[MCARC] [Fwd: ARLB041 FCC Reduces Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fee to $35]

Thu Dec 31 16:55:29 EST 2020

I thought it was January 1 not April 1

On Thu, Dec 31, 2020 at 3:53 PM Nate Bargmann <n0nb at n0nb.us> wrote:

> The FCC is giving us a 30% fee cut.  Hooray!
>
> 73, Nate
>
> ----- Forwarded message from ARRL Web site <memberlist at www.arrl.org> -----
>
> Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2020 16:31:39 -0500 (EST)
> From: ARRL Web site <memberlist at www.arrl.org>
> To: n0nb at n0nb.us
> Subject: ARLB041 FCC Reduces Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fee to $35
>
> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB041
> ARLB041 FCC Reduces Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fee to $35
>
> ZCZC AG41
> QST de W1AW
> ARRL Bulletin 41  ARLB041
> From ARRL Headquarters
> Newington CT  December 31, 2020
> To all radio amateurs
>
> SB QST ARL ARLB041
> ARLB041 FCC Reduces Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fee to $35
>
> The FCC has agreed with ARRL and other commenters that its proposed
> $50 fee for certain amateur radio applications was "too high to
> account for the minimal staff involvement in these applications."
>
> In a Report and Order (R&O), released on December 29, the FCC scaled
> back to $35 the fee for a new license application, a special
> temporary authority (STA) request, a rule waiver request, a license
> renewal application, and a vanity call sign application. All fees
> are per application. There will be no fee for administrative
> updates, such as a change of mailing or email address.
>
> The R&O can be found online in PDF format at,
> https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-184A1.pdf .
>
> This fall, ARRL filed comments in firm opposition to the FCC
> proposal to impose a $50 fee on amateur radio license and
> application fees and urged its members to follow suit.
>
> As the FCC noted in its R&O, although some commenters supported the
> proposed $50 fee as reasonable and fair, "ARRL and many individual
> commenters argued that there was no cost-based justification for
> application fees in the Amateur Radio Service." The fee proposal was
> contained in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in MD Docket
> 20-270, which was adopted to implement portions of the "Repack
> Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act" of
> 2018 - the so-called "Ray Baum's Act."
>
> Information on Ray Baum's Act can be found online in PDF format at,
> https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ141/PLAW-115publ141.pdf .
>
> "After reviewing the record, including the extensive comments filed
> by amateur radio licensees and based on our revised analysis of the
> cost of processing mostly automated processes discussed in our
> methodology section, we adopt a $35 application fee, a lower
> application fee than the Commission proposed in the NPRM for
> personal licenses, in recognition of the fact that the application
> process is mostly automated," the FCC said in the R&O. "We adopt the
> proposal from the NPRM to assess no additional application fee for
> minor modifications or administrative updates, which also are highly
> automated."
>
> The FCC said it received more than 197,000 personal license
> applications in 2019, which includes not only ham radio license
> applications but commercial radio operator licenses and General
> Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) licenses.
>
> The FCC turned away the arguments of some commenters that the FCC
> should exempt amateur radio licensees. The FCC stated that it has no
> authority to create an exemption "where none presently exists."
>
> The FCC also disagreed with those who argued that amateur radio
> licensees should be exempt from fees because of their public service
> contribution during emergencies and disasters.
>
> "[W]e are very much aware of these laudable and important services
> amateur radio licensees provide to the American public," the FCC
> said, but noted that specific exemptions provided under Section 8 of
> the so-called "Ray Baum's Act" requiring the FCC to assess the fees
> do not apply to amateur radio personal licenses.  "Emergency
> communications, for example, are voluntary and are not required by
> our rules," the FCC noted. "As we have noted previously, '[w]hile
> the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary
> noncommercial communications service, particularly with respect to
> providing emergency communications, is one of the underlying
> principles of the amateur service, the amateur service is not an
> emergency radio service.'"
>
> The Act requires that the FCC switch from a Congressionally-mandated
> fee structure to a cost-based system of assessment. The FCC proposed
> application fees for a broad range of services that use the FCC's
> Universal Licensing System (ULS), including the Amateur Radio
> Service, which had been excluded previously. The 2018 statute
> excludes the Amateur Service from annual regulatory fees, but not
> from application fees.
>
> "While the Ray Baum's Act amended Section 9 and retained the
> regulatory fee exemption for amateur radio station licensees,
> Congress did not include a comparable exemption among the amendments
> it made to Section 8 of the Act," the FCC R&O explained.
>
> The effective date of the fee schedule has not been established, but
> it will be announced at least 30 days in advance. The FCC has
> directed the Office of Managing Director, in consultation with
> relevant offices and bureaus, to draft a notice for publication in
> the Federal Register announcing when rule change(s) will become
> effective, "once the relevant databases, guides, and internal
> procedures have been updated."
> NNNN
> /EX
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
> --
>
> "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
> possible worlds.  The pessimist fears this is true."
>
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