Federal Communications Commission FCC 17-57
STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL O’RIELLY
Re: Review of the Commission’s Part 95 Personal Radio Services Rules, WT Docket No. 10-119; 
Petition for Rulemaking of Garmin International, Inc., RM-10762; Petition for Rulemaking of 
Omnitronics, L.L.C., RM-10844
I am fairly certain that when the notice for this item was released, back in June 2010, no one ever 
imagined it would be presented at a Commission meeting in May 2017.  Seven years later and no one has 
a good reason for the delay, though it’s clearly not the fault of the staff.  This is exactly the type of 
situation that has caused the Chairman and Congress to push the Commission to establish deadlines for 
action on petitions and notices.  Count me in as wholeheartedly supporting that effort, as things shouldn’t 
languish due to inertia.    
This notwithstanding, I am generally supportive of today’s item to streamline our Personal Radio 
Services rules in a manner that should make them more user friendly.  It is always a worthwhile exercise 
to review and consolidate rules, to the extent possible, and it is never bad to judiciously eliminate a few 
pages in the cumbersome Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Additionally, the families and others that use the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) and 
Family Radio Service should benefit from the changes we adopt today, such as making additional 
channels available, providing longer GMRS license terms, and permitting GMRS users to transmit 
location data and text messages, among others.  
I appreciate the Chairman’s efforts to review the Commission’s rules and look forward to future
items that seek to modernize Commission rules and reduce regulatory burdens.