Union Calendar No. 652
115th CONGRESS 2d Session |
[Report No. 115–843]
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for enhanced penalties for pirate radio, and for other purposes.
May 8, 2018
Mr. Lance (for himself, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Collins of New York, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Flores, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. King of New York, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Faso, Miss Rice of New York, and Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
July 18, 2018
Additional sponsor: Mrs. Blackburn
July 18, 2018
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 8, 2018]
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for enhanced penalties for pirate radio, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act” or the “PIRATE Act”.
SEC. 2. Pirate Radio Enforcement Enhancements.
Title V of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 501 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“SEC. 511. Enhanced penalties for pirate radio broadcasting; enforcement sweeps; reporting.
“(a) Increased general penalty.—Any person who willfully and knowingly does or causes or suffers to be done any pirate radio broadcasting shall be subject to a fine of not more than $2,000,000.
“(b) Violation of this Act, rules, or regulations.—Any person who willfully and knowingly violates this Act or any rule, regulation, restriction, or condition made or imposed by the Commission under authority of this Act, or any rule, regulation, restriction, or condition made or imposed by any international radio or wire communications treaty or convention, or regulations annexed thereto, to which the United States is or may hereafter become party, relating to pirate radio broadcasting shall, in addition to any other penalties provided by law, be subject to a fine of not more than $100,000 for each day during which such offense occurs, in accordance with the limit described in subsection (a).
“(c) Facilitation.—Any person who knowingly and intentionally facilitates pirate radio broadcasting shall be subject to a fine of not more than $2,000,000.
“(d) Annual report.—Not later than one year after the date of enactment of the PIRATE Act, and annually thereafter, the Commission shall submit to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation a report summarizing the implementation of this section and associated enforcement activities for the previous fiscal year, which may include the efforts by the Commission to enlist the cooperation of Federal, State, and local law enforcement personnel (including United States Attorneys and the United States Marshals Service) for service of process, collection of fines or forfeitures, seizures of equipment, and enforcement of orders.
“(e) Enforcement sweeps.—
“(1) ANNUAL SWEEPS.—Not less than once each year, the Commission shall assign appropriate enforcement personnel to focus specific and sustained attention on the elimination of pirate radio broadcasting within the top five radio markets identified as prevalent for such broadcasts. Such effort shall include identifying, locating, and taking enforcement actions designed to terminate such operations.
“(2) ADDITIONAL MONITORING.—Within six months after conducting the enforcement sweeps required by paragraph (1), the Commission shall conduct monitoring sweeps to ascertain whether the pirate radio broadcasting identified by enforcement sweeps is continuing to broadcast and whether additional pirate radio broadcasting is occurring.
“(f) State and local government authority.—The Commission may not preempt any State or local law prohibiting pirate radio broadcasting.
“(g) Revision of Commission rules required.—The Commission shall revise its rules to require that, absent good cause, in any case alleging a violation of subsection (a) or (b), the Commission shall proceed directly to issue a ‘Notice of Apparent Liability’ without first issuing a ‘Notice of Unlicensed Operations’.
“(h) Pirate radio broadcasting database.—
“(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this section, and semi-annually thereafter, the Commission shall publish a database in a clear and legible format of all licensed radio stations operating in the AM and FM bands. The database shall be easily accessible from the Commission home page through a direct link. The database shall include the following information:
“(i) Definitions.—In this section:
“(1) PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTING.—The term ‘pirate radio broadcasting’ means the transmission of communications on spectrum frequencies between 535 to 1705 kHz or 87.7 to 108 MHz without a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission, but does not include unlicensed operations in compliance with part 15 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations.
Union Calendar No. 652 | |||||
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[Report No. 115–843] | |||||
A BILL | |||||
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for enhanced penalties for pirate radio, and for
other purposes. | |||||
July 18, 2018 | |||||
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the
Union, and ordered to be printed |