The Society of Broadcast Engineers has announced that it’s been engaged in a lobbying campaign in support of a greater engineering presence at the Federal Communications Commission.

The SBE reported that its representatives met last week with Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) prior to his introduction of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that is a companion bill to S.2881, which was previously introduced in the Senate. The bill would authorize an engineering staff person for each of the five FCC Commissioners.

The introduction of the house bill by McNerney will allow legislation on the matter to move through the committee processes of both chambers of Congress.

The SBE has more than 5,500 members employed in radio and television broadcasting and related fields and provides educational programs and professional certification by examination. The SBE’s Government Relations Chairman, Barry Thomas, and General Counsel, Chris Imlay also visited the offices of several other Congressmen to gather support for the House bill.

The Senate bill was introduced in January by Senator Olympia Snowe (D-Maine) and was co-sponsored by Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.).