FAA Advancements Act

Subjects: Transportation and Public Works


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1506 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1506

    To improve the processes for type certification, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 9, 2023

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To improve the processes for type certification, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``FAA Advancements Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
            (2) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means the Committee on 
        Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
        Transportation of the Senate.
            (3) FAA.--The term ``FAA'' means the Federal Aviation 
        Administration.
            (4) International validation branch.--The term 
        ``International Validation Branch'' means the International 
        Validation Branch of the Compliance and Airworthiness Division 
        of the Aircraft Certification Service of the FAA.
            (5) Regulatory materials.--The term ``regulatory 
        materials'' means rules, orders, advisory circulars, statements 
        of policy, guidance, and other materials related to aviation 
        safety regulations, as well as other materials pertaining to 
        training and operation of aeronautical products.
            (6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Transportation.

SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT STUDY ON A FUTURE STATE ON TYPE CERTIFICATION 
              PROCESSES.

    (a) Review and Study.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
enactment of this section, subject to the availability of 
appropriations, the Administrator shall enter into an agreement with an 
appropriate federally funded research and development center, or other 
independent nonprofit organization that recommends solutions to 
aviation policy challenges through objective analysis, to conduct a 
review and study in accordance with the requirements and elements set 
forth in this section.
    (b) Elements.--The review and study under subsection (a) shall 
provide analyses, assessments, and recommendations that address the 
following:
            (1) A vision for a future state of type certification that 
        reflects the highly complex, highly integrated nature of 
        today's aircraft.
            (2) A review of the current tools and techniques used for 
        type certification and an evaluation of whether use of advanced 
        digital tools and techniques, including model-based system 
        engineering, would improve the type certification process and 
        enhance aviation safety.
            (3) How the FAA could develop a risk-based model for type 
        certification and implement procedures where the FAA could rely 
        solely on an applicant's showing of compliance in those areas 
        of low-risk, subject to tests, means of compliance, and 
        substantiating data the Administrator considers necessary in 
        the interest of safety.
            (4) What changes are needed to ensure that corrective 
        actions for continued operational safety issues can be approved 
        and implemented quickly, particularly with respect to software 
        modifications.
            (5) What efficiencies are needed in the FAA's type 
        certification system that will facilitate the assessment and 
        integration of innovating technologies that advance aviation 
        safety.
            (6) Best practices and tools used by other certification 
        authorities that could be adopted by the FAA and the United 
        States, as well as the best practices and tools used by the 
        United States which can be shared with other certification 
        authorities.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 15 months after the date of enactment 
of this section, the organization conducting the review and study shall 
submit to the Administrator and the appropriate committees of Congress 
a report on the results of the review and study that includes the 
findings and recommendations of the organization.
    (d) Congressional Briefing.--Not later than 270 days after the 
report required under subsection (c) is submitted to the Administrator, 
the Administrator shall brief the appropriate committees of Congress 
regarding the FAA's response to the findings and recommendations of 
such report, what actions the FAA will take as a result of such 
findings and recommendations, and the FAA rationale for not taking 
action on any specific recommendation.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON VALIDATION PROGRAM PERFORMANCE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall evaluate the performance 
of the FAA's type certificate validation program under bilateral 
agreements, with reference to agreed implementation procedures.
    (b) Contents.--The evaluation under subsection (a) shall consider, 
at minimum, the following:
            (1) Progress under section 243(a) of the FAA 
        Reauthorization Act of 2018 (49 U.S.C. 44701 note) with respect 
        to improving the FAA's leadership abroad.
            (2) Performance with reference to metrics such as the 
        number and types of projects, timeline milestones, the 
        validating authority level of involvement and certifying 
        authority delegation, and trends relating to the repeated use 
        of non-basic criteria to review systems or methods of 
        compliance that have been validated previously in similar 
        context.
            (3) Training on the minimum standards for validation work 
        plan content, such as the validating authority level of 
        involvement, and what constitutes justification for level of 
        involvement and compliance document requests.
            (4) The perspectives of FAA employees responsible for type 
        validation projects, bilateral civil aviation regulator 
        partners, and industry applicants on the FAA's performance in 
        carrying out validation projects.
            (5) The levels of funding and staffing for the 
        International Validation Branch compared to the Branch's 
        workload and goals.
            (6) The effectiveness of FAA training for employees and 
        outreach conducted to improve and enforce validation processes.
            (7) Efforts undertaken to strengthen relationships with 
        international certification authorities to maximize safety 
        cooperation and the use of approvals issued by other certifying 
        authorities in compliance with applicable bilateral agreements 
        and implementation procedures.
    (c) Report.--The Administrator shall issue a report regarding the 
evaluation required under subsection (a) to the appropriate committees 
of Congress not later than 1 year after enactment of this section.

SEC. 5. INTERNAL REGULATORY PROCESS REVIEW.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish an internal 
regulatory process review team (in this section referred to as the 
``review team'') comprising of FAA employees and individuals described 
in subsection (b) to develop recommendations to improve the timeliness 
of, and performance accountability in, the development and promulgation 
of regulatory materials (as defined in section 2). The review team 
shall deliver a report with recommendations to the Secretary in 
accordance with the deadlines specified in subsection (e).
    (b) Other Members; Consultation.--
            (1) In general.--The review team shall include outside 
        experts and academics with relevant experience or expertise in 
        aviation and commercial space transportation safety and in 
        improving the performance, accountability, and transparency of 
        the Federal regulatory process, particularly as it relates to 
        aviation and commercial space transportation safety. The review 
        team shall include at least 1 outside expert or academic with 
        relevant experience or expertise in aviation and commercial 
        space transportation safety and at least 1 outside expert or 
        academic with relevant experience or expertise in improving the 
        performance, accountability, and transparency of the Federal 
        regulatory process, particularly as it relates to aviation and 
        commercial space transportation safety.
            (2) Consultation.--The review team may, as appropriate, 
        consult with industry stakeholders.
    (c) Contents of Review.--In conducting the review required under 
subsection (a), the review team shall do the following:
            (1) Develop a proposal for rationalizing processes and 
        eliminating redundant administrative review of regulatory 
        materials within the FAA, particularly when FAA-sponsored 
        rulemaking committees and stakeholders have collaborated on the 
        proposed regulations to address airworthiness standards 
        deficiencies.
            (2) With respect to each office within the FAA that reviews 
        regulatory materials, assess--
                    (A) the timeline assigned to each such office to 
                complete the review of regulatory materials;
                    (B) the actual time spent for such review;
                    (C) opportunities to reduce the actual time for 
                such review; and
                    (D) whether clear roles, responsibilities, 
                requirements, and expectations are clearly defined for 
                each office required to review the regulatory 
                materials.
            (3) Define and document the roles and responsibilities of 
        each office within the FAA that develops, drafts or reviews 
        each kind of regulatory material in order to ensure that hiring 
        reflects who, where, and how these employees function in the 
        rulemaking framework.
            (4) Describe any organizational changes or the need to hire 
        additional FAA employees, if necessary and taking into 
        consideration whether current positions are staffed, to reduce 
        delays in publication of proposed and final regulatory 
        materials.
            (5) In order to provide the public with detailed 
        information on the progress of the development of regulatory 
        materials, identify reporting mechanisms and develop a template 
        and appropriate system metrics for making publicly available on 
        a website a real-time progress tracker that updates itself to 
        show the major stages (as determined by the Secretary) of the 
        development of regulatory materials as they are initiated, in 
        progress, and completed, from inception of a proposed 
        development of regulatory materials to publication of the final 
        version of such materials.
            (6) Consider changes to the FAA's best practices under 
        rules governing ex parte communications with other validating 
        authorities, including international validating authorities, 
        and with consideration of the public interest in transparency, 
        to provide flexibility for FAA employees to discuss regulatory 
        materials, particularly for those related to enhancing aviation 
        safety and commercial space transportation safety, and the 
        United States aviation and commercial space transportation 
        international leadership.
            (7) Recommend methods by which the FAA can incorporate 
        research funded by the Department of Transportation, in 
        addition to consensus standards and conformance assessment 
        processes set by private sector standards-developing 
        organizations into regulatory materials, to keep pace with 
        rapid changes in aviation and commercial space transportation 
        technologies and processes.
            (8) Recommend mechanisms to optimize the roles of the 
        Office of the Secretary of Transportation and the Office of 
        Management and Budget, with the objective of improving the 
        efficiency of regulatory activity.
    (d) Action Plan.--The Administrator shall develop an action plan to 
implement the recommendations developed by the review team. The 
Administrator shall publish the action plan on the internet website of 
the FAA and shall transmit the plan to the appropriate committees of 
Congress.
    (e) Deadlines.--The requirements of this section shall be subject 
to the following deadlines:
            (1) The review team shall complete the evaluation required 
        under subsection (a) and submit the review team's report on 
        such evaluation to the Secretary not later than 120 days after 
        the date of enactment of this section.
            (2) The Administrator shall develop and publish the action 
        plan under subsection (d) not later than 30 days after the date 
        on which the review team submits the report required by 
        subsection (a) to the Administrator.
    (f) Administrative Procedure Requirements Inapplicable.--The 
provisions of subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5, 
United States Code (commonly known as the ``Administrative Procedure 
Act'') shall not apply to any activities of the review team in carrying 
out the requirements of this section.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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