AG42
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 42  ARLB042
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  November 17, 2016
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB042
ARLB042 ARRL Calls on Members to Press for US Senate Passage of 
Amateur Radio Parity Act

ARRL once again is calling on its members to urge their US Senators
to support the Amateur Radio Parity Act (H.R. 1301) when it comes up
in the Senate during the 'lame duck' session of Congress that
adjourns in mid-December. The House of Representatives approved the
bill in September, but if the Senate does not follow suit, the bill
will die, and the entire process will have to be repeated. ARRL
Hudson Division Director Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, who chairs the ARRL
Board's Legislative Advocacy Committee and has been heavily involved
in efforts to move H.R. 1301 forward, said today, 'The clock is
ticking.'

'We begin the e-mail campaign once again, as the US Senate returns
to work this week after a month-long hiatus,' Lisenco said. 'We were
just beginning to build momentum in the Senate following the
unanimous passage of the Parity Act in the House when Congress shut
down for the 4 weeks prior to Election Day.'

The task is simple: Go to our Rally Congress page, enter your ZIP
code, fill in your name and address, press enter, and e-mails will
go directly to your Senators. Members may do this, even if they have
already contacted their US Senators for support.

Our Rally Congress page is at, https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ .

'We have to remind our legislators that we are still here and that
we need the Amateur Radio Parity Act to become law,' Lisenco
stressed. 'We must to do this now as we have, at most, only 4 weeks
left in the session to get the bill passed this year.  Otherwise, we
will have to begin the entire process in 2017 with a new 115th
Congress.'

There are no guarantees, Lisenco said, and we are subject to the
political bickering that goes on daily between the parties, despite
the fact that the bill is truly a bipartisan effort. 'In order to
have a chance at overcoming political obstacles that have little or
nothing to do with the legislation, we need our voices to be heard,'
he said. 'And we need that input today.'

September's victory in the US House was the culmination of many
years of effort on ARRL's part to gain legislation that would enable
radio amateurs living in deed-restricted communities to erect
efficient outdoor antennas that support Amateur Radio communication.
The measure calls on the FCC to amend its Part 97 rules 'to prohibit
the application to amateur stations of certain private land-use
restrictions, and for other purposes.' While similar bills in past
years gained some traction on Capitol Hill, it was not until the
overwhelming grassroots support from the Amateur Radio community for
H.R. 1301, and ARRL's relentless and strident efforts on Capitol
Hill that this bill made it this far.

As the amended bill provides, 'Community associations should fairly
administer private land-use regulations in the interest of their
communities, while nevertheless permitting the installation and
maintenance of effective outdoor Amateur Radio antennas. There exist
antenna designs and installations that can be consistent with the
aesthetics and physical characteristics of land and structures in
community associations while accommodating communications in the
Amateur Radio services.'