HR.4969 would require the FCC, within 120 days of the Bill’s passage, to amend the Part 97 Amateur Service rules to apply PRB-1 coverage to include homeowners’ association regulations and deed restrictions, often referred to as “covenants, conditions, and restrictions” (CC&Rs). PRB-1 states that local governments cannot preclude Amateur Radio communications; they must “reasonably accommodate” amateur operations, and the state and local regulations must be the minimum practicable regulation to accomplish a legitimate governmental interest.

Presently, PRB-1 only applies to state and local zoning laws and ordinances. Since PRB-1 was enacted, the FCC has said several times that it would prefer to have some guidance from Congress before extending the policy to private land-use regulations. HR.4969 will provide that guidance, and give PRB-1 the force of Federal law.

Radio amateurs, while providing a valuable and necessary service to their communities, are frequently and increasingly precluded from installing necessary equipment (antennas, coax, etc) by unreasonable private land-use restrictions, including restrictive CC&R covenants. The net effect of HR.4969 passage will be to suppress those unreasonable restrictions and allow licensed amateurs to install reasonable equipment for practicing our hobby and having the means to serve our communities.