IB 

Union Calendar No. 652 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5709 

[Report No. 115–843] 

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 

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] 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 5709 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 

enhanced penalties for pirate radio, and for other purposes. 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 5709 RH

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 Radio 

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

6 SEC. 2. PIRATE RADIO ENFORCEMENT ENHANCEMENTS. 

7 Title V of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

8 501 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 

9 new section: 

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

11 BROADCASTING; ENFORCEMENT SWEEPS; RE12 PORTING. 

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

14 who willfully and knowingly does or causes or suffers to 

15 be done any pirate radio broadcasting shall be subject to 

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

17 ‘‘(b) VIOLATION OF THIS ACT, RULES, OR REGULA18 TIONS.—Any person who willfully and knowingly violates 

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

20 made or imposed by the Commission under authority of this 

21 Act, or any rule, regulation, restriction, or condition made 

22 or imposed by any international radio or wire communica23 tions treaty or convention, or regulations annexed thereto, 

24 to which the United States is or may hereafter become 

25 party, relating to pirate radio broadcasting shall, in addiVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Jul 19, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5709.RH H5709

dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 5709 RH

1 tion to any other penalties provided by law, be subject to 

2 a fine of not more than $100,000 for each day during which 

3 such offense occurs, in accordance with the limit described 

4 in subsection (a). 

5 ‘‘(c) FACILITATION.—Any person who knowingly and 

6 intentionally facilitates pirate radio broadcasting shall be 

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

8 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than one year after 

9 the date of enactment of the PIRATE Act, and annually 

10 thereafter, the Commission shall submit to the House Com11 mittee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee 

12 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation a report sum13 marizing the implementation of this section and associated 

14 enforcement activities for the previous fiscal year, which 

15 may include the efforts by the Commission to enlist the co16 operation of Federal, State, and local law enforcement per17 sonnel (including United States Attorneys and the United 

18 States Marshals Service) for service of process, collection of 

19 fines or forfeitures, seizures of equipment, and enforcement 

20 of orders. 

21 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT SWEEPS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) ANNUAL SWEEPS.—Not less than once each 

23 year, the Commission shall assign appropriate en24 forcement personnel to focus specific and sustained at25 tention on the elimination of pirate radio broadVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Jul 19, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5709.RH H5709

dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 5709 RH

1 casting within the top five radio markets identified as 

2 prevalent for such broadcasts. Such effort shall in3 clude identifying, locating, and taking enforcement 

4 actions designed to terminate such operations. 

5 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL MONITORING.—Within six 

6 months after conducting the enforcement sweeps re7 quired by paragraph (1), the Commission shall con8 duct monitoring sweeps to ascertain whether the pi9 rate radio broadcasting identified by enforcement 

10 sweeps is continuing to broadcast and whether addi11 tional pirate radio broadcasting is occurring. 

12 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON REMAINING ENFORCE13 MENT.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Commis14 sion shall not decrease or diminish the regular en15 forcement efforts targeted to pirate radio broadcast 

16 stations for other times of the year. 

17 ‘‘(f) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY.— 

18 The Commission may not preempt any State or local law 

19 prohibiting pirate radio broadcasting. 

20 ‘‘(g) REVISION OF COMMISSION RULES REQUIRED.— 

21 The Commission shall revise its rules to require that, absent 

22 good cause, in any case alleging a violation of subsection 

23 (a) or (b), the Commission shall proceed directly to issue 

24 a ‘Notice of Apparent Liability’ without first issuing a ‘No25 tice of Unlicensed Operations’. 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 5709 RH

1 ‘‘(h) PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTING DATABASE.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

3 the date of the enactment of this section, and semi4 annually thereafter, the Commission shall publish a 

5 database in a clear and legible format of all licensed 

6 radio stations operating in the AM and FM bands. 

7 The database shall be easily accessible from the Com8 mission home page through a direct link. The data9 base shall include the following information: 

10 ‘‘(A) Each licensed station, listed by the as11 signed frequency, channel number, or Commis12 sion call letters. 

13 ‘‘(B) All entities that have received a Notice 

14 of Unlicensed Operation, Notice of Apparent Li15 ability, or Forfeiture Order by the Commission. 

16 ‘‘(2) CLEAR IDENTIFICATION.—The Commission 

17 shall clearly identify in the database— 

18 ‘‘(A) each licensed station as a station li19 censed by the Commission; and 

20 ‘‘(B) each entity described in paragraph 

21 (1)(B) as operating without a Commission li22 cense or authorization. 

23 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

25 ‘pirate radio broadcasting’ means the transmission of 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 5709 RH

1 communications on spectrum frequencies between 535 

2 to 1705 kHz or 87.7 to 108 MHz without a license 

3 issued by the Federal Communications Commission, 

4 but does not include unlicensed operations in compli5 ance with part 15 of title 47, Code of Federal Regula6 tions. 

7 ‘‘(2) FACILITATES.—The term ‘facilitates’ means 

8 providing access to property (and improvements 

9 thereon) or providing physical goods or services, in10 cluding providing housing, facilities, or financing, 

11 that directly aid pirate radio broadcasting. 

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

13 term ‘knowingly and intentionally’ means the person 

14 was previously served by the Commission with a no15 tice of unlicensed operations, notice of apparent li16 ability, or citation for efforts to facilitate pirate radio 

17 broadcasting.’’. 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 652 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5709 

[Report No. 115–843] 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to profor other purposes. vide for enhanced penalties for pirate radio, and 

JULY 18, 2018 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS