Public Law 103-408--Joint Resolution of Congress to Recognize the Achievements of Radio Amateurs as Public Policy

Public Law 103-408--Oct. 22, 1994

Public Law 103-408
103d Congress
Joint Resolution

To recognize the achievements of radio amateurs, and to establish support for such amateurs as national policy.

Whereas Congress has expressed its determination in section 1 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151) to promote safety of life and property through the use of radio communication;

Whereas Congress, in section 7 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 157), established a policy to encourage the provision of new technologies and services;

Whereas Congress, in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934, defined radio stations to include amateur stations operated by persons interested in radio technique without pecuniary interest;

Whereas the Federal Communications Commission has created an effective regulatory framework through which the amateur radio service has been able to achieve the goals of the service;

Whereas these regulations, set forth in Part 97 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations clarify and extend the purposes of the amateur radio service as a--

(1) voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications;

(2) contributing service to the advancement of the telecommunications infrastructure;

(3) service which encourages improvement of an individual's technical and operating skills;

(4) service providing a national reservoir of trained operators, technicians and electronics experts; and

(5) service enhancing international good will;

Whereas Congress finds that members of the amateur radio service community has provided invaluable emergency communications services following such disasters as Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew, and Iniki, the Mt. St. Helens Eruption, the Loma Prieta earthquake, tornadoes, floods, wild fires, and industrial accidents in great number and variety across the Nation; and

Whereas Congress finds that the amateur radio service has made a contribution to our Nation's communications by its crafting, in 1961, of the first Earth satellite licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, by its proof-of-concept for search rescue satellites, by its continued exploration of the low Earth orbit in particular pointing the way to commercial use thereof in the 1990s, by its pioneering of communications using reflections from meteor trails, a technique now used for certain government and commercial communications, and by its leading role in development of low-cost, practical data transmission by radio which increasingly is being put to extensive use in, for instance, the land mobile service: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS OF CONGRESS

Congress finds and declares that--

(1) radio amateurs are hereby commended for their contributions to technical progress in electronics, and for their emergency radio communications in times of disaster;

(2) the Federal Communications Commission is urged to continue and enhance the development of the amateur radio service as a public benefit by adopting rules and regulations which encourage the use of new technologies within the amateur radio service; and

(3) reasonable accommodation should be made for the effective operation of amateur radio from residences, private vehicles and public areas, and that regulation at all levels of government should facilitate and encourage amateur radio operation as a public benefit.

Approved October 22, 1994.