One hundred sixty-six members of the House have now signed on to support the Local Radio Freedom Act, a resolution introduced in October 2007 by Reps. Gene Green (D-TX) and Mike Conaway (R-TX).

The resolution reads, “Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over-the-air, or on any business for such public performance of sound recordings.” One hundred and five Republicans and 65 Democrats are now supporting the resolution.

Legislation that would impose performance royalties on broadcasters was introduced in the House by Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Darrell Issa (D-CA) and in the Senate by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in December.

Tags: Broadcast, Broadcaster, Copyright, Issues, Legal, Legislation, Performance Rights, Radio, Record Industry