I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3397 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance security at general 

aviation airports in the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 21, 2005 

Mr. SWEENEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance security 

at general aviation airports in the United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘General Aviation Secu5 rity Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GENERAL AVIATION AIRPORT SECURITY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 449 of 

8 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

9 end the following: 
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1 ‘‘§ 44926. General aviation airport security 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

3 definitions apply: 

4 ‘‘(1) GENERAL AVIATION AIRPORT.—The term 

5 ‘general aviation airport’ means an airport that 

6 serves the operation of civilian aircraft for purposes 

7 other than commercial passenger transport, includ8 ing personal, business, and instructional flying, and 

9 that the Secretary of Homeland Security determines, 

10 by regulation, is subject to the requirements of this 

11 section. 

12 ‘‘(2) PRIVATE-USE AIRPORT.—The term ‘pri13 vate-use airport’ means a general aviation airport 

14 used exclusively by the owner of the airport and per15 sons authorized by the owner. 

16 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC-USE AIRPORT.—The term ‘public17 use airport’ means a general aviation airport avail18 able for use by the general public without a require19 ment for the prior approval of the owner or operator 

20 of the airport except as may be required by Federal 

21 law or regulation. 

22 ‘‘(b) REGISTRATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to enhance the se24 curity at the general aviation airports of the United 

25 States, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall re26 quire a person desiring to operate a private-use or 
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1 public-use airport to register with the Secretary 

2 within one year of the date of enactment of this sec3 tion. 

4 ‘‘(2) INITIAL REGISTRATION.— 

5 ‘‘(A) PERIOD OF EFFECTIVENESS.—The 

6 registration of a private-use or public-use air7 port under this subsection shall be effective for 

8 a period of 3 years. 

9 ‘‘(B) FORMS.—The registration shall be 

10 submitted on forms provided by the Secretary. 

11 Such forms shall contain the following informa12 tion: 

13 ‘‘(i) The physical and mailing address14 es of the airport. 

15 ‘‘(ii) The telephone number, facsimile 

16 number, and e-mail address of the airport. 

17 ‘‘(iii) The name or names and tele18 phone number or numbers of one or more 

19 24-hour security contact persons, as des20 ignated by the airport. 

21 ‘‘(iv) A map showing the location and 

22 general boundaries of the airport. 

23 ‘‘(v) Such other information as the 

24 Secretary may reasonably prescribe. 
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1 ‘‘(3) SECURITY PLAN.—The registration also 

2 shall be accompanied by the written security plan re3 quired under subsection (c). 

4 ‘‘(4) RENEWAL OF REGISTRATION.— 

5 ‘‘(A) PERIOD FOR RENEWALS.—A private6 use or public-use airport shall renew its reg7 istration with the Secretary every 3 years. 

8 ‘‘(B) FORMS.—Requests for renewal shall 

9 be made on forms supplied by the Secretary 

10 and shall not be accepted unless accompanied 

11 with an updated written security plan as pro12 vided in subsection (c). 

13 ‘‘(5) FEE.—The Secretary may impose fees to 

14 cover the costs of incurred by the Secretary in car15 rying out registrations and renewals under this sub16 section, and shall ensure that any such fee is reason17 ably related, as determined by the Secretary, to such 

18 costs. 

19 ‘‘(c) WRITTEN SECURITY PLAN.— 

20 ‘‘(1) SUBMISSION TO SECRETARY.—The Sec21 retary shall require each private-use and public-use 

22 airport to document its security procedures in a 

23 written security plan that is consistent with the most 

24 recent security guidelines for general aviation air-
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1 ports published by the Transportation Security Ad2 ministration. 

3 ‘‘(2) UPDATES.—The Secretary shall require an 

4 airport that submits a plan under paragraph (1) to 

5 submit to the Secretary an updated version of the 

6 plan every 3 years with the airport’s renewal appli7 cation for registration under subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(3) SECURITY ENHANCEMENT RECOMMENDA9 TIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) CONSIDERATION IN DEVELOPING

11 WRITTEN PLANS.—In developing a written secu12 rity plan, an airport shall consider the applica13 ble security enhancement recommendations con14 tained in the most recent security guidelines for 

15 general aviation airports published by the 

16 Transportation Security Administration. 

17 ‘‘(B) DESCRIPTIONS AND JUSTIFICA18 TIONS.—A written security plan shall include a 

19 description of how the airport has addressed 

20 each applicable recommendation of such guide21 lines and a justification for not adopting any 

22 applicable recommendation suggested by such 

23 guidelines for the airport’s security characteris24 tics. 
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1 ‘‘(4) USE OF SELF-ASSESSMENT MEASUREMENT

2 TOOLS.—Applicable recommendations from such 

3 guidelines shall be determined by an airport by using 

4 the airport characteristics self-assessment measure5 ment tool available in such document and any other 

6 self-assessment tools subsequently issued by the 

7 Transportation Security Administration. 

8 ‘‘(5) SUBMISSION TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCE9 MENT AGENCIES.—In addition to submitting a writ10 ten security plan to the Secretary under subsection 

11 (b), a private-use and public-use airport shall submit 

12 a copy of the plan and all updates of the plan to 

13 local law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction 

14 over the airport. 

15 ‘‘(d) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) PRIVATE-USE AIRPORTS.—In addition to 

17 the other provisions of this section, the Secretary 

18 shall ensure that private-use airports meet the fol19 lowing requirements: 

20 ‘‘(A) Require all aircraft to be double21 locked, with one lock internal to the aircraft, 

22 and one lock external to the aircraft, when such 

23 aircraft is not in operation. 

24 ‘‘(B) Provide that all hangars be locked 

25 when not in use. 
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1 ‘‘(C) Provide adequate fencing for secure 

2 areas. 

3 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC-USE AIRPORTS.—In addition to 

4 the other provisions of this section, the Secretary 

5 shall ensure that public-use airports meet the re6 quirements of private-use airports set forth in para7 graph (1) and the following additional requirements: 

8 ‘‘(A) Require verification of the identity of 

9 all aircraft passengers by the aircraft crew. 

10 ‘‘(B) Maintain a log of all transient air11 craft for a minimum of 5 years. 

12 ‘‘(C) Develop a written list of emergency 

13 contacts and telephone numbers, to be available 

14 to airport personnel. 

15 ‘‘(D) Restrict the access of unlicensed per16 sons and student pilots to aircraft keys. 

17 ‘‘(E) Require persons renting aircraft to 

18 present government-issued identification, which 

19 identification shall be in addition to any pilot’s 

20 license. 

21 ‘‘(F) Post airport security warning signs 

22 and advisories where appropriate. 

23 ‘‘(G) Create an emergency locator map, 

24 which may be hand-drawn generally to scale, 

25 identifying areas such as runways, ramp areas, 
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1 fence lines, gates, and sites and provide copies 

2 of such map to emergency response agencies 

3 serving such airport, to law enforcement agen4 cies having jurisdiction over such airport, and 

5 appropriate airport personnel. Whenever there 

6 is a physical change involving such areas, such 

7 map shall be revised and resubmitted to the 

8 such emergency response and law enforcement 

9 agencies and airport personnel within 60 days 

10 of such change. 

11 ‘‘(H) Familiarize local law enforcement 

12 with the airport and consult with them in the 

13 airport’s development of appropriate security 

14 procedures. 

15 ‘‘(e) STATEMENT ON CONFIDENTIALITY.—The map 

16 required under subsection (c)(2)(G) and the written secu17 rity plan required under subsection (c) shall each promi18 nently display the following statement: ‘This document 

19 may contain information that if disclosed could endanger 

20 the life or safety of the public, and therefore this document 

21 is to be maintained and used in a manner which preserves 

22 the confidentiality of the information contained herein in 

23 a manner consistent with law.’. 

24 ‘‘(f) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE OF INFORMA25 TION.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nei-
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1 ther the Secretary, nor any agency receiving information 

2 from the Secretary, shall disclose safety or security related 

3 information obtained from airports under this section if 

4 the Secretary finds that withholding such information 

5 from disclosure would be consistent with the Secretary’s 

6 safety and security responsibilities.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

8 subchapter I of chapter 449 of title 49, United States 

9 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘44926. General aviation airport security.’’. 

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