ODV - (and particularly EC since this may be on your agenda next week)

It looks like the FCC wants to enact a $7 fee for vanity callsigns per the FY19 fiscal proposal (MD 19-105).

See here, page 73:

What is our position on this? I would assume opposed since this would mean $70 every renewal which may be a financial burden on some hams. Some may even choose between ARRL membership and the vanity fee. In my former home country when the new regulator enacted the fee of TT$100 (~$14.75 USD) per year for amateur licenses (a more than ten fold increase) many simply opted out of membership in the national society, TTARS whose dues were also TT$100 annually. 

It’s also unclear whether this is for new or existing licenses. Since it’s annual it seems to be for existing. 

Generally I don’t oppose a small one time fee for each new vanity application as it cuts down on frivolous applications or attempts to game the system to lock up desirable calls in limbo. But $70 every renewal or even one time seems excessive.

73

Ria, N2RJ