►Advertising

►News Gathering & Reporting

►Taxes

►News Gathering & Reporting

►Other Issues

      Alcoholic Beverage Advertising.  Attempts to regulate beer and wine advertising are continuing issues and could cause a severe loss of advertising revenue to Washington broadcasters.  They could take the form of an outright ban of hard liquor, or beer and wine advertising on television, radio or both; including in advertisements the same warning “labels” that are required on alcoholic beverage containers; or, restrictions on the substantive content of advertisements.  Some of the restrictions might cause brewers to eliminate broadcast spot advertising in Washington state altogether, while compliance by stations with other requirements would be nearly impossible (blocking network spots, for example).  WSAB will continue to lead the opposition to any attempts to restrict or remove alcoholic beverage advertising, as an unconstitutional abridgement of commercial free speech

      Political Broadcasting.  State political advertising restrictions or requirements do not make political advertising “better.”  They often conflict with requirements that either candidates or broadcasters must meet under the political broadcasting sections of the federal Communications Act, and only add to the already unacceptable level of confusion among candidates about what elements their spots must include.  In addition, they typically run afoul of the First Amendment protection given political speech.  WSAB opposes these kinds of bills.

      Promotional Contests of Chance.  Promotional contests of chance offer broadcasters an ideal way to present added value to an advertiser’s commercial announcements.  Federal law permits broadcasters to advertise such activities, so long as they are authorized by State law.  Washington law outlines the types of promotional contests of chance that are allowed.  WSAB opposes any attempt to reduce the number or kind of activities permitted by State law.

back to top

News Gathering & Reporting

       Closure of Government Agency Meetings & Limitations on Access to Government Agency Records.  Open public meetings and access to public records are the only way the public and its surrogate “government watchdog,” the press, have to make government accountable to the citizens.  In every legislative session there are more than a few bills introduced to restrict the access of news reporters to meetings of government agencies or to records kept by government agencies.  Meetings of governing bodies of public agencies and the records created and held by government agencies are presumed to be open and available to the public.  Special interest groups continually try to exempt particular records from public scrutiny for their own private purposes; government agency governing bodies often seek to add to the existing list of reasons to close their meetings to the public.  WSAB reviews each proposed exemption to the Open Records Act and opposes those proposed exemptions that would prevent broadcast journalists from holding the government accountable for its actions.

      State Agency to Arbitrate Open Records Disputes Between Record Requesters and Government Agencies.  It is likely that legislation will be introduced in 2010 that would establish a separate government agency to provide an alternative method of resolving disputes, which would allow requesters to avoid the cost and time of suing the agency from which the records were requested.  Broadcast journalists often request records from state and local agencies.  When those requests are denied or the agency drags its feet, the only remedy currently is to sue in Superior Court.  This legislation would permit a record requester to choose to have the dispute handled by an administrative proceeding.  The ability to go to court would still be available.  WSAB supports this legislation because it would reduce a station’s cost of challenging an agency’s decision not to release public records.

back to top

Taxes

      Broadcasters B & O Taxation.  Broadcasters pay their fair share of B & O tax.  The U. S. Supreme Court in Fisher’s Blend Station v. Washington Tax Commission (1936) required a station’s revenue to be apportioned for taxation purposes so that only revenue which is generated within the State of Washington is subject to tax.  Current law allows broadcasters to deduct a standard amount (62%) of gross revenue, representing national, regional and network advertising sales, or a station may itemize these deductions, in order to protect their interstate income from taxation.  In addition, a station with out of state audience may also deduct the percentage of out of state audience from gross revenue in determining B & O tax.  The effect of eliminating these deductions would be to nearly triple a broadcaster’s B & O tax burden.  WSAB opposes any attempt to remove or reduce broadcasters’ B & O tax deductions.

      Sales Tax on Advertising.  Prior experience, particularly in Florida, shows that a sales tax on advertising is completely counterproductive.  It is impossible to administer to ensure that the transaction is only taxed once.  Advertising increases demand for products and increases retail sales, therefore, increasing the collection of the sales tax; decreasing advertising by taxing its sale will decrease sales tax collections.  Local businesses will end up shouldering the entire burden of the retail sales tax because the U. S. Constitution prohibits taxing out of state transactions.    Elected officials are always searching for new sources of revenue and legislators have from time to time proposed adding the sales tax to services generally, or advertising in particular.  WSAB opposes a sales tax on the sale of advertising time, or generally on services.

       Streamlined Sales Tax:  Definition of Digital Equivalent of Tangible Property.  Establishing a streamlined administration of the sales tax should not permit the taxation of advertising time sold by digital broadcasters.  Many states, including Washington, have adopted a uniform law dealing with a streamlined sales tax regime.  The overall project is ongoing and additional provisions are being developed for presentation to state legislatures.  It is intended to revenue neutral to each state and not to extend the sales tax to additional transactions.  However, one of the definitions the committee working on further development of the Streamlined Sales Tax is crafting has to do with the digital equivalent of the delivery of tangible personal property, which is subject to sales tax.  WSAB has been a member of a consortium of state broadcasters associations in sales tax states that have been working on ensuring that the language in the uniform law that will be submitted to state legislatures contains wording that will not permit a state to slip in a backdoor tax on broadcast advertising simply because it is delivered by digital radio or television.  Legislation has been introduced in 2010 that clarifies many aspects of the definition of digital delivery of tangible property.  It specifically excludes free, over-the-air broadcasting from application of the sales tax.  WSAB does not oppose a bill that contains the appropriate protective language; otherwise, the Association opposes the bill.

back to top

Other issues

        In-Kind Campaign Contribution Talk Show Issues Discussion.  In 2007 the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that radio talk show discussion of ballot measures does not constitute an “in-kind” campaign contribution.  Legislation may be introduced that would overturn the Court's decision, to make such discussion an in-kind campaign contribution.  WSAB supported the station’s position in the litigation and would strenuously oppose any legislation that would invalidate the Court's decision.

back to top