The funny thing is...
I tried to do a bit of reading since I've learned in life to believe only what I personally experience, half of what I read and nothing of what people tell me.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 addresses funding for more than a handful of government agencies. Division P is the "Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act of 2018" or the "RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018".
In section 102 of Section P, Application and Regulatory fees, it says Section 8 of the Communications Act of 1934 is *amended* to read as follows:
"Section 9 Regulatory Fees"
"Paragraph (e) Exceptions:"...
"Subparagraph (1) Parties to which fees are not applicable"...
"Subsubparagraph (B) an amateur radio operator licensee under part 97 of the Commission’s rules (47 CFR part 97);"...
So, the latest change is that amateur radio operators are *still* exempt from fees.
So now we have an NPRM that says "We're going to start charging $50/year."
In NPRM FCC 20-116's Introduction, "the changes we initiate today derive from modifications to the Commission’s statutory application fee authority made by the RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018."
So where's the modification which allows them to charge $50 for hams?
So this Notice of Proposed Rule Making is to make a rule that ignores an act of congress? Where in the Ray Baum Act does it say Amateur Radio is no longer exempt?
What ever it is I'm missing, I see the whole point of this NPRM is to basically give the FCC more flexibility in how they're reimbursed for services. If anyone has noticed the national debt lately, there's one thing needed more than anything else: more flexibility--if they are to have any chance at all at restructuring the budget to give us longer term stability. They've been constrained by law in making changes since 1986. They've only been able to make changes based on the CPI (rounded to the nearest $5). And they're not able to add or delete fee categories. I understand. But...
All this legal mumbo jumbo. I shouldn't have to be a lawyer to read and understand what congress does. It pi55e5 me off to no end when politicians says things like, "we have to pass the bill to find out what's in the bill."
Or is this just another example of people in powerful positions of government who don't have to follow the law? This is the root cause of all the strife I see today.
$50, $100, $1,000... whatever... I don't care any more.
I'm seriously considering adding a comment (during the public comment period of this NPRM) that says something to the effect, "Is $50 enough? Are you sure you're planning appropriately for the life cycles and replacement costs of your PCs, servers, printers, and backbone devices associated with ULS?"