A bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for reduction in the term of office of members of the Federal Communications Commission, and for other purposes.
Public Law 99-334 · S. 2179 · 99th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Jun 6, 1986 · Government Operations and Politics
Sponsor: Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)
Cosponsors (2): Sen. John Danforth, Sen. Fritz Hollings
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to reduce the term of office of members of the Federal Communications Commission from seven to five years. Specifies exceptions for terms of current members and adjusts two terms so that one term will expire in 1989 and the other will expire in 1990.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 10 actions.
- Jun 6, 1986Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 99-334.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- May 30, 1986PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- May 22, 1986FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- FloorFloor · Called up by House by Unanimous Consent.
- Mar 27, 1986FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Voice Vote.
- Mar 21, 1986CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
- Mar 13, 1986CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
- Mar 11, 1986CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.