Good Afternoon ODV- The NDAA passed the House on Wednesday, May 23rd, with the Parity Act attached. As I mentioned to you that same day, the Bill was also attached to the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations fiscal year 2019 legislation. That bill is currently winding its way through the full committee having cleared the subcommittee yesterday. Today I’d like to share with you a piece of an article that was just published in POLITICO Magazine (yes, this is a big deal). You can read it here, but the full article can be found at this link : https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-tech/2018/05/25/gdpr-gets-real-... By the way, the passage on Wednesday marks the third time the House has moved the Parity Act. Hopefully, the third time is the charm. Here is the passage that deals with the Parity Act: GOING HAM FOR HAM RADIO — Lawmakers are making a multi-pronged push to drive the bipartisan Amateur Radio Parity Act through Congress and finally bypass objections from top Senate Commerce Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida, whose allegiance to his state’s homeowners’ associations drove his panel to yank the bill from consideration last fall. The legislation, H.R. 555, would direct the FCC to let amateur radio operators get around private rules, like those imposed by some HOAs, that keep them from putting up radio antennas. The measure cleared the House by voice vote in January 2017 and in the previous Congress. — House appropriators tucked the amateur radio provisions into the fiscal 2019 Financial Services funding bill that cleared the subcommittee Thursday. It’s also now wrapped into the House’s national defense authorization bill, which passed the House by a wide margin that same morning. House sponsor Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) “is hopeful that Senator Nelson will see its value,” said his spokeswoman. “There are more than 750,000 licensed amateur radio operators in the country, including nearly 20,000 in Illinois and nearly 42,000 in Florida. … When disaster strikes and the power goes out, like when Hurricane Irma hit Sen. Nelson’s home state of Florida back in September, amateur radio operators become critical to emergency response efforts.” — Senators appropriators haven’t signaled any decisions on whether to follow the House’s lead. “It would suit me,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the radio bill’s Senate sponsor, told John. “I think we’ve done enough that Senator Nelson’s concerns should have been answered.” Wicker and Nelson are also both senior members of the Armed Services Committee, which oversees the NDAA. Nelson’s office didn’t comment this week but last year told POLITICO that homeowners’ associations fear the amateur radio bill is overly broad, confusing and liable to cause litigation over antenna installation. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend. I know I will. 73 de Mike N2YBB - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mike Lisenco, N2YBB Director, Hudson Division Chairman, ad hoc Legislative Advocacy Committee ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio™ 917-865-3538 n2ybb@arrl.org