Senate committee preps aviation bill for debate

House and Senate differ on air traffic control responsibilities in FAA reauthorization

Members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee introduced on March 9 a two-year, $33.1 billion aviation reauthorization bill, barely ahead of the March 31 expiration date for current FAA authorization.

The Senate bill differs with the House’s six-year authorization bill most dramatically by not proposing to remove air traffic control responsibilities from the FAA— one of the most controversial proposals included in the bill advanced by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last month. Instead, the Senate bill proposes improvements to the current air traffic control system and the implementation of so-called NextGen technology.

Key programs for counties addressed in the bill include:

• Funding for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) would be increased by $400 million to an annual amount of $3.75 billion, which exceeds the average annual amount provided by the House bill of $3.6 billion. AIP provides grants to public agencies for the planning and development of public-use airports.
• The Essential Air Service (EAS) program would be reauthorized for FY16 and FY17 at current funding levels. While the House bill authorized increasing levels of funding for EAS over the lifetime of the bill, reforms to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund tied to the privatization of the air traffic control system would make the program completely dependent on discretionary appropriations.Currently, Congress funds the EAS program through a combination of discretionary appropriations and overflight fees, providing in $155 million in FY15 in discretionary funding and $108 million in overflight fees. The Senate’s bill would continue this approach for FY16 and FY17.EAS provides subsidies for air service to small and remote airports.
• The Senate bill would provide $10 million for the Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) annually, a significant increase from $6 million authorized by Congress through the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 and the $5 million annual authorization proposed in the House bill.

SCASDP is a grant program designed to help small communities such as small rural counties address air service and airfare issues. While seemingly similar in mission, the SCASDP and EAS programs are separate and unique. 

SCASDP’s eligibility criteria are broader and provide a grant applicant the opportunity to self-identify its air service deficiencies and propose an appropriate solution, while EAS is a direct subsidy to air carriers and serves a limited universe of eligible applicants.

The Senate bill also provides robust reforms for the use and regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), including a directive to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study current legal remedies at the federal, state and local level that address concerns associated with UAS operations, and identify any remaining gaps for further consideration by Congress when the authorization would expire at the end of FY17.

Additionally, the bill would codify existing authority to authorize public aircraft operations (i.e. governmental), which could further support the increasing use of UAS by counties for various applications such as law enforcement and search and rescue activities.