I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1964 

To direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to revise 

hiring practices for air traffic controller positions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2015 

Mr. HULTGREN (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mrs. BUSTOS, 

Mr. SALMON, Ms. ESTY, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, and Mr. ROTHFUS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to revise hiring practices for air traffic controller 

positions, 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 ‘‘Air Traffic Controllers 

5 Hiring Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HIRING OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS. 

7 Section 44506 of title 49, United States Code, is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(f) REVISION OF HIRING PRACTICES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) CONSIDERATION OF APPLICANTS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) ENSURING SELECTION OF MOST

3 QUALIFIED APPLICANTS.—In appointing indi4 viduals to the position of air traffic controller, 

5 the Administrator shall give preferential consid6 eration to the following applicants: 

7 ‘‘(i) An individual who— 

8 ‘‘(I) has successfully completed 

9 air traffic controller training and 

10 graduated from an institution partici11 pating in the Collegiate Training Ini12 tiative program maintained under 

13 subsection (c)(1); and 

14 ‘‘(II) has received from the insti15 tution— 

16 ‘‘(aa) an appropriate rec17 ommendation; or 

18 ‘‘(bb) an endorsement certi19 fying that the individual would 

20 have met the requirements in ef21 fect as of December 31, 2013, 

22 for an appropriate recommenda23 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) A qualified individual who is eli2 gible for a veterans recruitment appoint3 ment pursuant to section 4214 of title 38. 

4 ‘‘(iii) A qualified individual who is an 

5 eligible veteran, as such term is defined in 

6 section 4211 of title 38, maintaining avia7 tion experience obtained in the course of 

8 the individual’s military experience. 

9 ‘‘(iv) A preference eligible veteran, as 

10 defined in section 2108 of title 5. 

11 ‘‘(v) A qualified individual maintain12 ing practical air traffic control experience 

13 obtained at— 

14 ‘‘(I) civilian installations of the 

15 Department of Defense; 

16 ‘‘(II) Federal Aviation Adminis17 tration air traffic control facilities; or 

18 ‘‘(III) contract towers of Federal 

19 Aviation Administration. 

20 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONAL AP21 PLICANTS.—The Administrator may consider 

22 additional applicants for the position of air traf23 fic controller only after completing consider24 ation of the applicants described in subpara25 graph (A). 


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1 ‘‘(2) ELIMINATION OF BIOGRAPHICAL ASSESS2 MENTS.— 

3 ‘‘(A) PRIORITY APPLICANTS.—An appli4 cant described in paragraph (1)(A) shall not be 

5 subject to any biographical assessment (includ6 ing a biographical assessment validated under 

7 subparagraph (B)) as part of the hiring prac8 tices of the Administration that apply to appli9 cants for the position of air traffic controller 

10 with the Department of Transportation. 

11 ‘‘(B) REVISION OF HIRING PRACTICES.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

13 shall revise the hiring practices of the Ad14 ministration referred to in subparagraph 

15 (A) to eliminate the use of any biographi16 cal assessment that unduly disqualifies ap17 plicants. 

18 ‘‘(ii) VALIDATION.—Before imple19 menting any biographical assessment as 

20 part of the hiring practices of the Adminis21 tration referred to in subparagraph (A), 

22 the Administrator shall— 

23 ‘‘(I) certify that the assessment 

24 or test was validated under the criVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 05, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1964.IH H1964

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1 teria set forth in clause (i) before im2 plementation; and 

3 ‘‘(II) disclose to the public the 

4 methods used for the validation. 

5 ‘‘(iii) PARTICIPATION REQUIRE6 MENTS.—The revision under this subpara7 graph shall not be subject to paragraph 

8 (3). 

9 ‘‘(C) RECONSIDERATION OF APPLICANTS

10 DISQUALIFIED ON THE BASIS OF BIOGRAPHICAL

11 ASSESSMENTS.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If an individual 

13 applied for the position of air traffic con14 troller with the Department in response to 

15 the FG–01 Vacancy Announcement issued 

16 on February 10, 2014, and was disquali17 fied from the position as the result of a bi18 ographical assessment, the Administrator 

19 shall provide the applicant an opportunity 

20 to reapply as soon as practicable for the 

21 position under the revised hiring practices. 

22 ‘‘(ii) WAIVER OF AGE RESTRICTION.— 

23 The Administrator shall waive any max24 imum age restriction for the position of air 

25 traffic controller with the Department that 


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1 would otherwise disqualify an individual 

2 from the position if the individual— 

3 ‘‘(I) is reapplying for the position 

4 pursuant to clause (i) on or before 

5 December 31, 2017; and 

6 ‘‘(II) met the maximum age re7 quirement on the date of the individ8 ual’s previous application for the posi9 tion during the interim hiring process. 

10 ‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION OF CTI INSTITUTIONS IN

11 REVISION OF HIRING PRACTICES.—Before making 

12 any revision to the hiring practices that apply to ap13 plicants for the position of air traffic controller with 

14 the Department, the Administrator shall provide in15 stitutions of higher education participating in the 

16 Collegiate Training Initiative program with notice of 

17 the revision and an opportunity to comment.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. COLLEGIATE TRAINING INITIATIVE. 

19 Section 44506(c)(1) of title 49, United States Code, 

20 is amended in the first sentence by striking ‘‘may main21 tain’’ and inserting ‘‘shall maintain’’. 

22 SEC. 4. BEST PRACTICES FOR TRAINING AIR TRAFFIC CON23 TROLLERS. 

24 Section 44506 of title 49, United States Code, is fur25 ther amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(h) BEST PRACTICES FOR TRAINING.—The Admin2 istrator, in consultation with the Association of Collegiate 

3 Training Institutions, the National Air Traffic Controllers 

4 Association, and the University Aviation Association, shall 

5 take into consideration any training initiatives for air traf6 fic controllers that are locally developed at institutions of 

7 higher education participating in the Collegiate Training 

8 Initiative program for use in establishing best practices 

9 nationwide.’’. 

10 SEC. 5. VETERAN PREFERENCE REQUIREMENTS FOR FAA 

11 PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. 

12 Section 40122(g)(2)(B) of title 49, United States 

13 Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘and sections 3330a– 

14 3330d’’ before ‘‘, relating to’’. 

Æ 


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