02/17/2021

At its Annual Meeting in January, the ARRL Board of Directors considered a motion to offer a new plan that would pay the new but not-yet-implemented $35 FCC application fee for a limited number of new radio amateurs younger than age 18 who, at the time of testing, belonged to an ARRL Affiliated 501(c)(3) charitable organization and passed their tests through an ARRL VEC-sponsored exam session. The proposal called for reducing the VEC fee for these candidates to $5. The initial proposal came from ARRL Southeastern Division Director Mickey Baker, N4MB. Other Board members offered subsidiary motions. Supporters said the purpose behind the motion was to ameliorate the potential financial hardship the pending FCC application fee posed on certain minors applying for their first license, and to encourage new youth membership.

Consideration of the motion, which was subject to considerable discussion, was deferred to an ad hoc committee composed of the members of the Administration & Finance Committee, two Members of the Programs & Services Committee, and ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA (or his designated representative). The Board directed the panel to review and more fully develop the proposal and report back to the Board by the end of March with a recommendation as to whether the program should be adopted and, if adopted, how it should be implemented.

Supporters expressed the belief that recruitment and training of young radio amateurs "is a necessary and proper mission of the ARRL" and that subsidizing the $35 fee "will reduce the number of new amateurs that otherwise would be lost from these groups."

In December, the FCC agreed with ARRL and other commenters that the initially proposed $50 fee for certain amateur radio applications was "too high to account for the minimal staff involvement in these applications." In a Report and Order (R&O[1]), the FCC scaled back to $35 the fee for a new license application, a special temporary authority (STA) request, a rule waiver request, a license renewal application, and a vanity call sign application. All fees are per application. There will be no fee for administrative updates, such as a change of mailing or email address.

As the FCC noted in its R&O, although some commenters supported the proposed $50 fee as reasonable and fair, "ARRL and many individual commenters argued that there was no cost-based justification for application fees in the Amateur Radio Service."

"After reviewing the record, including the extensive comments filed by amateur radio licensees and based on our revised analysis of the cost of processing mostly automated processes discussed in our methodology section, we adopt a $35 application fee, a lower application fee than the Commission proposed in the NPRM for personal licenses, in recognition of the fact that the application process is mostly automated," the FCC said in the R&O. No fee would apply to minor modifications or administrative updates, which, the FCC noted, "are highly automated."

The FCC turned away the arguments of some commenters that the FCC should exempt amateur radio licensees. The FCC stated that it has no authority to create an exemption "where none presently exists." The FCC also disagreed with those who argued that amateur radio licensees should be exempt from fees because of their public service contribution during emergencies and disasters.

The FCC has directed the Office of Managing Director, in consultation with relevant offices and bureaus, to draft a notice for publication in the Federal Register announcing when rule change(s) will become effective, "once the relevant databases, guides, and internal procedures have been updated."

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[1] https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-184A1.pdf

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