Riley Your suggestion has merit. Should the request to "red light" his license renewal be done by an individual or by the ARRL? Is the effectiveness of the request identical? _______________________________________ John Robert Stratton N5AUS Director West Gulf Division Office:512-445-6262 Cell:512-426-2028 P.O. Box 2232 Austin, Texas 78768-2232 *_______________________________________*** ** On 6/17/20 11:12 AM, RILEY HOLLINGSWORTH wrote:
An additional solution would work in some cases too, if attention is paid to the licensing database. For example, if someone is within a year or two (or 4, at the FCC's current speed) it would be effective to make sure the FCC has the licensee *"red lighted"* in the application processing section. We can insist on that.
That means no renewal license or any other license can be granted *unless* all outstanding forfeitures are paid within 45 days of the application. And once dismissed, the application cannot be accepted for filing unless the forfeiture is paid *first*--so there can be no further problem with the "pending application" concept..
With a ten year license cycle, this is not as effective as it could be with a 5 year cycle; but nevertheless with some of these actions taking years in the FCC rather than the months they should justifiably take, it can be an effective tool in getting someone *out* of the Amateur service *even though their forfeiture wasn't paid.*
On June 17, 2020 at 10:55 AM "Bob Famiglio, K3RF" <RBFamiglio@Verizon.net> wrote:
The solution is simple really. The Commission typically does not effectively collect the fines they issue as the Justice department, their collection arm, doesn’t have time to do such things as I understand. Coming up with either a rule or legislation which allows the Commission to assign fine claims to vetted and eligible law firms to collect on a contingent fee would be an interesting experiment. Suing and submitting the remainder to the commission or US treasury is a solution in waiting. Even offenders without assets have to respond to civil lawsuits and asset search subpoena eventually or face what usually escalates to nasty sanctions -even jail until compliance. Reputable collection firms unleased onto FCC-issued fine debtors can make life very miserable even for those supposedly judgement proof. Everyone has something to lose. The $18,000 fine issued to Jerry Materene would get the attention of some aggressive firms. Let him file for bankruptcy – that is not the easy way out some think it is and would start a precedent and warning to other scofflaws. Perhaps I am missing something here. But I predict such outlaws are going to be more common going forward. Few fear the feds anymore, yet. But when the collection firm starts making life miserable, well . . .
*Bob Famiglio, K3RF *
*Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division *
*610-359-7300 *
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF
