Small Entity Regulatory Relief Opportunity Act, Pirate Radio Bill Could Get Mixed Reviews at Hearing
Two of the four communications-related bills to be considered during a Thursday House Communications Subcommittee hearing -- the Small Entity Regulatory Relief Opportunity Act (HR-3787) and the draft Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (Pirate) Act -- are likely to get a mixed reception from witnesses, based on written testimony. Some subcommittee Democrats also may criticize the bills, a House Democratic aide said. House Communications also will examine the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act (HR-2345) and the Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Access Act (HR-2903) during the hearing, which is to begin at 10:15 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn (see 1803150055).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
HR-2345 and HR-2903 are likely to get largely positive reviews from witnesses and lawmakers, but discussion of HR-3787 and the draft Pirate Act could be contentious, two aides said. HR-2345 and Senate-passed companion S-1015 would direct the FCC to work to designate a new national three-digit dialing code in the style of 911 for use as a mental health crisis and suicide prevention hotline. HR-2903 and Senate companion S-2418 would direct the FCC to establish a national standard for deciding whether fixed and mobile broadband services in rural areas are “reasonably comparable” to urban services (see 1802130057). American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Chief Medical Officer Christine Moutier backed HR-2345 in her written testimony. Competitive Carriers Association Senior Vice President-Legislative Affairs Tim Donovan backed HR-2903 in his testimony.
HR-3787 is likely to be the main target of lawmaker and witness concerns, though the draft Pirate Act “is pretty aggressive,” a Democratic aide said. HR-3787 would let entities that qualify as small businesses under Small Business Administration rules seek relief from FCC rules through waiver petitions and would allow qualifying entities a one-year grace period once any new regulations take effect for larger businesses (see 1710110070). The draft Pirate Act would increase fines for illegal pirate operations from $10,000 per violation to $100,000 per day per violation, up to a maximum of $2 million. It also would “streamline the FCC’s enforcement process and empower state and local law enforcement,” House Communications Republican staff said in a memo.
“No one's in the mood” to pass deregulatory legislation like HR-3787 given “we're in the most deregulatory FCC of all time” already, a Democratic aide said. “When you've just had the FCC” rescind its 2015 net neutrality rules and end reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, “I don't think you'll have many Democrats willing to say 'let's kill all the regulations off.'” The Democratic perspective now is “how do we ensure consumers are protected,” the aide said. CCA's Donovan and MCTV President Robert Gessner praised the bill in his written testimony, but New America's Open Technology Institute Director-Open Internet Policy Sarah Morris opposed it.
It's unclear how much pushback the draft Pirate Act will get from lawmakers, but “it forces the FCC Enforcement Bureau to prioritize pirate radio over whatever else they're doing,” a Democratic aide said. Enforcement would be “forced to drop whatever else they could be doing in favor of pirate radio. I'm not sure everybody's priority is to knock pirate radio off the air above all else.” The aide said since the Pirate Act is still a draft “no one has officially taken a position on it yet so we'll see what happens at the hearing.” New York State Broadcasters Association President David Donovan backed the draft legislation in his written testimony, saying pirate operations have become a “nationwide issue,” and in “New York City and Northern New Jersey alone, the number of illegal pirate radio stations exceeds the number of licensed stations.”