 radio stations play a crucial role serving as Primary Entry Points (PEPs) for the Emergency Alert System, a vast majority of which are AM stations.
Shawn Donilon, Executive VP of Government Relations at the NAB, said on a webinar last month that several options at getting the bill over the finish line are under discussion. One option would make the AM proposal part of the government funding bills that lawmakers will need to pass when they return, such as President Bidenâs $100 billion request to Congress for disaster relief efforts or an outstanding defense spending bill. The other is that the effort should begin fresh when the newly elected Congress takes office in January and Republicans hold the majority in both chambers.
If that option is embraced, Donilon says President-elect Trump would also have a voice in the decision-making. Trump has not said whether he supports the bill, and his growing relationship with Tesla founder Elon Musk has some believing it could sway his opinion. Tesla is among the companies that has removed AM from the dashboards of its electric vehicles.
