I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1441
To provide for the transfer of operating responsibility for air traffic services
currently provided by the Federal Aviation Administration on behalf
of the United States to a separate corporate entity, in order to provide
for more efficient operation and development of these transportation
services and related assets, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 6, 1995
Mr. MINETA (by request) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to
the Committees on Ways and Means and the Budget, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned
A BILL
To provide for the transfer of operating responsibility for
air traffic services currently provided by the Federal
Aviation Administration on behalf of the United States
to a separate corporate entity, in order to provide for
more efficient operation and development of these trans-
portation services and related assets, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Air
Traffic Service Corporation Act’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—
TITLE I—GENERAL
Sec.
101. Findings and purpose.
102. Definitions.
TITLE II—TRANSFER OF AIR TRAFFIC SERVICE FROM THE
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
201. Establishment of the Corporation.
202. Status and applicable laws.
203. Board of directors.
204. Committees of the board; independent auditor.
205. Officers and their responsibilities.
206. General authority.
207. Authority over aircraft movement for the United States; related authority.
208. Authority to incur indebtedness.
209. Fees and other charges for services.
210. Limitation on State and local taxation.
211. Preemption of authority over air traffic services.
212. Suits by and against the Corporation.
213. Acquiring interest in property by eminent domain.
214. Relationships with Federal agencies.
TITLE III—PERMANENT FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS
301. Corporation subject to direct Federal control in time of war or national
emergency.
302. Collective bargaining.
303. International agreements and activities.
TITLE IV—AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL AVIATION LAWS
401. Access to the air traffic system.
402. Definitions.
403. Airspace control and air traffic rules.
404. Emergency powers.
405. Presidential transfers in time of war.
406. Preemption of prices, routes, and service regulations.
407. Airway capital investment plan; research and development planning.
408. Aviation facilities.
409. Regulation of the United States Air Traffic Service Corporation.
TITLE V—OTHER APPLICABLE STATUTES
501. Employee management and exemptions from title 5, United States Code.
502. Applicability of Government Corporation Control Act.
503. Extension and amendment of aviation-related taxes and Trust Fund
spending authority.
504. Transfers from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.
505. Exclusion of Corporation from budget and budget enforcement.
506. Discretionary spending limits.
TITLE VI—TRANSITION PROVISIONS
601. Transfer of federal personnel to the Corporation.
602. Payments to the United States, and reimbursements.
603. Transfer of facilities to the Corporation.
604. Savings provisions.
605. Administrative and budgetary transition; ethics standards.
606. Reference.
607. Separability.
608. Effective date.
TITLE I—GENERAL
SEC. 101. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—(1) The United States air traffic
control system, spanning civil and military sectors and the
busiest in the world, has set the standard since its incep-
tion for the utmost in aviation safety and efficiency of
traffic movements.
(2) This Federal air traffic control system is integral
to the United States aviation industry, a leading exporter
and employer in the national economy, and contributes di-
rectly to this vital national resource and its links to an
increasingly global economy.
(3) It is the continuing role of Congress and the Ex-
ecutive Branch to evaluate each Federal Government ac-
tivity to determine whether its services continue to be
needed and, if so, whether these services can be best pro-
vided by a Federal agency.
(4) The provision of more than 500,000 air traffic
operations and the use of over 28,000 air navigation facili-
ties in the National Airspace System daily by the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA), operating 24 hours a day,
365 days a year, and the reliance of the United States
aviation industry on these services, constitutes a unique
Federal operational role, one that is increasingly burdened
by traditional governmental management processes.
(5) Air traffic control is increasingly reliant on high-
quality, well motivated staff and automated, electronic
tracking and communication systems that require state-
of-the-art computer equipment and applications, tech-
nology that advances extremely rapidly and has left cur-
rent air traffic control operations behind.
(6) Current government-wide requirements for pro-
curement, personnel, financial, and other fundamental ele-
ments of management are being updated but, despite the
general changes achieved to date as a result of the Na-
tional Performance Review, are not suited to the type of
operating enterprise needed to bring the United States air
traffic control system into the 21st century.
(7) Effective financing of air traffic modernization
can be improved by a transition from the current Federal,
excise-based user fees to a system of fees that more closely
reflect the costs of providing air traffic control services,
but changes of this nature are complicated by the ongoing,
successful effort to reduce Federal budget deficits, an ob-
jective which should not be undercut.
(8) The FAA and the Department of Defense share
a unique relationship as users and suppliers of air traffic
services, and it is vital to safe and efficient air traffic con-
trol and defense readiness that this relationship continue
to evolve under any new operational arrangement for civil-
ian air traffic service.
(9) More user input, simpler procurement methods,
more flexible personnel policies and incentives with im-
proved labor-management partnerships, greater manage-
ment longevity, and access to capital markets are nec-
essary and achievable to maintain the FAA’s enviable
record of efficiency in air traffic management, but not
within the confines of a traditional Federal Government
agency.
(10) The clear success of a much smaller, but similar,
transfer of a long-time FAA activity (operation of Na-
tional and Dulles Airports) to a non-Federal operator in
1987 demonstrates the efficacy of creating a self-govern-
ing, self-financing entity to manage inherently operational
activities.
(11) Transfer legislation can relieve the Federal Gov-
ernment of operating roles and include the kind of safety,
security, national defense, international, personnel and
other mandates needed to guarantee that the successor en-
tity will not compromise any of the benefits that have been
produced by the FAA throughout its long and successful
history of air traffic control operations.
(b) PURPOSE.—It is declared to be the purpose of
Congress in this Act, pursuant to its authority under the
Constitution to regulate commerce among the several
states, to transfer operating responsibility for air traffic
services currently provided by the Federal Aviation Ad-
ministration on behalf of the United States to a separate
corporate entity, to provide for more efficient operation
and development of these services and related assets, with-
out any reduction in accountability for aviation safety, se-
curity, national defense, airport development, or other nec-
essary aviation functions currently entrusted to the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration.
SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS.
(a) In this Act:
(1) ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Administrator
of the Federal Aviation Administration.
(2) ‘‘Air traffic control system’’ means the com-
bination of elements used to safely and efficiently
monitor, direct, control, and guide aircraft in the
United States and United States-assigned airspace,
including—
(A) frequency licenses and physical, real,
personal, and intellectual property assets mak-
ing up facilities and systems employed to de-
tect, track, and guide aircraft movement;
(B) laws, regulations, agreements, and li-
censes;
(C) publishes procedures that explain re-
quired actions, activities, and techniques used
to assure adequate aircraft separation; and
(D) trained personnel with specific tech-
nical capabilities to satisfy the operational, en-
gineering, management, and planning require-
ments for air traffic control.
(3) ‘‘Corporation’’ means the United States Air
Traffic Service Corporation created under the au-
thority of this Act, unless otherwise specified.
(4) ‘‘Date of transfer’’ means the date the
United States Air Traffic Service Corporation suc-
ceeds to functions of the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration pursuant to this Act, which shall be October
1, 1996, or a later date established by the Adminis-
trator as the date that air traffic control responsibil-
ities may be safely transferred to the Corporation.
(2) The Chairman of the Board is chosen from
among the nine members specified under subparagraph
(a)(1)(C) of this section, by majority vote of the members
and shall serve until replaced by majority vote of the mem-
bers.
(3) Members other than the Secretaries shall be ap-
pointed to the Board for a term of 5 years except that,
of the members first appointed, two shall be appointed by
the President for 2-year terms, two shall be appointed by
the President for 3-year terms, and two shall be appointed
by the President for 4-year terms. A member may serve
after the expiration of that member’s term until a succes-
sor has taken office. The Secretaries shall serve terms co-
incident with their appointments to their positions.
(b) PAY AND EXPENSES.—Each Director not em-
ployed by the United States Government is entitled to
compensation, which may be comparable to other cor-
porate boards when performing Board duties and powers.
Each Director is entitled to reimbursement for necessary
travel, reasonable secretarial support, and subsistence ex-
penses incurred in attending board meetings.
(c) VACANCIES.—A vacancy on the Board is filled in
the same way as the original selection. A member of the
Board may be reappointed to a position, subject to the