Bishop asks Senate leader to bring broadcast indecency bill to vote

Published: 2004-05-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Communications, asked Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to bring to the floor a bill that would create stiffer penalties for broadcast indecency. "This legislation takes a critical step toward empowering the public to better determine the appropriateness of what they hear and see on the public airwaves," Bishop Kicanas said in his May 4 letter to Frist. The bill was approved April 4 by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Bishop Kicanas said some provisions of the bill raise constitutional questions. "We are hopeful that you will work with your colleagues to ensure that such issues are settled in a manner that is constitutionally sound and permits this legislation to move forward expeditiously," he told Frist. The bill, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004, was introduced a week after a stunt by Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson that resulted in Jackson exposing one of her breasts during the Super Bowl halftime show.

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