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giving a front row seat to democracy. >> next federal communications commission josé discussion on net neutrality enforcement actions get several pirate radio stations ngo routing and location -based services for the national suicide prevention hotline. this is just under two hours. ♪ >> good morning and welcome to theth april, 2824 open meeting f the federal communications commission. madam secretary will you please introduce our agenda for today? >> thank you madame chairwoman. good morning to you and good morning commissioners. for today's meeting you will be presented with two items in five

enforcement actions for yourr consideration. first you will consider a second further notice of proposed rulemaking which would propose to require the implementation of one or more geo routing solutions for calls 988 the site in crisis lifeline to ensure calls are based on the geographic location for the origin of the calls rather than the area code and exchange associated with the wireless phone. second, you will consider declaratory ruling, order reported order and order on dereconsideration that would reestablish the commission's authority to protect consumers and safeguard the fair and open internet by classifyingas broadband internet access service as a telecommunications service and classifying mobile broadband internet access service as a commercial mobile service. exercising broad and tailored and reinstating straightforward clear rules to ensure internet

openness. third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth he will consider separate enforcementh, action. this is the agenda for today. today's the first item is titled implementation of the national suicide hotline t act of 2018 wl be presented by the competition bureau chief of the bureau will give the introduction. >> thank you so much madam secretary. now count before we turn to the bureau for their presentation we have a very special guest. i like to introduce and is the chief executive officer of every mind a nonprofit organization with a mission to strengthen communities and empower individuals to reach optimal mental wellness. as ceo, and advances every mind mission exiting strategic plan. she ensures every mind has the infrastructure and financial resources to meet its ambitious

goals maintain an extensive network of partners and advances local regional agendas and for thought leadership and mental health advocacy. thshe's also a crucial steward f this organization's culture and values. now, the most important thing you should know is that she is here today because she has spearheaded the expansion of mental health programs in montgomery company, maryland a pair which is in our own backyard. she has been providing direct mental health support education to over 50000 youth, older adults, veterans and their families. and i would like her to start up our discussion of 988 today tell us what she knows of her role leading every mind and her many, many years of experience with mental health wellness and suicide prevention parts are taken away. >> thank you. good morning madam chairwoman.

an esteemed commissioners. my sincere gratitude to represent you each morning. every mind deeply enhancing health and wellness. i speak with conviction on the critical importance of implementing geo routing within that 988 infrastructure. our work spans diverse demographics focusing particularly on underserved communities. segment reductioner and improvig access to mental health services. for over 50 years art 24/7 hotline has been a cornerstone of support offering free and confidential assistance to individuals in crisis. as one of the original centers in the national suicide prevention lifeline network, we continuously evolved binary crisis hotline tech services in maryland over a decade ago. our dedicated team of 50 frontline hotline krause crisis

counts into space writing listing and suicide intervention on over 50000 calls and texts this o year. despite our efforts challenges persist. especially in routing calls from transient areas such as montgomery county and the national capitol region. allow me too illustrate the significance of geo routing with two poignant examples from our hotline. matty, crisis counselor on our amteam received a text third 988 from eli, a 16-year-old who bravely confided his mother was contemplating suicide. he liked text 988 looking for help. while providing a light with much needed support and guidance on how to approach the situation with his mom, mattie reach out to montgomery county crisis center. guiding them to the situation with the vital information to assess the need for a mobile crisis team response. once it was realized the situation was dire, with

compassion and is to a questioning mattie was swiftly able to coordinate with the local crisis services. mattie's and guidance ultimately led to the dispatch of the mobile crisis team highlighting the profound impact of leveraging local resources in moments of crisis. conversely, imagine receiving texts from a maryland number the person it nay is actually across the country. crisis counselors like ours across the nation face immediate hurdles. they rely on the visitor toat share specific location details. which can be uncomfortable. for example, one of our crisis hotline counselors, erin, answered a call from arena at 28-year-old experiencing a panic attack and after devastating breast cancerce diagnosis. diag. despite the maryland area code, she is now living in utah and was calling from a parking lot, unable to afford her medical

bills. erin, unfamiliar with utah services, focused on validating reina's feelings and ensuring her safety for the rest of the afternoon. our counselor erin knows the services to help connect people facing trauma, isolation, and a need of social and emotional support in maryland, but not in utah. erin's options to provide support to reina >> the absence of geo routing limits ability to proprovide support underscoring the urgent need for more effective system. how many people have a different area code from where they reside? i do. nowhere is this evident than in washington, d.c. area where the pew research center estimates that 55% of residents with a cell phone have a number outside of the district. according to the census bureau

approximately 36 million americans yet they rarely change phone number. geo routing provides challenging solution by directing nearest crisis center, swift access to support during moments of crisis. moreover it empowers organizations like every mind to identify areas of high demand facilitating targeted resource allocation and enhancing service delivery. since launch of 988 the development of mental health services has surged dramatically. annual call volumes increased 50% in the first year and additional 30% in the second year, tech support have risen by 500% in the same period. with the significant portion

originating from young people turned age of 24 highlighting urgent need for accessible mental health services. awareness of 988 remains low. only 13% of people are aware of 988 existence. this lack of awareness coupled with in effective routeing systems creates layers as well as maryland's nine crisis call centers for 988 suicide and crisis lifeline every mind is at the forefront of providing support of those in need. in conclusion, i urge the commission to approve this proposal on geo routing to

timely local mental health support and crisis support centers to ensure that every color and texture receive the same high quality effective and life-saving services that eli and his mother did. together we can save countless lives, thank you. for your attention and dedicated -- dedication to this critical issue. thank you. >> thank you so much and for your words today and for setting the stage describing what we are about to embark on really is, i really appreciate you being here and with that, let's proceed.

>> this morning is competition bureau to consider second further notice ifno adopted woud take an important step towards improving access to life-saving services provided by the 988 suicide and crisis lifelong. the office of economics and analytics and the office of general crucial for review and input. i would like to thank our federal partners substance abuse and mental health services. sitting at the table from the bureau are liz associate chief

and hendrickson, deputy division chief, fresh in from chicago this morning and mary wolf, mary will present the item. >> thank you. the united states continues to face the suicide and mental health crisis. according to the centers for disease control and prevention suicide was leading cause of death in the united states in 2021 resulting in 48,000 deaths. suicide and crisis lifeline provides critical life-saving services for people in suicidal crisis or emotional dye stress g vital component. over the last several years the commission to facilitate access

to 988 as lifeline, 9-digit number to reach the lifeline ans providers to provide text messages to the lifeline. lifeline has received an routed 9.6 million calls, texts and chats. based on original design of 988 lifeline system, callers may not receive support from local crisis centers, approximately 80% are made from wireless phones and the system currently routes those calls to crisis center in exchange which presents challenges because many callers have wireless phones with area codes that do not match their physical occasions. college students and service members. mental health andnd crisis counselors have opine that connecting callers to local

crisis centers is essential to ensure they have access to local public resources and public safety resources. moreover local crisis counselors may be more knowledgeable about unique community stressors and other regional, cultural and economic factors impacting callers in distress. technical solutions for directing calls based on theph origin of the call without transmitting information about the caller's precise location. this second further notice proposed rule-make if adopted would continue the commission's work to provide meaningful access to the 988 lifeline and build on the progress made by all stakeholders to date by proposing to adopt rules, requiring wireless carriers to implement geo routing solution for calls in t the 988 lifeline.

second further notice would seek to obtain information thoroughly and transparently with geo routing solutions in the scope of mandate and identify work to implement routing solution. next if adopted the second further notice would be comment on a variety of aspects related to implementing the geo routing solutions for the 988 lifeline including technical specifications and limitations and requiring routing data and necessary infrastructure and system changes or upgrades,ng testing requirements and timelines for deployment. the second further notice if adopted would also seek comment on routeing challenges and any potential or needed geo routing solutions for nonwireless calls and text to 988 lifeline. lastly the second further notice if adopted would see comment on commission's authority to adopt rules to implement one or more geo routing solutions for

wireless calls to 988 lifeline. the bureau recommends adoption andon the editorial privileges, thank you. >> thank you. we will now hear comments. we will start with commissioner car. >> thanks so much. thanks the bureau for the presentation on this. a year ago while i was in sioux falls, south dakota i had a chance to visit the helpline center which is an organization that provides mental and behavioral health services and answersvi over 100,000 calls to 988 a year. that's where i had the chance to meet janet, counselors, someone who makes a difference in people's lives every single day as she goes to work. the story she told me were very similar to the ones that we heard andhe just relay about communication between mattie and eli. nowic the point that is janet ad her colleagues conveyed to me when we met was that 988 is

making a real difference, she noted that it's easy to remember number has resulted in people reaching out for help earlier in the life cycle of a crisis. and that's resulted in their counselors being able to be more effective in the help that they provide. in fact, they estimate since 988 has ruled out they've seen 200% inaccuracy in the number of calls and texts coming into the center. but they always thought more the fc could continue to do in particular flag call routing with mobile phones, portability as we heard. people don't always call 988 from the same geographic area associated with their area code on their phone. that means someone reaching out for help in south dakota, as we heard with the call between erin

and reyna. local helpline while continuing to protect the privacy of callers and making sure thate they're not discouraged from reaching out for help. that's exactly the idea that the chair has put forward today. i want to thank carolyn for her leadership and work on this issue for seeing how we can further improve this system. imi want to recognize centers barrasso to advance 988 lifeline location improvement act. this was legislation that ensures that we have the strong footing necessary to make sure that this vital resource continues to be accessible. finally, i want to thank the staff for their work on this important issue and the item has my support. >> thank you for that. commissionernk stark. >> yeah, thank you, madame chairwoman, i want to thank

ms. masur for your testimony, advocacy, folks that are having mental health issues, that was a startling statistic you set here. chat and tech services needs up by over 500%, that is something that is -- we should all take note of. and more than anything, you know, i am proud that we have been able to move so quickly here to deliver critical results for the american people, all the pieces in many ways have lined up for the 3-digit code that we are talking aboutut here. 988 since the nationwide transition in july of 2022, the lifeline has as we heard received and routed 9.6 million ndcalls texts and chats. i would call that success but as we've heard quite clearly there is more room for us to do better, to continue to grow. all primary responsibility here

at the fcc is to ensure that meaningful access to the lifeline and we've done this by setting forth reliability, resiliency and today we continue on that great theme following the council of mental health advocates, geo routing solutions for 988. currently as we heard, a caller dials 988 the call is routed to a crisis center but where the majority of calls are made from a wireless phone, we do have that opportunity to make it even closer, even better so that itto performs mental health and crisis counseling experts have virtually unanimously advised that connecting callers in crisis to local crisis centers is vitally important and so the substance abuse and mental health services administration samsa, the administrator, industry partners, we have all completed the proof of concept trial of the solution that we

are talking about here for geo routing and this will continue to require cooperation between those carriers originating the calls, the lifeline giadministrator that controls ad obviously there's more need for us to get the word out as we heard for folks that are experiencing this very critical issue. and so thank you to the chairwoman for the leadership and thank you to the hard work of the team here. it really deserves our full pride. it has my very full support. >> thank you for that. commissioners, thank you. 305 number. it was in my immediate family under my roof. for those of you who -- and 306 number. but if you're defining the quad lateral that that draws, should

be northern virginia chicago and south florida. personally, i would appreciate being geo located whenever there's a need for services like. this obviously we are just in a different era in terms of what it really means to provide services to people where they are. i want to thank the team for their hard work on bringing this to thehe modern year. >> thank you for drawing that quadlateral. commissioner gómez, thank you madame chairwoman. >> my first ever site visit as a commissioner was to join chairwoman russell to meet the amazing team at every mind in russell maryland and thank you for hosting us. fullery with appreciation for the importance of making the 988 lifeline available to the public and gratitude for the hundreds of volunteer centers and staff that provide support to callers across the country. 988 lifeline has become

available we have learned about ways to improve support for callers and today we take stepro towards such an improvement. doing everything we can to ensure that individuals experiencing ado crisis can receive the support they need, safe lives and simply good policy. i look forward to seeing the record develop with solutions, ideas about how we can implement this next important step and thank you to the staff at the bureau for your valuable work on this item. >> thank you commissioners, as you've heard, not far from us here at the federal communication's commission and a nondescript building in montgomery county maryland is an organization called every mind. one of over 200 call centers across the country that respond when people dial 988, the suicide and crisis lifeline. at the fcc we know 988 well.

we help set up this easy to remember 3-digit number nationwide. we made it possible for anyone anywhere to reache out for help with this number through call chat or text. but those are the, technical details because at this agency, we don't really know what it's like to be on the receiving end of those calls. the people at every mind do. and along with commissioner gómez as you heard have visited mmevery mind to learn more about what responding to 988 looks like on the ground and after spending somehe time with every mind two things were really, really clear, first the people answering these calls are extraordinary. they listen and respond thoughtfully and carefully to everyone who reaches out in crisis. the work they do saves lives. second, the people answering the calls reaching to 988 to get

help can be complicated. today we know 80% of the calls originate from a wireless and right now thoseho calls are basd on the area code associated with that device but as we've heard for many people the area code on our phones no longer matches the place where we live. that means if you have a phone number from there on but you move to california and you dial 988, you would still be routed to a call center in maryland like every mind. and i know from my visit that the people at every mind will do everything that they can to assist you but it goes without saying that they know more about how to get your assistance in their own backyard than they do across the country in california. i think it's time to change this and if we do i think we can safe more lives by getting more people connected to resources nearby. that is why today we propose to introduce geo routing. when geo routing is used

wireless calls to 988 rout today call centers based on nearby towers that wireless calls use to connect. this provides a more accurate picture of caller's true location while still protecting their privacy. more importantly geo routeing means those responding to 988 inquiries have a lot more knowledge of local resources and a better equipped to assist the caller with getting the help the need. now i want to point out that we are already on the right track. last year i wrotet to the nationwide wireless providers urging them to begin work on ge routing so i really want to thank them for the headway they've made today with development, testing and trials. i also want to make clear that for geo routeing the work was 988 across the country the department of health and human services and its administrator of 988 suicide and crisis lifeline is going to have to incorporate the solutions we are proposing here directly into its process. this iss vital.

we stand ready to assist because as we develop technical solutions we benefit from having experts in mental health work with us every step of the way. i just want to thank representative, senator padilla, senator tillis and secretary becerra. i also want to thank the counselors of every mind and anne who leads their efforts and gracious way they open the doors to us and services they provide to the people and their community. they are heros in our own backyard. i want to thank mary wolf from the wire line competition bureau. eli johnson, no well, larson and

john lockwood from the wireless telecommunications bureau and richard, erika, david from office of general council. stacy jordan from the office of economic and analytics and jimmy and shana from the office of communication business opportunities. we are going get this done. commissioner carr. >> approve. >> commissioner stark? >> approve. >> commissioner gómez? >> approve. >> the chair votes aye. the item is adopted as requested. madame secretary, will you please announce the next item on today's agenda. >> madame chairwoman and commissioners item 2 in the agenda is titled safeguarding and securing the open internet and we will also be presented by the wireline competition bureau, chief of the bureau will give the introduction. >> thank you, madame secretary. welcome back when you're ready

please proceed. >> good morning again madame chairwoman and commissioners. wireline competition bureau is pleased to present for your consideration a declaratory ruling report and order, order on reconsideration that would reestablish the commission's authority overbroad band internet access service. i would obviously like to thank the team for dedicated work on this item as well as our colleagues across the agency who contributed in consumer governmental affairs, enforcement media, public safety, space and wireless telecommunications bureaus and would also like to thank the offices of communication business opportunities, the offices of analytics and international affairs and the office of general council. sitting at the table with me from the bureau, deputy bureau chief and jody may, division chief. chris and mason. mason will now present the item.

>> thank you and good morning madame chairwoman and missioners. high speed internet connections are indispensable to every aspect of daily lives from work, education and health care to commerce, community, communication and free expression.. since 2017 there's been no federal oversight over the vital service. the item before you would reclassify broadband internet y access service, the consumer broadband service that we use and rely on every day as telecommunication service under title 2 of the communication's act of 1934 as amended and reestablish the commission's authority to protect consumers and safeguard the fair and open internet which protects freeet expression, encourages competition and innovation and is critical to public safety. first, the declaratory ruling would classify broadband internet access service as

telecommunication service and classify mobile broadband internet access service as commercial mobile service. it would fine that reclassification would provide the commission with additional authority tofi safeguard nationl security, advance public safety, protect consumers and facilitate broadband appointment. your time at classification of broadband access service as telecommunication service represents the best reading in light of the marketplace reality of how broadband internet access service is offered and perceived today as well as the factual and technical realities of how t broadband internet access service functions and accords with commission and court precedent and fully justified under the commission long-standing authority to classified authorities subject tobj jurisdiction. it would make clear that the commission would exercise its preemption authority on case-by-case basis to preempt state or local measures to

interfere or incompatible with the federal regulatory open internet framework. second, the order would establish broad include nothing rate regulation, no bundling of last mile facilities and no cost accounting rules in commission's application to title 2 to broadband providers to ensure that the regulatory environment protects consumers and achieves other important public responsibilities while not unnecessarily stifling assessment and innovation. consistent with the commission's approach in 2015 the order would not forebear portions that protect consumers and competition, preserve enforcement tools, protects consumer privacy and provide, access to infrastructure, support disability access and promote universal service. in order to account for changing national security landscape the commission would also retain its

authority with respect to broadband providers under parts of section 214, 218, 219 and 220. and opt certain enhancements to the transparency rule to provide broadband providers to disclose characteristics for the benefit of consumers and the broad range of participants in the internet ecosystem. it would reinstate a general standard that prohibits unreasonable interference or reasonable disadvantage to consumers or providers. it wouldde exception for reasonable network management. it would make clear that the commission will employ a case by case review under sections 201 and 202 to ensure that internet traffic exchange practices do not harm the open internet.

it would establish a multifaceted framework comprised of advisory opinions, enforcement advisories commission initiated and informal and formal complaints. finally, the order on reconsideration would partially grant and otherwise business as moot for petitions for reconsideration file in response for 2020 restoring remand order. the bureau recommends adoption of the item and recommends editorial privileges, thank you. >> thank you, we will now hear comments from the bench. commissioner carr. >> the internet in america has thrived in absence of 1930's command and control and bipartisan consensus emerged early on that the government should not regulate the internet

like copper line, telephone, monopoly. in a telecom act of 1996 a republican congress and democrat president came together and agreed to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the internet unfettered by federal or state regulation. one year later congress directed the fcc to issue a report definitively reviewing the terms congress added to the communication's act of 1994 in that 1996 enactment including the distinction congress had drawn between a likely regulated title 1 information service and a heavily regulated title 2 telecommunication service. the fcc chair to the time by a

democrat and president clinton appointee did so in the 1998 steven's report. the fcc steven's report determined that internet access is a title 1 information service under the statute. for decades, that bipartisan position held. it held through the remainder of the clinton administration. it held through all 8 years of the bush administration and it held through the first six years of the obama administration. every fcc chair across these nearly 20 years, republican and testimony contract alike repeatedly affirmed that broadband remained a title 1

information service and the fcc did so again and again and again. lobbied for years to persuade the fcc to change course and regulate the internet as a public utility under title 2. the fcc never waived. not once. classifying the internet as a title 2 service remains the third rail of communications policy. both unlawful and misguided. all of that changed in a flash. in fact, the years of bipartisan consensus vanished over the course of just one hundred in 17 seconds. on november 10th, 2014, president obama published a

youtube video calling on fcc to label broadband a title 2 telecom service for the first time and to impose sweeping new government controls on the internet and in the name of net neutrality. president obama's one minute and 57-second video was the culmination of an unprecedented and coordinated campaign by the executive branch to pressure an independent agency into grabbing power that the legislative branch never said it had delegated. on the very same warning that president obama released his video calling for title 2 activists, showed up at the home of the fcc chairman and used their bodies to blockade his

driveway demanding that he classified the internet as a title 2 service. they return today his home again that very same night. chairman wheeler would later testify and write an e-mail suggesting that he believed that those activists that showed up at his home did not act independently from the white house. the pressure campaign just continued to mount. just weeks later title 2 activists rushed the dias during fcc monthly commission meeting obstructing an official proceeding, reclassified now banner behind the heads of fcc

commissioners before securing intervened. it's also why as you know we have security sitting on both ends to have dias. in just days before president obama released his title 2 video, jeff who serves today as president biden's chief of staff but was serving then as president obama tractor of national make council took the unprecedented step of visiting the fcc chairman in his fcc office, the house call, if you will, so that he could deliver a message to the fcc chairman about president obama's upcoming announcement on title 2. now, why does flurry of pressure from the white house in november of 2014? it's not just because people are

coming off of a midterm election loss, fcc e-mail show the fcc chairman was just days away from circulating a draft station to the mission that would have adopted net neutrality rules but stopped short of going full title 2. the white house decided that it had to stop this fcc plan before the fcc chairman took it public. so it act today derail the compromise path to the fcc chair had been trying to chart. the wall street journal ran a deeply reported story on all of this titled net neutrality, how the white house thwarted the fcc chief. it describes, quote, unusual

secretive effort inside the white house led by two aides acting like a parallel version of the fcc itself, end quote. subsequently internal only confirmed and added additional concerning details to that reporting. now the legislative branch, they caught wind of the executive branch's power play. it did not sit idly by. the chief of staff to the then majority leader of the senate harry reid wrote to the fcc chair, he said he had spoke on the the white house again in, quote, and told them to back off title 2. went through once again the problems it creates from us, end

quote. majority leaders chief of staff followed up adding my main point to the white house is how can you declare that regulations written in the 1930's will work fine for 2014 technology? it's a good question. let tom do his job and this will be fine except the white house did not let the fcc chair do his job. the president intervened. he flipped them. reflecting on the white house campaign while testifying before congress, fcc chairman wheeler was asked about president obama's november 10th announcement and whether it had an impact on the title 2 debate at the fcc, he testified, of

course, it did. continuing he said, when jeff zines came to me said this is what the president is going to do that was substantial significance. the testimony is true. emails confirm that the fcc stopped the presses on its compromise or hybrid approach, delayed the vote and quickly went to work drafting a decision that went full title 2 just as the president had demanded. chairman wheeler would later write an e-mail where he described this episode of demascus road experience. now ever since president obama flippedsi chairman wheeler, thee has been no turning back. title 2 is now just a matter of

civic religion for activists on the left. they demand that the fcc go full title 2 whenever a democrat is president, everybody knows what is expected and president biden made title 2 restoring a campaign promise and jeff zion is back in the white house and so, yes, millions of people have filed comments on the fcc on title 2, net neutrality over the years but none of it mattered. none of them persuaded the fcc to go full title 2. only the president mattered. now, this also explains why the fcc has never been able to come up with a credible reason or policy rationale for title 2. it's all just shifting that's because the agency is doing what

it has been told to do by the executiveen branch and just cobbling as it goes along. now you may wonder why i'm starting out this statement recounting this bit of fcc well, for starters i think it tells an important part of the story of title 2. the fcc's position on title 2 didn't simply evolve over time, the overton window on title 2 did not just naturally shift. president obamaal forced the fcs hand and i understand that there's many people including some here that would just like to sweep that entire episode turned rug, forget about it. i'm not one of them.

the courts sanctioned this power grab. you see the framers understood the nature of those in power and series of checks and balances to avoid government overreach. chief among them is a constitution separation of powers. in article one, the people vested all federal legislative

powers in congress as chief justice marshal put it, this means that the important subjects must be entirely regulated by the legislate hour itself even if congress may leave the executive branch free to fill up the details. that didn't happen here. congress never passed allow saying the internet should be heavily regulated like a utility nor did it pass one giving the fcc the authority to make thatio determination. the executive branch pressured the agency into claiming a powep that remained and remains with the legislative branch fundamentally i'd argue much of the fault lies with the judiciary's application of

chevron. the supreme court's decision in chevron created a situation where the executive branch could engage in the type of pressure campaigns that we witnessed with title 2. that's because chevron at least applied by some courts has allowed agencies to seize big new powers without an expressed grant of authority from congress. in cases of vast economic for political significance at least, chevron not only creates ann environment in which agencies push the bounds of their authority, it creates an incentive for the executive branchot or other political actp

to pressure them in doing so. that's why the supreme court's recent decision in west virginia versus epa is so important. it makes clear that on matters of enormous significance like the one before with left, the administrative agencies must point to far more than ambiguous statute to persuade a review in court that congress authorized the agency to act. after all, as a constitutional matter, congress doesn't operate like a sib inadvertently spilling grants of massive authorities. after westte virginia, congress' delegation of authority in these types of cases can no longer be implicit, it must be explicit. properly applied, west virginia will stop the flip-flopping and

eliminate the incentives for the executive branch to engage in the type of pressure campaigns a we've seen with title 2. improve agency decision-making to ensure we are driven by the facts, by the law and by the record. it will allow the forces of compromise to work their will on legislating rather than winner take all party line votes at agencies. it'll ensure that the legislative power will remain with congress unless and until the legislature decides to delegate them. if that weren't enough, today's order independently violates supreme court demand in west virginia through forbearance. although the fcc may forebear for from parts of title 22 the

order indiscriminantly applies of that authority to fundamentally rewrite the 1996 act by line item vetoing more than a dozen provisions essential to title 2 legislative design. as multiple supreme court decisions confirm the unrestrained application of forbearance is illegitimate. and just last year the supreme court struck town the biden d administration's use of waiver authority after the education the president tried to use it to wipe away student debt. as a matter of construction and implied delegation the fcc is not presume today have the sweeping power to refashion title 42 into entirely new legislative scheme by picking

and choosing which parts to apply. the fcc's flip-flopping also informs how seriously one should take the orders policy arguments. the fcc tries to address its latest power grab in 400 plus page order that offers laundry list of bogus justifications. few of them are actual evidence, virtually none point to a real problem all fall apart under casual scrutiny and fcc believes the reasons that it offers for title 2, it's not about net neutrality, when we abandon title 2 in 2017, proponents flooded the zone with a rhetoric

they predicted the end of the uniter as we know it and that you'll get the internet one word at a time, consumers have to pay for each website they wanted to reach. none of that happened. americans were subjected to one of the greatest hoaxes in regulatory history. internet gatekeepers from squashing innovation and free expression. again, check the receipts. after 2017 it wasn't isp's abused their positions in the internet ecosystem, it was not the isp's that blocked links to the new york post hunter biden laptop story. old twitter did that. it wasn't the isp's that just one day after lobbying this fcc on this order blocked all posts

from a newspaper and removed linked to the outlet after it published critical article facebook did that. it wasn't the isp's that earlier this month blocked links to a t california-base news organization from showing up in search results to protest a state law, google did that. it wasn't the isp's that blocked beeper mini and inop ratability between ios and android messaging, apple did that. since 2017 we've learned that the real abusers of gatekeeper power, were not isp operating at the physical layer but big tech companies. perversely today's order make big tech behemoth even stronger

than before. today's order is not about correcting a market failure, it's more vibrant and competitive than ever. no matter how you slice the reames of data, americans benefited from lower prices, faster speeds, broader coverage, increased competition and accelerated internet built. internet speeds are up 430% since 2017 on the broadband side, they are up 647% on the mobile side, the prices for internet services have dropped in real terms by about 9%. now just on the mobile broadband side alone, real prices have dropped by roughly 18% since

2017 and popular broadband speed prices are down 54% and for the fastest broadband, they are down 58% over the last eight years. the fcc realizes that the justifications will no longer cut it. nothing ever happened, the old predictions, we are not just disproven, they've been abandoned. the agency invents entirely new justifications. the fcc throws whatever it can think of against the wall to see if anything sticks. title 2 is necessary for national security, for public safety, for law enforcement, for robo call mitigation, for pole attachments, for accessibility, privacy and cybersecurity, the list goes on and on. but the latest set of claims

fairs no better than those out in 2015. there'str simply new pretext to justify an old power grab. take national security. the fcc has identified no gap in national security that title 2 would fill, rather the record makes clear that congress has already empowered agencies with national security expertise including department of homeland security, department of justice, commerce and treasury to address these issues in the communication sector. and through the biden administration's own filing in this proceeding confirms national security agencies already have, end quote, exercise substantial authorities with respect to the information and communications sectors. in particular the biden administration already has the authority to perceive entities

control by the ccp from operating in the u.s. today. commerce department codify one subset of authorities back in 2021. so title 2ie is not necessary to fill any gap in authority. indeed, specific ccp aligned companies mentioned in the fcc or the fcc own database of isp's shows that they are not offering anything that would qualify as broadband service today subject to title 2 even after reclassification or take consumer privacy. the fcc already regulates isp's in their privacy practices, indeed, this very moment broadband consumers benefit from the same set of federal privacy consumersonrotect

across the economy but those material rules go away with respect to broadband when the f cc votes here for title 2. that's because by law the fcc loses 10% of its authority over any service that's regulated by the fcc under title 2. in turn the title 2 decision would leave broadband consumers with no privacy rules to protect them because congress prohibited the fcc from applying its own privacy rules for any similar ones to isp's in 2015 and the fcc claims there's residual 222 statutory that would applies to isp's. i think thehe assertion is dubis at best given the 2017 law. consumer privacy rules, fcc decision to apply title 42 to broadband would create one.

the agency makes no series attempt that title 2 is necessary to promote cybersecurity. for one congress and executive branch agencies have already formulatedes comprehensive cybersecurity regime that is solidly grounded in existing law. that effort is led not by the fcc but by the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency. nothing in title 2 gives the fcc anygi additional authorities whn it comes to participating in the federal government sisa led process. for another title 2 doesn't allow standards evened under fcc's reading title 2 doesn't apply to the vast range of cyber targets like call providers and tech platforms further undermining any claim that title

2 is necessary for cybersecurity. networkil resiliency. for one, fcc collects reports operational status and restoration information from providers that offer broadband. for another america's broadband networks are more robust and resilient than those in countries with far more heavy handed or title 2 like regulatory regimes. with respect to 911 in particular, fcc already has specific rules in place today that address knowledge or take public safety. the fcc rests this claim single event that turns out has nothing to do with title 2 or net neutrality.

in that 2018 incident, speed reductions after exceeding the limit. made an exception and listed the retucks. although the fcc constantly invokes this event if you notice the agency studiously avoids actually stating that this is the type of issue that would be prevented by title 2 and in today's order it would be lawful for multiple reasons. what we are doing is one thing but order leaves them worse off. everything comes from investment. our broadband are built on private capital and those investment decisions in turn on company best long-term horizon. well isp's invest intensely when the rules of the road are

opaque, when business choices can be second-guessed without noticed, when regulators reserve the right to dictate the rate of return or upgrades and innovations require more and more paperwork than approvals. uncertainty riddles every aspect of this order. will consumer pay new broadband taxes, not today. but maybe tomorrow. can isp's offer customize plans for consumers with unique data, speed or cost needs? possibly. but it depends. what about intelligent networks to prevent congestion? sure only if half of factors are met. fcc new regulations definitely but you'll havee to wait and see what the agency does. by all indications things will get worse before they get worse, that's the good news.

biden administration is on a spree of unchecked regulatory excess. at president biden's urging, fcc adopted equity order last year that hands veto power over every decision of provision of internet service in the country. elsewhere the fcc's laser focused on private contracts, micro managing advertising, dictating rates, blindsiding companies with legal expectations not on the books and stepping in swing lanes traditionally occupied by other federal agencies. i guess he either doesn't understand or doesn't care how this volatile impugntive climate of regulation n will deter investment in broadband networks. this isn't just economic theory. again, let's go to the tape. broadband investments slowed down after the fcc imposed title 2 in 2015 and it picked back up

again after we restored title 1 in 2017 .. .. .. opted to federal supportrt programs. they can bring broadbent to high cost and serve communities. but, who will take the financial risk when returns can light the way with the stroke of a bureaucrat pen? the administration's push isp to

deploy technologies to offer additional competitive options beyond dominant chinese vendors. but who will investment its poor functionalities, virtualization network slicing might violate the rule against impairing or degrading traffic. while misrepresenting title toin benefits order takes a approach to documented harms. it is a textbook example of arbitrary agency action to reach a predetermined outcome. in the end and thankful and coming to the end here at left back although you'll have to wait there's a barn burned out multiple multiple pages to follow. i remain optimistic. i am confident we will rate the ship and i am certain the courts

will overturn this unlawful power grab. for now though i dissent my full written statement will follow, thanks. >> thank you so much commissioner. chcommissioner. quick thinking madame chairwoman. today we take the important necessary step to give control of the internety back to those who deserve it. that is namelysu consumers. that is what today's item is really about. some no doubt will claim this is all a scheme for the government to control the internet. but let's be real. it is about ensuring each and every american can use their broadband subscription to access legal content of their choosing. it is about empowering consumers to control what they experience the internet while ensuring the provider is not impeding or prioritizing certain contents.

it is about ensuring broadband, the foundation for so many of our interactions each and every day has realy, oversight. i will say it again today's item puts consumers in the drivers seat. not isp, not middlemen who can throw money around. consumers. too often the rhetoric around controversial proceedings is focused on extreme examples and at worst case scenarios it. if we zoom in that way we really overlook the individuals that our decisions are designed to impact. but not me, not today. today i think about people like iran a senior and a veteran who uses broadband connection to contact the va to set upco appointments check the status of his medication vultures of the emerging-market legion and shares his experience with posttraumatic stress disorder

with this fellow veterans. broadband gives him the opportunity to share his story with others near and far. it gives him the power to choose how to connect and with whom. or consider ms. ana bethel nanative corporation she graciously welcomed me into her home with a bowl of musso chile last year. there are no major roads in bethel. if you want to leave town you do it and a boat or a plane, yes indeed. as we ate, ms. ana told me about the exciting vision that she has shared with her community new fiber deployment that would enable the communityen of 6000. residents of even smaller villages along the river to necessities of modern life. without having to leave the place they call home. employment the remote work. healthcare telehealth visits. better education for the kids

benefits of a free and open internet. i talked with paul who said broadbent access for him is like air. he uses his broadband connection to stay in contact with long separated relatives in greece. and he told men they cry each time they connect online. that is a powerful connection. it is inherent in our shared humanity the need to connect. the ability to facilitate those connections as one of the reasons i am proud to serve the federal communication commissioners. but more importantly i firmly believe that guides our actions here a today. empowering consumers, citing the proper guardrails for providers. recognizing they can meet the moment went public safety

requires. i will briefly highlight the issue of national security in this item broadbent is our home office powered our devices and supporting our infrastructure. its security is essential. the effort clarifies our authority to help make sure our broadbent are safe in light of constant attack against them. there's oversight here with the threats against our networks are real. fcc has authority and investigatory tools that are unique or federal government for nti a filing out commend too you into particular in the record recognizes and supports the unique role the commission plays ensuring our national security as it relates to broadband within the whole of government approach. asserting reclassifying is necessary to ensure the commission has the authority it

needs to advance national securityty objections." the reclassification will quote protect our networks from malicious actors will bite by leveragingthe appropriate tod includes the deep provisions. simply put, many of the safeguards necessary to protect the networks of our future will be out of reach without today's action. across the nation numerous isps network operators are working hard to protect americans against the onslaught and daily attacks against the networks as i have repeatedly emphasized. rightful unison revoke the certain chinese providers following recommendations from the executive branch. however because of the reveal the 2015 open internet rules evthose revocations only prohibited those specific

chinese providers from offering common carrier service. our national security action did not touch the bias offerings. meeting providers already identified as posing unacceptable national security risk and a law enforcement risk could still operate bias networks in the united states. as i predicted even after we were broke china telecom ininteractions section 214 authority, they continued to operate in the united states. their own websites currently it shows the company operates 26 points of presence in the united states. offers collocation broadbent ip transit and data center services. they are interconnecting with other networks. and have access to important points of presence and datata centers. as i pointed out before, this is part of a larger problem and warrants a closer look.

with reclassification we can truly secure our networks from entities that pose very real threats. a few additional highlights. own to thank the chairwoman for working with me, with my office to improve this item. three points in particular i will quickly tick through. i will have it longer statement for the record. pretty got thatout earlier. then you did commissioner carr. [laughter] first the order makes clear this item is not, not an effort to regulate rates. let me repeat, i do not support rate regulation. some pets go so far as to argue any programmer effort to ensure isps provide an affordable broadband option constitutes reg regulation. i strongly and fundamentally

disagree. the affordable connectivity program is not a rate regulation program. period no or similar efforts to ensure broadband is within the reach who flew income households but that leaves me too say i would be remiss if i did not take 20 seconds to say this is the time, now is the moment, for us to find a f permanent funding mechanism for acp. i continued to push for the acp but remain open to other solutions to create a permanent funding mechanism for that 48 million households that struggled to subscribe to broadbent due to the issue of affordability.ue the second point i want to highlight, i'm glad the item not clarifies our efforts to properly target nefarious actors within our domestic broadband networks will not have negative unintended consequences for global data flows. an international interconnection agreements.

alas, i appreciate working with the chairwoman's office to clarify our throttling rule to ensure we avoid loopholes in our net neutrality framework. now i previously committed to take a close look at the record in light of developments administrative law. doing so has left me even more convinced that congress empowered us to proceed title to opponents continued to cling to the 2017 orders are viewed that virtually any service that connects users information amounts to a title i service. whose ugly capacious would read telecommunications on the act's definition of information service taken to its logical conclusion it would lead to the deregulation of basically every communication service. including traditional voice

teleporting. undoing congress as well and enacting title ii. in case you missed it, the supreme court has otherwise cautioned agencies against adopting expensive unbound definitions that would in effect lead to a regulatory seizure brs from the statusro quo. andan i would also note that ironically titled to opponents believe congress could not have acted with the clarity required under the major questions of doctrine. becauseer the term telecommunication services is ambiguous under brand x. this, just does not hold up. whether or not that term is ambiguous our authority to apply it to services i broadbent is clear as day. that is what i believe matters here more importantly, before even a court could reach that issue it would need to conclude that this is in fact a major questions case.

but those cases are reserved for only extraordinary cases. this i believe just not come close to that.no there is no unheralded power that we are purporting just not to discover any annals of an old dusty statute. we have been classifying communications for decades. the 1996 act especially codified our ability to continue that practice. with respect to the classification of this service in particular, years of litigation up to including supreme court review as itsu resulted at multiple court decisions recognizing clearly our authority. and so the respected open issue requirement in particular network neutrality begin a fcc policy almost 20 years ago. including under a republican administration. the exact same framework with out today has already been eroded tested on appeal. so, no matter how you try to

look at this, it is just not an agency pushing the limits. i am thankful to be broadbent is no longer without oversight. consumers will benefit in the end. this proceeding has no doubt been a monumental undertaking. thank you to the chair. thank you to the very hard work by the team. by the bureau, i strongly approve. thank you regards. >> thank you. i'll publish misstatement thanks. >> appreciate that. [laughter] commissioner gomez. >> thank you. i might go a little longer. [laughter] as of today, april 25, 2020 for a minute commissioner for six months. and in the past seven months i'm sorry for seven months and

misspoke for the past seven months i've had the privilege of meeting stakeholders become industry civil rights and public interest groups. and members of the public have both advocates who support today's items that i've met with advocates of junction. i felt people across the country who emphasize just how necessary it there broadbent internet connection is to their everyday lives. i've heard from veterans in care providers that 80% of medical treatment for recovery requires a broadband connection. i've heard from parents, students and teachers that a broadband connection is necessary to complete much of the homework assigned to students. i've heard from consumers the importance of a broadbent connection to keeping in touch with friends and family. particular to those who live abroad. i've received messages from parents who are concerned about losing a broadband connection and what that will do to their families and children's economic opportunity. i've heard from first responders

that having a reliable broadband connection, especially in times of emergency can save lives and speed up recovery efforts. so i will start with the thing we all agree on. broadbent accesses the internet is a critical conduit that is essential to modern life. we all agree. and as a nation we have recognized the importance of connectivity and have made a historic multibillion-dollar investment in broadband for all. despite this unanimous agreement of the importance of value of this critical infrastructure and how it plays in our modern society, is 2017 there is not by the federal framework in place to protect and secure the integrity of the networks. we have had a patchwork of state net neutrality rules that have upheld the foundation. yet there is no expert agency ensuring at a national level the internet is open and fair. protecting this critical infrastructure that is essential to the safety, economy, health,

education, and well-being of this country is good public policy. the value is so great we cannot wait for the flood to arrive f before we start to build the levy. that would leave us woefully behind in an increasingly digital world where the critical resource is constantly at play. that isri why, what we're doingg here is so important. to date we reinstate appropriate guardrails to ensure this critical conduit remains accessible and secure forns all. the rules we adapt today ensure access to the internet remains open so all viewpoints including ones with which i disagree are heard withoutou discrimination. more so these principles protect consumers while also maintaining a healthy competitive broadbent at internet system because we know that competition is required for access to a healthy, open internet that is

accessible for all. most importantly, i support today's item because it prioritizes consumers and gives the commission more tools to close the digital divide. it ensures consumers are in charge of what they do online. and they can be confident when they send information over the broadbent connection it will not be blocked or altered by the provider. these protections are essential for all consumers. but especially for those communities that historically but left on the wrong side of the digital divide. thank you to the many advocates, stakeholders and members of the public to provide feedback and participate in this proceeding. my staff at night met with over 45 parties and appreciate hearing all of your feedback. the item we adopted a is stronger because of these meetings. thank you to the staff throughout the agency for their work on this item. into the competition bureau for leading this effort. i will now share my remarks in

spanish. [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish].

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madam chairwoman succeed the remainder of my 33 minutes. [laughter] >> thank you. thank you commissioners. four years ago the pandemic change life as we know it. we were told to stay home, i hunkered down and live online. so much of work, school, and healthcare migrated to the internet. if we wanted to engage with the world we needed to do it all through a broadband connection. it became clear that no matter who you are or where you live you need broadband to have a fair shot at digital age success. it would prep nice to have two need to have for everyone everywhere.

broadband is now an essential service. essential services, the ones we count on in every aspect of modern life have some basic oversight. so let's be clear about what weare doing today. this agency, the nation's leading communications authority believes every consumer deserves internet access that is fast, open, and fair. that is why we determine the federal communications commission should be able to assist consumers and take b actn when it comes to the most important communications of our time. and that is broadband. this is common sense. but in a world where up is down and down is up the last fcc through this authority away decided broadbent needed no supervision. as a result it toss out net neutrality policy is grounded in title ii of the communications act. it had deep origins and communication law and history.

these at net neutrality policies ensure you can go where you want and do what you want on light without your broadband provider broadbent providermaking choice. you made clear your broadbent provider should not have the right to block websites, slow services, or censor online content. these policies were court tested and approved. they were wildly popular. in fact studies show 80% of the public support the fcc net neutrality policies and oppose the repeal. now, for a plot twist part after the last fcc took away these policies despite the broad public outcry, curious thing happens. when washington stepped out california it wrote in with its own open internet regime. other states to all in and out nearly a dozen put net neutrality rules into state law, executive orders and contracting

policies. so ineffective net neutrality policies providers are biting bite right now crosses country. they're just coming from sacramento and places like it. i think in a modern digital economy we should have eight national net neutrality policy make clear that the nation expert on communication hasas te ability to act when it comes to broadband.d. this is good for consumers. good for public safety and good for national security. that is why we are taking this action under title ii of the communications act today. so it's service consumers. they spoke out in droves when the agency repealed net neutrality they jammed our inboxes, overwhelmed or online comment systems and clogged our phone lines they clambered to get net neutrality back. in the intervening years they have not stopped. thousands of consumers write us month after month seeking to have this agency help them navigate issues through the

broadbent service. during the policies out and backing away from broadbent look at all would take action when that issue is that long distance service. they do not want their broadbent provider cutting sweetheart deals with vaseline's for some services and saloons for others. they do not want providers throttling our paid prioritization. they expect expert authority on communication to be able to respond because we put that you neutrality rules back on the national books, we fix that today. let's talk about public safety. in this eight network outage all eyes turned to the fcc. because the last fcc baked away from broadbent oversight, the agency has one bail brought out outage data with long distance

voice service fails but cannot do the same for broadband. in the modern digital economy it's crazy we cannot collect a mandatory date about broadband outages. makes it harder to identify patterns of internet failure, fix them when they occur and put in place policies to make sure our networks are more resilient across the board. the importance of public safety and broadbent was driven home to me earlier this month when i visited the santa clara county fire department. just in uniform the firefighter firefighter's obit when they werere responding to emergency they discover the internet connection where their cam and vehicles is being throttled. compromising their ability to keep connected invite buyers. they went net neutrality back ofthe cannot bath in the left lt fcc give up the ability to investigate what happens. let alone help them or any other consumer having problems with the broadbent connection.

they are right and we fix it today but let's talk about national security. while this agency is taking a series of actions to reduce our dependence on insecure telecommunication equipment to potentially hostile actors from connecting to our networks it iss not enough to keep our adversaries at bay. there are vulnerabilities that are broadband networks and our ability to do something about them was silent by the last fcc withdrawing from the arena. take service authorization. under title ii of the communications act the fcc grants carries the right to provide communications in the united states. it also has the power to take away that rate. we did this during the last several yearshe we strip state affiliated companies in china of their authority to operate in this country. but it is important to understand our actions did not extend to broadbent thanks of the work of the last fcc. so in essence we took away their

right of the ccp affiliated providers to offer it long distance voice service the united states. but broadband? we rock the authority to stop that. this is not a modern approach to national security and service authorization. we need to fix it. take cybersecurity our national security authorities are on record detailing how state affiliated chinese carriers and others have exploited insecure internet routing protocol to hijack internet traffic. when we are asked to do something about it, thanks for last fcc stepping out of the broadband fray the best we can offer it was a form here in the commission meeting room. i do not think that deters our adversaries.ie we need to fix this. take security issues with data centers for the fcc chose to leave broadband outside of its purview and left interconnection rights without any basic oversight. that means the agency is nothing to say about broadband providers in the united states

interconnected with data centers controlled by ccp affiliated companies. again this seems a fix. finally, let me say a few words about what we don't do today this is not about rate regulation know how no way will not undermine incentives to invest in network in fact broadbent investment was higher net neutrality rules were in r place then after they were repealed. how about that? the action we take here is good for consumers, public safety, national security and network investment. it's also good for privacy because title ii of the communications act does not let your voice provider so your location data among other sensitive information. your broadbent provider should not be able to do this either to anyone or any new artificial intelligence model looking for a payday from your data without yourth permission. our post- pandemic world we know broadbent is eight necessity and

not a luxury. we know it is an essential service. and when a consumer hassu a problem with that, they should be able to reach out to the nation's expert on communication and get the help they need. theyey should be able to count n a national net neutrality policy that is grounded in the law and history of theni united states. that is why we take this action today to help ensure that broadbent is fast, open, and fair for all of us. preceding this important and complex requires a big team. let me thank hannah andre, eric, michelle, david, emily, and adam, cj, jesse, janice, jody, trent, heather, allison, melissa, and others. gimenez, c, jodi may, jamie, keira, nick

page, jordan, zach ross, randall, simon. mary and david from the wireline competition bureau. and the consumer and governmental affairs bureau. jeffrey brown, jolene, hunter, anthony, kate, pamela, alice, helen, ronald, patrick mcgrath, adam from the enforcement bureau. brendan murray and rae lynn from the media bureau. johan, paul often pain, jamie from the office of economics analytics, jocelyn james from

the office of communications business opportunities, denise andd kate, david, ethan, tom sullivan, from the office of internationale affairs, michele alyssa, michael jansen, doug klein, scott novak, eric olson, geoffrey steinberg from the office of general counsel, rebecca connolly and deborah jordan nikki mcgannon, christiana james wiley from the public safety and homeland security bureau into a stephani, thomas hastings, susanna larson, grant lucas, paul, roger nowell, justin park, haley preacher, justin, peter, joel and matthew warner from the wireless telecommunications bureau they are broadband champions, all of them, and with that we are going

to take a road on the item. the item is adopted with editorial privileges as adopted. can you announce the next item on the agenda? [applause]e] >> madame chair and commissioners, items three, four, five, six, seven and eight on your agenda are enforcement actions and will be presented by theon enforcement bureau. the chief of the bureau will give the introduction. >> thank you madam secretary because these items are enforcement actions we are going to switch the order just a bit as the commission has done in the past. in cast cases that involve similar presentations as with all open mating items the bureau circulated these to every

commissioners office at least three weeks ago but there is a long-standingg practice the agency formerly votes before proceeding to any statements commissioners may have. the process ensures that these sensitive matters will not be publicly disclosed until the fcc has voted to take action and we are going to follow that precedent. we will now proceed to a vote on these enforcement actions and start with item three. the item is adopted with editorialem privileges. on item four, commissioner.

the items adopted with editorial privileges. the item is adopted with editoriall privileges. last one on item eight. at the item is adopted with editorial privileges if requested. we appreciate the opportunity to present consensus for the

commission. good afternoon madam chairwoman and commissioners thank you for your consideration and votes today on these enforcement items. notices of apparent liability for forfeiture against john running us, rolled, robert belanger, pierre and mario turner and shane kelly for engaging in pirate radio broadcasting in apparent violation of section 511 of the communications act. the preventing illegal radio abuse through enforcement act oo pirate act codified as section 511 of the communications act requires the commission to perform yearly piratedra sweepsn the top five pirate radio markets. theyco stem from the first pirae to sweep in the boston market. we underscore the commission's continuing commitment for curtailing pirate radio

broadcasting. david marks chief counsel land office of the field director and andrew, field counsel in the office of the field director. good afternoon madam chairwoman and commissioners. unlicensed radio stations also known as pirate radio stations operate illegally. they undermine the commission's efforts to manage limited radio spectrum and pose a danger to the public by-- interfering with licensed stations that inform their listeners of important public safety messages. these messages include emergency alert system transmissions providing vital information regarding weather events andn other public hazards. accordingly, commission enforcement action in this area is essential. the first item involves the operator of the pirate radio station radio tele- plant in

randolph massachusetts. a long time pilot radio operator who issued a $10,000 forfeiture in 2006 that remains unpaid. he was issued a two notices of unlicensed operation in 2017 notifying him that his actions violated the communications act and were to be a immediately halted. as part of the boston pirate radio sweep, agents located at the station operating without authorization and in apparent violation of the pirate act on four dates in june and july 2023. the transmissions were on two separate frequencies and traced to three different locations. on one of those dates, operating from two different locations on two separate frequencies. given this widespread operation as well as the history of pirate radio operations, his disregard for the commission authority and

unpaidhi forfeiture and repeated warnings by the commission, they propose a penalty of $597,775 against him. the second item involves real old operator of a pirate radio station in o massachusetts. during the boston radio sweep agents documented the station operating in the area without authorization four times between june and december 2023 and found information on the stations social media pages linking him to the station. in j july, he admitted to agents that he owned and operated agents found it was still operating from the same location without authorization.

given the disregard for the commission authority in his continued operation of a pirate station months after agreeing to holdnt broadcasting, they propod a penalty of $120,000. the third item involves joel operator of the pirate radio station brockton in brockton massachusetts. agents located the station operating without authorization on two occasions in june and july 2023. he admitted to agents that he was the operator and he is listed as the director on the station's website. they propose a penalty of $40,000. the fourth item involves robert belanger operator of a pirate radio station known as tbr radio in massachusetts. agents located the stationat operating on two occasions in

june and july of 2023 during an on-site inspection he admitted to agents that he was the station operator and social mediaa postings support that admission. they propose a penalty of $40,000 against robert belanger. the fifth item involves giovanni pr and mario turner joint operators of the pirate radio station known as radio brockton 96.5 or brockton heat in brockton massachusetts. agents located the station ccoperating on two occasions in june and july of 2023. information found on the stations social media pages link to both pierre and turner to the pirate operations. they propose a joint federal penalty of $40,000 against giovanni pierre and mario turner. the sixth and final item involves shane kelly operator of

the pirate radio station the test 87.9 fm in massachusetts. agents located the station operating without authorization on june 5th, 2023 as a part of the boston pirate radio sweep. during an on-site inspection, kelly admitted to agents that he was the stations operator. the nal proposes a penalty of $20,000 against shane kelly. the enforcement bureau appreciates the adoption of these items and requests the grant of editorial privileges. thank you. >> thank you. we will hear any comments from the bench. >> thank you so much for all of your diligent work on this. i appreciate the important set of issues and it takes a lot of work behind-the-scenes to get where we are now. the enforcement bureau is my favorite but for those keeping track at home, these are enforcement itemsme we've done n

new york, miami, philadelphia and now boston. so keep up the great work and i think i've said before if you are in the pirate radio business, the enforcement bureau is going to put you out of business. thank you. >> miami, new york, philadelphia, boston, that is quite. i appreciate the extent it took to perform these investigations and bring these cases. >> the geometry continues. commissioner gomez. >> thank you. the fcc has a responsibility to safeguard the nation's airwaves ensuring they are used for the public's benefit and pirate radio stations pose a threat to this objective. i'm pleased to the commission continues to hold private radio operators accountable for their actions. so i wanthe to thank the enforcement bureau staff for your hard work. >> thank youmi commissioners. for nine decades we've been the

job when it comes to the use of the public airwaves and we take this seriously providing they comply with the rules. when users fail to do so it causes harmful interference did we take action that is exactly what we do today. in the new york and boston field office foror their work under te pirate act these agents are unsung heroes who help us manage our airwaves and for their security we will not mention who they are today but we want them to know we are grateful for their service. will mention if you took off the charge they sent our way in washington so thank you ryan mcdonald, michael road, robert

keller, andrew and reggie from the t enforcement bureau and william denver and dave from the office of general counsel. and with that would any of my colleagues like to make any announcements at this time? commissioner. >> yes, thank you madam chairwoman. i would like to announce some staff changes in the office. many of you know that my legal adviser for wireless space international issues wrapped up his time at the commission last week. he's moved on to join an tia is the senior spectrum advisor anddirector of national spectrum strategy. so let me break that up. he is truly a super lawyer and somebody who is a constant legal advisor, deep thinker, creative thinker threw himself to work for me, h the office, but also

somebody i travel with as many wireless advisors do andy they get assigned the international travel and it's truly a joy to be with him and i wish him and his family all the best. i'm glad that he's continuing to bring his immense talent to public service and the american people will continue to benefit from him as a spectrum advisor for the american public in many ways now. but that has given me the opportunity to welcome who many of you know, everybody knows to my team as the acting legal advisor for wireless space international. he's joining from the office of international affairs where he is thethce deputy chief truly well-known for her deep and fast

life service here at the fcc in addition to being a legal advisor to commissioner clyburn senior deputy chiefef of wireles and i've already benefited from her deep and extensive knowledge, so please welcome her to my team. >> i'm sorry i also have my interns to thank. [laughter] my current classcl of interns as folks know i do deeply value interns and i think it is part of what i love it as a as a comr which is helping to train and see the next class as they bring their skills, so that is roy, jasmine hernandez, carrie, jesse frankel. i'm thankful to each of you for your hard workk over the semestr

and always rooting you on for what comes next for each of you. thank you. >> i also do have one personal announcement. my longtime wireline security advisor has left my team as of monday in order to join commissioner ferguson's staff. i was worried there might be a potential but he issued me it wouldn't be a problem. [laughter] thanks very much. >> commissioner gomez. thank you, commissioners. before we adjourn i have two quick announcements. darrell cooper retired last month after 27 years and he was also a director of practiced law in washington, d.c. and after he joined the agency he served in the cable cable service bureau,

department of homeland security and enforcement bureau but for the last ten years he made his home p in the consumer governmental affairs bureau and specifically the disabilities rights office. during this time he worked on the requirements of the 21st century communications accessibility act and helped coordinate the biennial reports congress required under that law. he also served as a subject matter expert for the compatibility issues and has coordinated with several of your bureaus on issues of disability rights and assistance. so i want to thank him for his years ofd service and work to increase the accessibility of s communications for all people in this country. we are also announcing the retirement of pamela smith who is a veteran litigator in the office of general counsel, and she has nearly 30 years of service, 28 of them with the fcc. she joined the office of the general counsel in 1986 from the department of justice where she worked in the environmental and natural resources division after she had an earlier stint in private practice.

during her time at the agency she's seen it all and she's brought her legendary attention tod detail to a wide range to a whole bunch of radio and television licensing matters. this is the most fun fact. i didn't know it. she's married to brad berry who finished but worked on the commission's digital discrimination order. that is a powerhouse couple. we are grateful for her 30 years of dedicated public service and we wish pam the very best in a very well-deserved retirement and with that will you please announce the next date for the meeting. >> the next meeting of the federal communications commission is thursday, may 203rd, 2024. >> until then, we stand