Last night (September 15th) the U.S. House of Representatives passed the AM for Every Vehicle Act!!!

This bipartisan legislation (H.979) directs the U.S. Department of Transportation to make AM radio receivers a mandatory piece of safety equipment in every car sold in the U.S. It reverses the current course of some car manufacturers, especially electric vehicles makers, who had been removing AM from the dashboard. Watch the House Floor proceeding here

The NAB and all the state broadcasters associations have worked extremely hard for 4 years, first getting this piece of legislation introduced, then convincing 318 House reps (including Rep. Becca Balint) to co-sponsor it, then garnering support when it went through the House Energy & Commerce committee and the most recent push to get floor time for a full vote. We are thrilled to report our collective advocacy over the last 4 years and especially the last few months (including a special AM radio fly-in to DC) paid off! It wasn’t easy, the bill faced push back from car manufacturers, the Consumer Technology Association and some politicians who oppose government mandates. But the bill also received a massive amount of support from more than 125 organizations including the National Emergency Management Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, AARP and SAG-AFTRA.

The next step is for the U.S. Senate to take the AM For Every Vehicle Act up for a full floor vote since it already passed favorably through the committee of jurisdiction. Since there are 61 Senators co-sponsoring the Senate version of the bill (S.315), including Senator Bernie Sanders, as long as it gets floor time before the end of the year, it is expected to pass and go to the President’s desk to be signed into law!