H.R 1094 and S.459 Update

Last year the ARRL launched the Pass the Bill initiative, a grassroots
effort to pass the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act (H.R. 1094
in the U.S. House and S. 459 in the U.S. Senate). This bill would
eliminate private land use restrictions that prohibit hams from erecting
antennas on the property they own.

Many individuals, including Northwestern Division members, have written
to their members of Congress asking for their support of the Amateur
Radio Emergency Preparedness Act. In fact, over 161,000 letters have
been sent by not only U.S. Hams, but even by non-hams and GMRS licensees
who believe the elimination of restrictions on the right of Americans to
communicate as they chose is important.

At present, the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act is still in
committee (the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation). In order to be
voted on and passed in this Congress, the bill would have to be approved
by these two committees. Current membership of these two Congressional
committees is available here:

https://www.commerce.senate.gov/about/members/
https://energycommerce.house.gov/representatives

In the House, the bill has 32 sponsors at present.

If you have already sent a letter to your Congressional representatives,
thank you! However, more can be done to advance this bill.

Call your Congressman and Senator and ask them to support passage of the
Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act (H.R. 1094 in the U.S. House
and S. 459 in the U.S. Senate). Your continued help with securing their
support on their respective committees is critical to advancing the bill
this year.

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
kb7hdx@arrl.org