We wanted you to be aware of the following actions taken by Congress recently regarding the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization bill.
House Bill:
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the bill H.R. 2997 on June 27, 2017 to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by a vote of 32-25 and now the measure has been sent to the full House of Representatives for consideration.
The bill has faced a series of delays, however, due to a controversial proposal to spin off air traffic control (ATC) into a nongovernmental entity. The committee vote was nearly along party lines with just one Republican voting against the measure. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) has been the biggest proponent of the air traffic proposal. In fact, Chairman Shuster proposed a similar measure in the last Congress to rework ATC, but the legislation never received a floor vote in the House of Representatives.
The bill would reauthorize the FAA through Fiscal Year 2023. The agency's current authorization is set to expire on September 30, 2017. President Trump has endorsed privatizing ATC. His administration included a privatization proposal in its Fiscal Year 2018 budget request. The bill is not currently scheduled for a vote in the House.
In a show of opposition, the House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill for Fiscal Year 2018 during a full committee markup on July 17, 2017, by a vote of 31-20. The bill opposes the proposal in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on privatizing ATC and would add $1 billion to the NextGen program for the purpose of modernizing ATC within the Federal Aviation Administration.
This creates a division in the House Majority over the ATC privatization proposal.
We are pleased to share that a number of amendments have been offered to the House reauthorization proposal to combat airport noise problems.
The bill would require the FAA to conduct several studies on aviation noise, including:
Partnering with a higher education institutions to assess the health effects of flight noise on residents near airports in major metro areas such as Boston, Chicago, New York, northern and southern California, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C. Adverse health effects could include sleep disturbance and elevated blood pressure. The study would also have to compare residents' perceived increases in-flight noise to actual noise data.
Recommending whether land use compatibility guidelines around airports should be modified.
Increasing community involvement in NextGen technology upgrade projects near metro areas.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) would have to study the effect of phasing out large aircraft classified as stage 3 in the FAA's noise rating system, which doesn't meet current standards for new planes.
The bill would also establish a pilot program for the Transportation Department to give grants of as much as $2.5 million each to as many as six airports for noise mitigation projects within a five-mile radius. Participating airports would be subject to a 50 percent matching requirement. The Transportation Department's airport noise mitigation grant program would also be expanded to include projects at schools near airports.
It would also allow airport operators to request that the FAA consider methods of aircraft separation that set planes on different flight paths to reduce noise when proposing a new departure procedure, or modifying one that would put aircrafts less than 6,000 feet above noise sensitive areas.
In addition to these proposals, the House Appropriation Committee included support for Noise abatement efforts in its Transportation Housing and Urban Development spending bill, which read:
"The committee is encouraged by the additional measures the FAA is taking to enhance outreach to communities affected by new flightpaths. The committee recommendation includes an additional $2,000,000 to support the FAA's ongoing efforts to address community noise concerns."
Senate Bill:
In addition to House Appropriators, the ATC privatization faces skepticism among Senators as Senator John Thune (R-SD), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, released his own, more traditional FAA reauthorization, S. 1405, that would keep ATC under the prevue of the Federal Aviation Administration. The measure passed in the Senate Committee on a voice vote. Any proposal to rework ATC would face an even higher threshold in the Senate as it would require bipartisan support of 60 votes to advance.
We are pleased to share that in the Senate bill process, N.O.I.S.E. worked closely with Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) to help draft and provide amendment language to the bill regarding flexibility for Sound Insulation criteria and funding. Though the amendment wasn't accepted during Mark-up, the Senator's office is working on an amendment to be introduced when the bill is considered on the Senate floor.
We will be sure to keep updating N.O.I.S.E. members on developments. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us directly at ejtranter@locklaw.com.
Emily Tranter