The list of co-sponsors for the Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014, H.R. 4969, has grown to 63. Sixteen new co-sponsors signed aboard as the 113th Congress re-convened for its final session before adjournment. ARRL Regulatory Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, is urging ARRL members to keep in contact with their Congressional representatives and to encourage them to become co-sponsors to the bill.

“We are excited about the addition of 16 new co-sponsors when Congress reconvened after the November mid-term elections,” Henderson said. “Each new co-sponsor brings us one step closer to achieving our goal of getting HR 4969 enacted. We have a long way to go – but we are definitely moving in the right direction.”

A few more co-sponsors may still be in the wings. The current tally represents a considerable expansion of support from the number of US Representatives who had signed aboard as Congress adjourned prior to the mid-term elections. All 16 of the latest co-sponsors were re-elected on November 4.

H.R. 4969, which was introduced in the US House of Representatives with bipartisan support in late June, would call on the FCC to apply the “reasonable accommodation” three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy to private land-use restrictions regarding antennas. The limited PRB-1 pre-emption currently applies only to state and municipal land-use ordinances. The FCC has indicated its reluctance to provide the same legal protections from private land-use agreements — often called covenants, conditions, and restrictions or CC&Rs — without direction from Congress.

The League has opened a HR.4969 page. HR.4969 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), chairs that panel’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee, which will consider the measure.