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105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1358

To authorize the Federal Aviation Administration’s research, engineering,

and development programs for fiscal year 1998, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 3, 1997

Mr. GORTON (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. HOLLINGS, and Mr. FORD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To authorize the Federal Aviation Administration’s research,

engineering, and development programs for fiscal year

1998, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘FAA Research, Engi5 neering, and Development Authorization Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 Section 48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, is

8 amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

2 (2)(J);

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of para4 graph (3)(J) and inserting in lieu thereof a semi5 colon; and

6 (3) by adding at the end the following:

7 ‘‘(4) for fiscal year 1998, $229,673,000, includ8 ing—

9 ‘‘(A) $16,379,000 for system development

10 and infrastructure projects and activities;

11 ‘‘(B) $27,089,000 for capacity and air

12 traffic management technology projects and ac13 tivities;

14 ‘‘(C) $23,362,000 for communications,

15 navigation, and surveillance projects and activi16 ties;

17 ‘‘(D) $16,600,000 for weather projects and

18 activities;

19 ‘‘(E) $7,854,000 for airport technology

20 projects and activities;

21 ‘‘(F) $49,202,000 for aircraft safety tech22 nology projects and activities;

23 ‘‘(G) $56,045,000 for system security tech24 nology projects and activities;
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1 ‘‘(H) $27,137,000 for human factors and

2 aviation medicine projects and activities;

3 ‘‘(I) $2,891,000 for environment and en4 ergy projects and activities; and

5 ‘‘(J) $3,114,000 for innovative/cooperative

6 research projects and activities.’’.

7 SEC. 3. RESEARCH GRANTS PROGRAM INVOLVING UNDER8 GRADUATE STUDENTS.

9 (a) PROGRAM.—Section 48102 of title 49, United

10 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow11 ing new subsection:

12 ‘‘(h) RESEARCH GRANTS PROGRAM INVOLVING UN13 DERGRADUATE STUDENTS.—

14 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of

15 the Federal Aviation Administration shall establish a

16 program to utilize undergraduate and technical col17 leges in research on subjects of relevance to the Fed18 eral Aviation Administration. Grants may be award19 ed under this subsection for—

20 ‘‘(A) research projects to be carried out at

21 primarily undergraduate institutions and tech22 nical colleges;

23 ‘‘(B) research projects that combine re24 search at primarily undergraduate institutions

25 and technical colleges with other research sup-
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1 ported by the Federal Aviation Administration;

2 or

3 ‘‘(C) research on future training require4 ments on projected changes in regulatory re5 quirements for aircraft maintenance and power

6 plant licensees.

7 ‘‘(2) NOTICE OF CRITERIA.—Within 6 months

8 after the date of the enactment of the FAA Re9 search, Engineering, and Development Authorization

10 Act of 1997, the Administrator of the Federal Avia11 tion Administration shall establish and publish in

12 the Federal Register criteria for the submittal of

13 proposals for a grant under this subsection, and for

14 the awarding of such grants.

15 ‘‘(3) PRINICPAL CRITERIA.—The principal cri16 teria for the awarding of grants under this sub17 section shall be—

18 ‘‘(A) the relevance of the proposed re19 search to technical research needs identified by

20 the Federal Aviation Administration;

21 ‘‘(B) the scientific and technical merit of

22 the proposed research; and

23 ‘‘(C) the potential for participation by un24 dergraduate students in the proposed research.
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1 ‘‘(4) COMPETITIVE, MERIT-BASED EVALUA2 TION.—Grants shall be awarded under this sub3 section on the basis of evaluation of proposals

4 through a competitive, merit-based process.’’.

5 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

6 48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, as amended by

7 this Act, is further amended by inserting ‘‘, of which

8 $750,000 shall be for carrying out the grant program es9 tablished under subsection (h)’’ after ‘‘projects and activi10 ties’’ in paragraph (4)(J).

11 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON APPROPRIATIONS.

12 No sums are authorized to be appropriated to the Ad13 ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administration for fis14 cal year 1998 for the Federal Aviation Administration Re15 search, Engineering, and Development account, unless

16 such sums are specifically authorized to be appropriated

17 by the amendments made by this Act.

18 SEC. 5. NOTICE OF REPROGRAMMING.

19 If any funds authorized by the amendments made by

20 this Act are subject to a reprogramming action that re21 quires notice to be provided to the Appropriations Com22 mittees of the House of Representatives and the Senate,

23 notice of such action shall concurrently be provided to the

24 Committees on Science and Transportation and Infra25 structure of the House of Representatives and the Com-
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1 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the

2 Senate.

3 SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM.

4 With the year 2000 fast approaching, it is the sense

5 of Congress that the Federal Aviation Administration

6 should—

7 (1) give high priority to correcting all 2-digit

8 date-related problems in its computer systems to en9 sure that those systems continue to operate effec10 tively in the year 2000 and beyond;

11 (2) assess immediately the extent of the risk to

12 the operations of the Federal Aviation Administra13 tion posed by the problems referred to in paragraph

14 (1), and plan and budget for achieving Year 2000

15 compliance for all of its mission-critical systems; and

16 (3) develop contingency plans for those systems

17 that the Federal Aviation Administration is unable

18 to correct in time.

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