Legislative Agenda Could Affect Cinema Owners
Issue Overview:
The 108th Congress
by Jonathan Yarowsky
NATO Washington Counsel
As noted in the February and March editions
of this column, the 108th Congress is already shaping up
as an extremely
busy session. While the Washington policy agenda is primarily
concerned with a possible war in Iraq, the administration
has already outlined an aggressive domestic agenda that
will lead into the 2004 presidential and congressional
campaign season.
While many domestic issues that will take
center stage do not directly affect the business of film
exhibition,
a number of issue are of policy concern to NATO members
and will receive attention in the 108th Congress. We
identify those issues briefly below:
Minimum Wage. The
issue of raising the minimum wage has been considered,
but deferred, during the past three Congresses.
While holding minority status in both houses of Congress,
and up against a Republican White House, congressional
Democrats have made raising the minimum wage a top priority
for the 108th Congress, particularly in the current economic
climate.
Already, both Senate Democratic leader Tom
Daschle (D-S.D.) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP)
ranking Democrat Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) have introduced
legislation to raise the minimum wage. The bills, S.
20 and S. 224, raise the minimum from its current level
of
$5.15 to $6.65 over a 14-month period. S. 20 has been
referred to Senate HELP Committee, while S. 224 has been
placed
on the Senate calendar. For the upcoming session what
this really means is that Democrats have created a situation
whereby they can attempt to push the Republicans to take
action on their wage hike proposals in two venues virtually
simultaneously. In any event, NATO will continue its
work
within the Coalition for Job Opportunities, a group made
up of a variety of service industry associations and
businesses, to put forward its views on the legislation.
Media Violence. During the new Congress,
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will continue its
monitoring of the entertainment
industries' (including exhibition's) marketing of explicit
content to children. As you may recall, in the commission's
last report issued in June 2002, theatre owners received
scant discussion. However, at the same time, the entertainment
retail industry – including exhibition – was
put on clear notice that they will be a focus of the FTC’s
continuing oversight activities. As such, we should expect
the FTC to issue its next report in mid-2003 and also expect
that it will include “mystery shopper” surveys
of theatres. However, irrespective of the FTC efforts,
NATO members will continue to implement their own self-initiated
efforts to keep children out of inappropriate films and
will need to remain vigilant as a full slate of movies
are due to be released in 2003 that are sure to attract
teen viewers. Additionally, we fully expect that the relevant
jurisdictional committees in both the House and Senate
will hold hearings on the FTC’s next report.
Digital Rights Management. As NATO
continues its work in the development of digital cinema,
it is important to
note that Congress continues its active oversight of what
has been termed “digital rights management.” In
the 107th Congress, several members introduced legislation
that approached this volatile and complex issue from a
number of perspectives: a) protecting entertainment content
in the online and broadcast environment; b) protecting
the fair-use rights of consumers; and c) protecting the
ability of consumer electronics companies to make innovative
products. The 108th Congress should witness a multiplicity
of views, as well.
Already, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) has re-introduced
his fair-use legislation from the 107th Congress “with
the announced goal of protecting the fair use rights of
the users of copyrighted material and, thereby enabling
the consumers of digital media to make use of it in ways
that enhance their personal convenience.” He has
also indicated that he will re-introduce his Music Online
Competition Act from the 107th Congress to help facilitate
online music sales. Senate Commerce Committee ranking Democrat
Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) has also indicated his intention
to re-introduce legislation that would authorize the Federal
Communications Commission to create a regime to protect
online content, if the private industry currently negotiating
this issue fails to yield a consensus standard for online
content protection in the near term. Obviously, this multifaceted
debate will be one that NATO members will monitor closely.
Association Health Plans. A new issue
we are following for NATO in the 108th Congress is association
health plan
legislation. In the past, proposals have passed the House
on two separate occasions as part of larger “Patients’Bill
of Rights” legislation. However, the Senate did not
include similar provisions in the measure that passed in
the 107th Congress, and a conference committee failed to
reconcile the differences between the House and Senate
bills.
The House Republican leadership has
indicated a desire to move quickly to pass AHP legislation,
and legislation
has already been introduced. In the Senate, legislation
is expected to be introduced in the near future. At a Feb.
5 Senate Small Business Committee hearing, labor secretary
Elaine Chao voiced the administration’s strong support
for the legislation.
This debate should be fairly heated
as proponents of the proposal urge passage, arguing that
it will enable small
businesses to pool their resources to obtain health care
insurance that is currently exempt from state benefit mandates.
Opponents, on the other hand, say that these types of proposals
will: 1) harm the insurance market by siphoning off small
business with healthier employees; and 2) exempt those
plans from important consumer protection requirements set
forth in state mandates.
As always, we look forward to working with you on these
and other pertinent issues as the 108th Congress moves
forward on its ambitious policy agenda. 
