II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1055 

To establish an airport infrastructure resilience pilot program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 29, 2023 

Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish an airport infrastructure resilience pilot 

program. 

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 ‘‘Airport Infrastructure 

5 Resilience Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AIRPORT INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCE PILOT 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

9 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

11 after the date of enactment of this section, the 


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1 Secretary shall establish a pilot program to pro2 vide competitive grants to sponsors of airports 

3 to incentivize the planning and design and con4 struction of projects that make improvements to 

5 infrastructure that is subject to, or that faces 

6 increased long-term future risks with respect to, 

7 the following: 

8 (i) Changing conditions, such as sea 

9 level rise or permafrost thaw. 

10 (ii) Weather events and natural disas11 ters, such as severe storms, flooding, 

12 drought, levee and dam failures, wildfire, 

13 rockslides, mudslides, sea level rise, perma14 frost thaw, extreme weather, including ex15 treme temperature, and earthquakes. 

16 (B) CLARIFICATION.—Projects funded 

17 under the pilot program under this section may 

18 be for new projects as well as for making im19 provements to existing infrastructure and may 

20 include the purchasing of monitoring equipment 

21 or services. 

22 (2) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the pilot 

23 program under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 

24 (A) engage in a public comment period; 

25 and 


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1 (B) consult with— 

2 (i) the Administrator of the Federal 

3 Aviation Administration; 

4 (ii) the Administrator of the Federal 

5 Emergency Management Agency; 

6 (iii) The Administrator of the Na7 tional Oceanic Atmospheric Administra8 tion; and 

9 (iv) the Administrator of the National 

10 Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

11 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In awarding grants to 

12 sponsors under the pilot program under this section, 

13 the Secretary shall consider the following with re14 spect to projects funded under the grant: 

15 (A) Whether the project is natural infra16 structure or nature-based. 

17 (B) Whether the project is based on the 

18 best available science and engineering stand19 ards. 

20 (C) Whether the project will mitigate the 

21 airport’s impact on the environment. 

22 (D) Other items determined appropriate by 

23 the Secretary. 

24 (4) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a 

25 grant under the pilot program under this section, a 


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1 sponsor of an airport shall submit an application to 

2 the Secretary at such time, in such form, and con3 taining such information as the Secretary may re4 quire. Such information shall include a description 

5 of how the proposed project is projected to benefit 

6 and potentially impact both the airport and the sur7 rounding communities regarding changing condi8 tions, weather events, and natural disasters. 

9 (5) REPORTS TO SECRETARY.—A sponsor of an 

10 airport that is awarded a grant under the pilot pro11 gram under this section shall submit to the Sec12 retary periodic reports on the use of the funds. Such 

13 reports shall be submitted at such time, in such 

14 form, and containing such information as the Sec15 retary may require. 

16 (b) DISTRIBUTION FOR REGIONAL AIRPORTS.—In 

17 conducting the pilot program under this section, the Sec18 retary shall ensure that not less than 15 percent of the 

19 funds made available under subsection (e) is used to 

20 award grants to sponsors of regional airports. 

21 (c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The United States Govern22 ment’s share of allowable project costs for a project car23 ried out with a grant under the pilot program shall be 

24 the United States Government’s share of allowable project 


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1 costs specified under section 47109 of title 49, United 

2 States Code. 

3 (d) REQUIREMENTS.—The construction work for a 

4 project funded with grant under the pilot program shall 

5 be subject to the requirements under section 47112 of title 

6 49, United States Code. 

7 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

9 after the Secretary first awards a grant under the 

10 pilot program under this section, and annually there11 after for as long as the Secretary is conducting the 

12 pilot program under this section, the Secretary shall 

13 submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

14 Transportation and the Committee on Environment 

15 and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee 

16 on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 

17 of Representatives a report that evaluates the pilot 

18 program established under this section. Each such 

19 report shall include— 

20 (A) a description of each project funded 

21 under the program, including the changing con22 dition or weather event or natural disasters the 

23 project is addressing; 

24 (B) a description of the applications under 

25 the program; 


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1 (C) recommendations to improve the ad2 ministration of the program, including whether 

3 assistance from additional or fewer agencies to 

4 carry out the program is appropriate; 

5 (D) a description of the period required to 

6 disburse grant funds to sponsors based on ap7 plicable Federal coordination requirements; 

8 (E) a description of the facilities that re9 peatedly require repair or reconstruction due to 

10 weather events and natural disasters (as de11 scribed in subsection (a)); and 

12 (F) other items determined appropriate by 

13 the Secretary. 

14 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 

15 shall post each report submitted under paragraph 

16 (1) on the public internet website of the Department 

17 of Transportation. 

18 (f) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro19 priated to the Secretary $300,000,000 for each of fiscal 

20 years 2024 through 2028 to carry out this section. Such 

21 sums shall remain available until expended. 

22 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) AIRPORT.—The term ‘‘airport’’ has the 

24 meaning given that term in section 40102 of title 

25 49, United States Code. 


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1 (2) REGIONAL AIRPORT.—The term ‘‘regional 

2 airport’’ means a small hub airport, a nonhub air3 port, a nonprimary airport, and a reliever airport (as 

4 such terms are dined in section 47102 of title 49, 

5 United States Code). 

6 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of Transportation. 

Æ 


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