IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5709 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 24, 2018 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation 
AN ACT 
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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
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; RE-
PORTING. 
‘‘(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 REGULA-
TIONS.—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 com-
munications 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 sub-
ject to a fine of not more than $100,000 for each day 
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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 1 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 equip-
ment, 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 sus-
tained attention on the elimination of pirate radio 
broadcasting within the top five radio markets iden-
tified as prevalent for such broadcasts. Such effort 
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shall include identifying, locating, and taking en-
forcement actions designed to terminate such oper-
ations. 
‘‘(2) 
ADDITIONAL
MONITORING.—Within 
months after conducting the enforcement sweeps re-
quired by paragraph (1), the Commission shall con-
duct monitoring sweeps to ascertain whether the pi-
rate radio broadcasting identified by enforcement 
sweeps is continuing to broadcast and whether addi-
tional pirate radio broadcasting is occurring. 
‘‘(3) NO
EFFECT
ON
REMAINING
ENFORCE-
MENT.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Com-
mission shall not decrease or diminish the regular 
enforcement efforts targeted to pirate radio broad-
cast stations for other times of the year. 
‘‘(f) STATE
AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHOR-
ITY.—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, ab-
sent good cause, in any case alleging a violation of sub-
section (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.— 
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‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this section, and 
semi-annually thereafter, the Commission shall pub-
lish 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: 
‘‘(A) Each licensed station, listed by the 
assigned frequency, channel number, or Com-
mission call letters. 
‘‘(B) All entities that have received a No-
tice of Unlicensed Operation, Notice of Appar-
ent Liability, or Forfeiture Order by the Com-
mission. 
‘‘(2) CLEAR
IDENTIFICATION.—The Commis-
sion shall clearly identify in the database— 
‘‘(A) each licensed station as a station li-
censed by the Commission; and 
‘‘(B) each entity described in paragraph 
(1)(B) as operating without a Commission li-
cense or authorization. 
‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTING.—The term 
‘pirate radio broadcasting’ means the transmission 
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of communications on spectrum frequencies between 
535 to 1705 kHz or 87.7 to 108 MHz without a li-
cense issued by the Federal Communications Com-
mission, but does not include unlicensed operations 
in compliance with part 15 of title 47, Code of Fed-
eral Regulations. 
‘‘(2) 
FACILITATES.—The 
term 
‘facilitates’ 
means providing access to property (and improve-
ments thereon) or providing physical goods or serv-
ices, including providing housing, facilities, or fi-
nancing, that directly aid pirate radio broadcasting. 
‘‘(3) KNOWINGLY
AND
INTENTIONALLY.—The 
term ‘knowingly and intentionally’ means the person 
was previously served by the Commission with a no-
tice of unlicensed operations, notice of apparent li-
ability, or citation for efforts to facilitate pirate 
radio broadcasting.’’. 
SEC. 3. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 
No additional funds are authorized to be appro-
priated to carry out this Act or the amendment made by 
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this Act. This Act and the amendment made by this Act 
shall be carried out using amounts otherwise authorized. 
Passed the House of Representatives July 23, 2018. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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