Rep. John E. Bradley
Filed: 2/28/2012
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| 1 | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 5528
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| 2 | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 5528 by replacing | ||||||
| 3 | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| 4 | "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the First | ||||||
| 5 | Informer Broadcasters Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Definitions. | ||||||
| 7 | "Broadcaster" means a radio broadcasting station, cable | ||||||
| 8 | operator, or other video service provider or television | ||||||
| 9 | broadcasting station primarily engaged in, and deriving income | ||||||
| 10 | from, the business of facilitating speech via over-the-air | ||||||
| 11 | communications, both as to pure speech and commercial speech. | ||||||
| 12 | "First informer broadcaster" means a person who has been | ||||||
| 13 | certified as a first informer broadcaster pursuant to Section | ||||||
| 14 | 15 of this Act. | ||||||
| 15 | Section 10. Broadcasters. Broadcasters in this State | ||||||
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| 1 | shall, in cooperation with the Illinois Emergency Management | ||||||
| 2 | Agency and the Illinois Broadcasters Association, or its | ||||||
| 3 | successor organization, develop comprehensive, coordinated | ||||||
| 4 | plans for preparing for and responding appropriately to an | ||||||
| 5 | emergency or disaster. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 15. First informer broadcasters; training and | ||||||
| 7 | certification. | ||||||
| 8 | (a) The Illinois Broadcasters Association, or its | ||||||
| 9 | successor organization, the Cable Television and | ||||||
| 10 | Communications Association of Illinois, or its successor | ||||||
| 11 | organization, any member of the Illinois Broadcasters | ||||||
| 12 | Association, Cable Television and Communications Association | ||||||
| 13 | of Illinois, or its successor organization, and any other | ||||||
| 14 | provider of emergency broadcasts, including, without | ||||||
| 15 | limitation, a provider who uses emerging technologies, may | ||||||
| 16 | establish a program for training and certifying broadcast | ||||||
| 17 | engineers and technical personnel as first response | ||||||
| 18 | broadcasters. Each program established pursuant to this | ||||||
| 19 | subsection must:
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| 20 | (i) be consistent with federal law and guidelines; | ||||||
| 21 | (ii) provide training and education concerning | ||||||
| 22 | restoring, repairing and resupplying any facilities and | ||||||
| 23 | equipment of a broadcaster in an area affected by an | ||||||
| 24 | emergency or disaster; and | ||||||
| 25 | (iii) provide training and education concerning the | ||||||
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| 1 | personal safety of a first informer broadcaster in an area | ||||||
| 2 | affected by an emergency or disaster. | ||||||
| 3 | (b) To the extent practicable and consistent with not | ||||||
| 4 | endangering public safety or inhibiting recovery efforts, | ||||||
| 5 | State and local governmental agencies shall allow a first | ||||||
| 6 | informer broadcaster access to an area affected by an emergency | ||||||
| 7 | or disaster for the purpose of restoring, repairing, or | ||||||
| 8 | resupplying any facility or equipment critical to the ability | ||||||
| 9 | of a broadcaster to acquire, produce, and transmit essential | ||||||
| 10 | emergency or disaster-related public information programming, | ||||||
| 11 | including, without limitation, repairing and maintaining | ||||||
| 12 | transmitters and generators, and transporting fuel for | ||||||
| 13 | generators.
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| 14 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
| 15 | becoming law.".
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