Title: PIRATE Act
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act or the PIRATE Act
This bill addresses unlicensed radio broadcasting (called pirating), including by increasing the maximum fine for a pirate radio broadcasting violation to $2 million and imposing a fine of up to $100,000 per day for pirating violations subject to the $2 million limit.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must (1) annually submit to Congress a report summarizing implementation of this bill and associated enforcement activities for the previous fiscal year; and (2) at least once a year, assign appropriate enforcement personnel to focus specific and sustained attention on the elimination of pirate radio broadcasting within the top five radio markets.
The FCC may not preempt any state or local law prohibiting pirate radio broadcasting.
The FCC shall (1) revise its rules to require that, absent good cause, in any case alleging a violation, it shall proceed directly to issue a Notice of Apparent Liability without first issuing a Notice of Unlicensed Operation; and (2) publish a database of all licensed radio stations operating in the AM and FM band that includes each licensed station and all entities that have received a Notice of Unlicensed Operation, Notice of Apparent Liability, or Forfeiture Order issued by the FCC.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 583 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 583

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 16, 2019

  Mr. Tonko (for himself and Mr. Bilirakis) 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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''.

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 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) 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 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate 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.
    ``(d) 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 5 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 6 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.
            ``(3) No effect on remaining enforcement.--Notwithstanding 
        paragraph (1), the Commission shall not decrease or diminish 
        the regular enforcement efforts targeted to pirate radio 
        broadcast stations for other times of the year.
    ``(e) State and Local Government Authority.--The Commission may not 
preempt any State or local law prohibiting pirate radio broadcasting.
    ``(f) 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 operation.
    ``(g) 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:
                    ``(A) Each licensed station, listed by the assigned 
                frequency, channel number, or Commission call letters.
                    ``(B) All entities that have received a notice of 
                unlicensed operation, notice of apparent liability, or 
                forfeiture order issued by the Commission.
            ``(2) Clear identification.--The Commission shall clearly 
        identify in the database--
                    ``(A) each licensed station as a station licensed 
                by the Commission; and
                    ``(B) each entity described in paragraph (1)(B) as 
                operating without a Commission license or 
                authorization.
    ``(h) Definition of Pirate Radio Broadcasting.--In this section, 
the term `pirate radio broadcasting' means the transmission of 
communications on spectrum frequencies between 535 and 1705 kilohertz, 
inclusive, or 87.7 and 108 megahertz, inclusive, without a license 
issued by the Commission, but does not include unlicensed operations in 
compliance with part 15 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations.''.
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