02/03/2016
The list of cosponsors for the US House version of the Amateur Radio Parity Act
of 2015 (H.R. 1301) continues to grow. The addition of Rep Stevan Pearce,
KG5KIQ (R-NM), and Rep Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) as cosponsors on February 1 raises
the total to 120 cosponsors. They are among four cosponsors to sign on to the
bill since the start of the year. The other two are Reps Robert Brady (D-PA)
and Mary Kaptur (D-OH), who became cosponsors on January 12 and 13
respectively.
One of a small handful of hams in the US House, Pearce got his ham ticket in
November, after reaching out to then-Rocky Mountain Division Director (now
Second Vice President) Brian Mileshosky, N6ZGT, and New Mexico Section Manager
Ed James, KA8JMW, to find out more about ham radio. He joins his House
colleagues Reps Daniel Benishek, KB8TOW (R-MI), and Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR),
who chairs the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. During a
January 12 hearing on H.R. 1301, Walden called the Amateur Radio Parity Act "a
commonsense bill" and urged his colleagues to support it. Brady, Kaptur,
Pearce, and O'Rourke may have heeded his advice.
A League-led effort to encourage members to urge their lawmakers to become
cosponsors of the House and Senate measures continues. League representatives
will be at the 2016 ARRL National Convention[1]February 12-14 in Orlando,
Florida, hosted by the Orlando HamCation[2], to assist members in writing their
members of Congress.
H.R. 1301 would direct the FCC to extend its rules relating to reasonable
accommodation of Amateur Service communications to private land-use
restrictions, such as deed covenants, conditions, and restrictions. The bill
has attracted 116 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. An identical US
Senate measure, S. 1685, has attracted 3 cosponsors. It cleared the Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation last November.
More information[3] about the legislation is on the ARRL Amateur Radio Parity
Act web page.
[1] http://www.arrl.org/arrl-expo
[2] http://www.hamcation.com/
[3] http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act
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