[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 583 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.583

                     One Hundred Sixteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday,
            the third day of January, two thousand and twenty


                                 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 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.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.