§ 396. Corporation for Public Broadcasting

§ 396. Corporation for Public Broadcasting

(a) Congressional declaration of policy The Congress hereby finds and declares that—

(1) it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes;

(2) it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of nonbroadcast telecommunications technologies for the delivery of public telecommunications services;

(3) expansion and development of public telecommunications and of diversity of its programming depend on freedom, imagination, and initiative on both local and national levels;

(4) the encouragement and support of public telecommunications, while matters of importance for private and local development, are also of appropriate and important concern to the Federal Government;

(5) it furthers the general welfare to encourage public telecommunications services which will be responsive to the interests of people both in particular localities and throughout the United States, which will constitute an expression of diversity and excellence, and which will constitute a source of alternative telecommunications services for all the citizens of the Nation;

(6) it is in the public interest to encourage the development of programming that involves creative risks and that addresses the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, particularly children and minorities;

(7) it is necessary and appropriate for the Federal Government to complement, assist, and support a national policy that will most effectively make public telecommunications services available to all citizens of the United States;

(8) public television and radio stations and public telecommunications services constitute valuable local community resources for utilizing electronic media to address national concerns and solve local problems through community programs and outreach programs;

(9) it is in the public interest for the Federal Government to ensure that all citizens of the United States have access to public telecommunications services through all appropriate available telecommunications distribution technologies; and

(10) a private corporation should be created to facilitate the development of public telecommunications and to afford maximum protection from extraneous interference and control.

(b) Establishment of Corporation; application of District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act There is authorized to be established a nonprofit corporation, to be known as the “Corporation for Public Broadcasting”, which will not be an agency or establishment of the United States Government. The Corporation shall be subject to the provisions of this section, and, to the extent consistent with this section, to the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act.

(c) Board of Directors; functions, duties, etc.

(1) The Corporation for Public Broadcasting shall have a Board of Directors (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “Board”), consisting of 9 members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. No more than 5 members of the Board appointed by the President may be members of the same political party.

(2) The 9 members of the Board appointed by the President (A) shall be selected from among citizens of the United States (not regular full-time employees of the United States) who are eminent in such fields as education, cultural and civic affairs, or the arts, including radio and television; and (B) shall be selected so as to provide as nearly as practicable a broad representation of various regions of the Nation, various professions and occupations, and various kinds of talent and experience appropriate to the functions and responsibilities of the Corporation.

(3) Of the members of the Board appointed by the President under paragraph (1), one member shall be selected from among individuals who represent the licensees and permittees of public television stations, and one member shall be selected from among individuals who represent the licensees and permittees of public radio stations.

(4) The members of the initial Board of Directors shall serve as incorporators and shall take whatever actions are necessary to establish the Corporation under the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act.

(5) The term of office of each member of the Board appointed by the President shall be 6 years, except as provided in section 5(c) of the Public Telecommunications Act of 1992. Any member whose term has expired may serve until such member’s successor has taken office, or until the end of the calendar year in which such member’s term has expired, whichever is earlier. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which such member’s predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for the remainder of such term. No member of the Board shall be eligible to serve in excess of 2 consecutive full terms.

(6) Any vacancy in the Board shall not affect its power, but shall be filled in the manner consistent with this chapter.

(7) Members of the Board shall attend not less than 50 percent of all duly convened meetings of the Board in any calendar year. A member who fails to meet the requirement of the preceding sentence shall forfeit membership and the President shall appoint a new member to fill such vacancy not later than 30 days after such vacancy is determined by the Chairman of the Board.

(d) Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman; compensation of Board members

(1) Members of the Board shall annually elect one of their members to be Chairman and elect one or more of their members as a Vice Chairman or Vice Chairmen.

(2) The members of the Board shall not, by reason of such membership, be deemed to be officers or employees of the United States. They shall, while attending meetings of the Board or while engaged in duties related to such meetings or other activities of the Board pursuant to this subpart, be entitled to receive compensation at the rate of $150 per day, including travel­time. No Board member shall receive compensation of more than $10,000 in any fiscal year. While away from their homes or regular places of business, Board members shall be allowed travel and actual, reasonable, and necessary expenses.

(e) Officers and employees; term of office, compensation, qualifications, and removal; political party affiliation, political test or qualification when taking personnel actions

(1) The Corporation shall have a President, and such other officers as may be named and appointed by the Board for terms and at rates of compensation fixed by the Board. No officer or employee of the Corporation may be compensated by the Corporation at an annual rate of pay which exceeds the rate of basic pay in effect from time to time for level I of the Executive Schedule under section 5312 of title 5. No individual other than a citizen of the United States may be an officer of the Corporation. No officer of the Corporation, other than the Chairman or a Vice Chairman, may receive any salary or other compensation (except for compensation for services on boards of directors of other organizations that do not receive funds from the Corporation, on committees of such boards, and in similar activities for such organizations) from any sources other than the Corporation for services rendered during the period of his or her employment by the Corporation. Service by any officer on boards of directors of other organizations, on committees of such boards, and in similar activities for such organizations shall be subject to annual advance approval by the Board and subject to the provisions of the Corporation’s Statement of Ethical Conduct. All officers shall serve at the pleasure of the Board.

(2) Except as provided in the second sentence of subsection (c)(1) of this section, no political test or qualification shall be used in selecting, appointing, promoting, or taking other personnel actions with respect to officers, agents, and employees of the Corporation.

(f) Nonprofit and nonpolitical nature of Corporation

(1) The Corporation shall have no power to issue any shares of stock, or to declare or pay any dividends.

(2) No part of the income or assets of the Corporation shall inure to the benefit of any director, officer, employee, or any other individual except as salary or reasonable compensation for services.

(3) The Corporation may not contribute to or otherwise support any political party or candidate for elective public office.

(g) Purposes and activities of Corporation; powers under District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act

(1) In order to achieve the objectives and to carry out the purposes of this subpart, as set out in subsection (a), the Corporation is authorized to—

(A) facilitate the full development of public telecommunications in which programs of high quality, diversity, creativity, excellence, and innovation, which are obtained from diverse sources, will be made available to public telecommunications entities, with strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature;

(B) assist in the establishment and development of one or more interconnection systems to be used for the distribution of public telecommunications services so that all public telecommunications entities may disseminate such services at times chosen by the entities;

(C) assist in the establishment and development of one or more systems of public telecommunications entities throughout the United States; and

(D) carry out its purposes and functions and engage in its activities in ways that will most effectively assure the maximum freedom of the public telecommunications entities and systems from interference with, or control of, program content or other activities.

(2) In order to carry out the purposes set forth in subsection (a), the Corporation is authorized to—

Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed to commit the Federal Government to provide any sums for the payment of any obligation of the Corporation which exceeds amounts provided in advance in appropriation Acts.

(A) obtain grants from and make contracts with individuals and with private, State, and Federal agencies, organizations, and institutions;

(B) contract with or make grants to public telecommunications entities, national, regional, and other systems of public telecommunications entities, and independent producers and production entities, for the production or acquisition of public telecommunications services to be made available for use by public telecommunications entities, except that—

(i) to the extent practicable, proposals for the provision of assistance by the Corporation in the production or acquisition of programs or series of programs shall be evaluated on the basis of comparative merit by panels of outside experts, representing diverse interests and perspectives, appointed by the Corporation; and

(ii) nothing in this subparagraph shall be construed to prohibit the exercise by the Corporation of its prudent business judgement with respect to any grant to assist in the production or acquisition of any program or series of programs recommended by any such panel;

(C) make payments to existing and new public telecommunications entities to aid in financing the production or acquisition of public telecommunications services by such entities, particularly innovative approaches to such services, and other costs of operation of such entities;

(D) establish and maintain, or contribute to, a library and archives of noncommercial educational and cultural radio and television programs and related materials and develop public awareness of, and disseminate information about, public telecommunications services by various means, including the publication of a journal;

(E) arrange, by grant to or contract with appropriate public or private agencies, organizations, or institutions, for interconnection facilities suitable for distribution and transmission of public telecommunications services to public telecommunications entities;

(F) hire or accept the voluntary services of consultants, experts, advisory boards, and panels to aid the Corporation in carrying out the purposes of this subpart;

(G) conduct (directly or through grants or contracts) research, demonstrations, or training in matters related to public television or radio broadcasting and the use of nonbroadcast communications technologies for the dissemination of noncommercial educational and cultural television or radio programs;

(H) make grants or contracts for the use of nonbroadcast telecommunications technologies for the dissemination to the public of public telecommunications services; and

(I) take such other actions as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in subsection (a).

(3) To carry out the foregoing purposes and engage in the foregoing activities, the Corporation shall have the usual powers conferred upon a nonprofit corporation by the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act, except that the Corporation is prohibited from—

(A) owning or operating any television or radio broadcast station, system, or network, community antenna television system, interconnection system or facility, program production facility, or any public telecommunications entity, system, or network; and

(B) producing programs, scheduling programs for dissemination, or disseminating programs to the public.

(4) All meetings of the Board of Directors of the Corporation, including any committee of the Board, shall be open to the public under such terms, conditions, and exceptions as are set forth in subsection (k)(4).

(5) The Corporation, in consultation with interested parties, shall create a 5-year plan for the development of public telecommunications services. Such plan shall be updated annually by the Corporation.

(h) Free or reduced rate interconnection service; access to facilities

(1) Nothing in this chapter, or in any other provision of law, shall be construed to prevent United States communications common carriers from rendering free or reduced rate communications interconnection services for public television or radio services, subject to such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe.

(2) Subject to such terms and conditions as may be established by public telecommunications entities receiving space satellite interconnection facilities or services purchased or arranged for, in whole or in part, with funds authorized under this part, other public telecommunications entities shall have reasonable access to such facilities or services for the distribution of educational and cultural programs to public telecommunications entities. Any remaining capacity shall be made available to other persons for the transmission of noncommercial educational and cultural programs and program information relating to such programs, to public telecommunications entities, at a charge or charges comparable to the charge or charges, if any, imposed upon a public telecommunications entity for the distribution of noncommercial educational and cultural programs to public telecommunications entities. No such person shall be denied such access whenever sufficient capacity is available.

(i) Repealed. Pub. L. 115–141, div. P, title IV, § 402(i)(8)(A), Mar. 23, 2018, 132 Stat. 1090

(j) Repeal, alteration, or amendment The right to repeal, alter, or amend this section at any time is expressly reserved.

(k) Financing restrictions

(1)

(A) There is hereby established in the Treasury a fund which shall be known as the Public Broadcasting Fund (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the “Fund”), to be administered by the Secretary of the Treasury.

(B) There is authorized to be appropriated to the Fund for each of the fiscal years 1978, 1979, and 1980, an amount equal to 40 percent of the total amount of non-Federal financial support received by public broadcasting entities during the fiscal year second preceding each such fiscal year, except that the amount so appropriated shall not exceed $121,000,000 for fiscal year 1978, $140,000,000 for fiscal year 1979, and $160,000,000 for fiscal year 1980.

(C) There is authorized to be appropriated to the Fund, for each of the fiscal years 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993, an amount equal to 40 percent of the total amount of non-Federal financial support received by public broadcasting entities during the fiscal year second preceding each such fiscal year, except that the amount so appropriated shall not exceed $265,000,000 for fiscal year 1992, $285,000,000 for fiscal year 1993, $310,000,000 for fiscal year 1994, $375,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, and $425,000,000 for fiscal year 1996.

(D) In addition to any amounts authorized under any other provision of this or any other Act to be appropriated to the Fund, $20,000,000 are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Fund (notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection) specifically for transition from the use of analog to digital technology for the provision of public broadcasting services for fiscal year 2001.

(E) Funds appropriated under this subsection shall remain available until expended.

(2)

(A) The funds authorized to be appropriated by this subsection shall be used by the Corporation, in a prudent and financially responsible manner, solely for its grants, contracts, and administrative costs, except that the Corporation may not use any funds appropriated under this subpart for purposes of conducting any reception, or providing any other entertainment, for any officer or employee of the Federal Government or any State or local government. The Corporation shall determine the amount of non-Federal financial support received by public broadcasting entities during each of the fiscal years referred to in paragraph (1) for the purpose of determining the amount of each authorization, and shall certify such amount to the Secretary of the Treasury, except that the Corporation may include in its certification non-Federal financial support received by a public broadcasting entity during its most recent fiscal year ending before September 30 of the year for which certification is made. Upon receipt of such certification, the Secretary of the Treasury shall make available to the Corporation, from such funds as may be appropriated to the Fund, the amount authorized for each of the fiscal years pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.

(B) Funds appropriated and made available under this subsection shall be disbursed by the Secretary of the Treasury on a fiscal year basis.

(3)

(A)

(i) The Corporation shall establish an annual budget for use in allocating amounts from the Fund. Of the amounts appropriated into the Fund available for allocation for any fiscal year—