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. DIN-
GELL, 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 PAT-
RICK MALONEY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Illegal 
Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act’’ or the ‘‘PIRATE 
Act’’. 
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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; 
SEIZURE 
OF 
ILLEGAL 
EQUIPMENT; ENFORCEMENT SWEEPS. 
‘‘(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 
during which such offense occurs, in accordance with the 
limit described in subsection (a). 
‘‘(c) LIVE PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTING.—Section 
503(b)(4) does not apply for a forfeiture penalty imposed 
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on a person if the Commission has direct evidence that 
the person is responsible for a pirate radio broadcast and 
such broadcast is occurring in real time. 
‘‘(d) FACILITATION.—Any person who knowingly and 
intentionally facilitates pirate radio broadcasting shall be 
subject to a fine of not more than $2,000,000. 
‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT SWEEPS.— 
‘‘(1) BIANNUAL SWEEPS.—Not less than twice 
each year, the Commission shall assign appropriate 
enforcement personal to focus specific and sustained 
attention on the elimination of pirate radio broad-
casting within the top five radio markets identified 
as prevalent for such broadcasts. Such effort shall 
include identifying, locating, and terminating such 
operations and seizing related equipment under sub-
section (e). 
‘‘(2) 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.— 
‘‘(1) STATUTES OR ORDINANCES PERMITTED.— 
A State or local government may enact a statute or 
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ordinance that imposes civil or criminal penalties for 
pirate radio broadcasting, or for knowingly and in-
tentionally facilitating pirate radio broadcasting, 
provided that the determination whether a radio sta-
tion is engaged in pirate radio broadcasting shall be 
made exclusively by the Commission. 
‘‘(2) COMMISSION
AUTHORITY
PRESERVED.— 
Enforcement by a State or local government of a 
statute or ordinance under this section shall not pre-
clude the Commission or Federal law enforcement 
authority from concurrently enforcing this section 
and section 301 of this Act, any other Federal law, 
or any regulation of the Commission thereunder. 
‘‘(g) 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 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-
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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.’’. 
Æ 
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