Congress has begun to move beyond their immediate focus of passing COVID-relief bills and has started to pass legislation related to transportation, water resources, and federal budget bills. Last week, the U.S. House passed a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill, the Moving Forward Act, (H.R. 2). The legislation is unlikely to become law in its current form. Instead, it will serve as an opening offer in negotiations with the Senate and White House over fiscal 2021 transportation spending. Senate leaders and the White House do not support the House bill.
The current surface transportation authorization expires September 30, 2020. Without a replacement bill that has bipartisan support, the House and Senate will likely need to extend the existing legislation in order to have more time for negotiations.
We wanted to highlight the sections in this legislation that relate to aviation noise and will continue to monitor and report on developments. N.O.I.S.E. will continue to engage with Congress to advocate for federal legislation that will provide effective tools for the FAA, airports, communities, and stakeholders to address the impacts of aviation noise.
Aviation and Noise Highlights in House Bill:
The bill increases funding to deliver critical projects for Airport and Airspace Capacity by authorizing $4.0 billion from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund for the FAA Airport Improvement Program (AIP) account for fiscal years 2021 through 2025.
In addition to increasing AIP's annual authorization level, the Moving Forward Act provides supplemental funding for 5 years based on enplanements. This includes an additional $3 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2021, $3.2 billion in FY22, $3.5 billion in FY23, $3.7 billion in FY24, and $4 billion in FY25. This additional funding will be given in grants for airport projects that increase climate resiliency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigate airplane noise.
It increases the Resiliency Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Cap. In addition to increasing the PFC cap, it also indexes it to inflation, which would allow for increased investment in airports that are at or over capacity with travelers in terminals and increasingly congested with airplanes on runways and taxiways. This revenue would help to fund critical landside development projects that are ineligible for AIP funding, help airports prepare for anticipated passenger growth and demand, and ready airport infrastructure for the future impacts of climate change and natural disasters.
The final bill the House voted for also included an amendment by Congressman Rouda (D-CA) to establish a program to be known as the ''Aviation Industry Assistance for Cleaner and Quieter Skies Voucher Program'', under which the Secretary of Transportation will issue electronic vouchers to air carriers to offset the purchase or cost of new aircraft that reduce airplane emissions and noise. Congressman Rouda hopes that transitioning commercial fleets to newer, quieter, less-polluting aircraft is our greatest chance for long-term relief from the daily impacts to quality of life and this program will help to expedite that process.
We will keep you updated on developments with this and other pertinent legislative and regulatory policies as the Federal Government continues to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on air travel and the nation as a whole.