I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5709 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for enhanced penalties 

for pirate radio, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

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. VELA ́ZQUEZ, 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 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 

enhanced penalties for pirate radio, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Illegal 

5 Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act’’ or the ‘‘PIRATE 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PIRATE RADIO ENFORCEMENT ENHANCEMENTS. 

2 Title V of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

3 U.S.C. 501 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 511. ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR PIRATE RADIO 

6 BROADCASTING; SEIZURE OF ILLEGAL 

7 EQUIPMENT; ENFORCEMENT SWEEPS. 

8 ‘‘(a) INCREASED GENERAL PENALTY.—Any person 

9 who willfully and knowingly does or causes or suffers to 

10 be done any pirate radio broadcasting shall be subject to 

11 a fine of not more than $2,000,000. 

12 ‘‘(b) VIOLATION OF THIS ACT, RULES, OR REGULA13 TIONS.—Any person who willfully and knowingly violates 

14 this Act or any rule, regulation, restriction, or condition 

15 made or imposed by the Commission under authority of 

16 this Act, or any rule, regulation, restriction, or condition 

17 made or imposed by any international radio or wire com18 munications treaty or convention, or regulations annexed 

19 thereto, to which the United States is or may hereafter 

20 become party, relating to pirate radio broadcasting shall, 

21 in addition to any other penalties provided by law, be sub22 ject to a fine of not more than $100,000 for each day 

23 during which such offense occurs, in accordance with the 

24 limit described in subsection (a). 

25 ‘‘(c) LIVE PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTING.—Section 

26 503(b)(4) does not apply for a forfeiture penalty imposed 


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1 on a person if the Commission has direct evidence that 

2 the person is responsible for a pirate radio broadcast and 

3 such broadcast is occurring in real time. 

4 ‘‘(d) FACILITATION.—Any person who knowingly and 

5 intentionally facilitates pirate radio broadcasting shall be 

6 subject to a fine of not more than $2,000,000. 

7 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT SWEEPS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) BIANNUAL SWEEPS.—Not less than twice 

9 each year, the Commission shall assign appropriate 

10 enforcement personal to focus specific and sustained 

11 attention on the elimination of pirate radio broad12 casting within the top five radio markets identified 

13 as prevalent for such broadcasts. Such effort shall 

14 include identifying, locating, and terminating such 

15 operations and seizing related equipment under sub16 section (e). 

17 ‘‘(2) NO EFFECT ON REMAINING ENFORCE18 MENT.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Com19 mission shall not decrease or diminish the regular 

20 enforcement efforts targeted to pirate radio broad21 cast stations for other times of the year. 

22 ‘‘(f) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHOR23 ITY.— 

24 ‘‘(1) STATUTES OR ORDINANCES PERMITTED.— 

25 A State or local government may enact a statute or 


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1 ordinance that imposes civil or criminal penalties for 

2 pirate radio broadcasting, or for knowingly and in3 tentionally facilitating pirate radio broadcasting, 

4 provided that the determination whether a radio sta5 tion is engaged in pirate radio broadcasting shall be 

6 made exclusively by the Commission. 

7 ‘‘(2) COMMISSION AUTHORITY PRESERVED.— 

8 Enforcement by a State or local government of a 

9 statute or ordinance under this section shall not pre10 clude the Commission or Federal law enforcement 

11 authority from concurrently enforcing this section 

12 and section 301 of this Act, any other Federal law, 

13 or any regulation of the Commission thereunder. 

14 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTING.—The term 

16 ‘pirate radio broadcasting’ means the transmission 

17 of communications on spectrum frequencies between 

18 535 to 1705 kHz or 87.7 to 108 MHz without a li19 cense issued by the Federal Communications Com20 mission, but does not include unlicensed operations 

21 in compliance with part 15 of title 47, Code of Fed22 eral Regulations. 

23 ‘‘(2) FACILITATES.—The term ‘facilitates’ 

24 means providing access to property (and improve25 ments thereon) or providing physical goods or servVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:41 May 15, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5709.IH H5709

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1 ices, including providing housing, facilities, or fi2 nancing, that directly aid pirate radio broadcasting. 

3 ‘‘(3) KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY.—The 

4 term ‘knowingly and intentionally’ means the person 

5 was previously served by the Commission with a no6 tice of unlicensed operations, notice of apparent li7 ability, or citation for efforts to facilitate pirate 

8 radio broadcasting.’’. 

Æ 


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