By David Hatch
(Monday, August 6) Sen. John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., has postponed introduction of television violence legislation for at least the third time this year -- with his spokesman now saying it will be offered after Congress' August recess.
Rockefeller originally intended to introduce the measure in early to mid-spring, then bumped the timeframe to June, and then to July or August. But, late last month, he scrapped plans to offer the bill before Congress adjourned for its summer break; the House and Senate reconvene after Labor Day.
The legislation would permit the FCC to regulate excessively violent scenes on broadcast and subscription television, a goal that Rockefeller has acknowledged raises thorny constitutional issues. The difficulty of defining what constitutes inappropriate violence has been a challenge for the West Virginia lawmaker -- with historical documentaries, fictional depictions of war and children's cartoons raising questions about how much graphic fare is appropriate, when and in what form.
"It's going to have to be put on the back burner," the Rockefeller spokesman said of the bill. Nevertheless, he insisted that Rockefeller remains committed to the effort and attributed the delays to the crush of legislative activity in recent weeks.
"It's just time and scheduling. The routine legislative process," the spokesman said, adding that he did not know if there was a draft of the bill. Other sources were also uncertain, since no draft has apparently been floated among interested parties.
Some observers said Rockefeller stalled the June introduction of his violence bill after a federal appeals court overturned FCC-imposed fines on broadcasters for utterances of profanity during live programming. The decision was viewed by some as weakening the constitutional underpinnings of the planned measure.
Rockefeller sought to address that worry, and blunt the impact of upcoming court reviews of various FCC "indecency" fines, with separate legislation approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in July reinforcing the FCC's authority to impose fines for "fleeting" utterances of expletives.
Rockefeller has been signaling since January that he plans to reintroduce an updated version of legislation he offered in 2005 with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. That measure would have required the FCC to study whether parental controls are effective for all forms of television; if not, the agency could curtail extremely violent scenes.
The FCC now has the authority to fine television and radio broadcasters who violate guidelines governing sexually explicit and profane content.
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