I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6168 
To assist aviation-impacted communities in mitigating the noise burden that 
they face and to increase Federal Aviation Administration engagement 
and responsiveness to communities, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 20, 2018 
Mr. SMITH of Washington (for himself, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. NOR-
TON, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. JAYAPAL, and Mr. KHANNA) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To assist aviation-impacted communities in mitigating the 
noise burden that they face and to increase Federal 
Aviation Administration engagement and responsiveness 
to communities, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aviation-Impacted 
Communities Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. DESIGNATED COMMUNITIES. 
(a) OUTREACH.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall con-
duct outreach to community leaders of aviation-impacted 
communities to inform them of the opportunity to be a 
designated community. 
(b) REQUEST.—The governing body or the des-
ignated representative or representatives of an aviation- 
impacted community may request to be a designated com-
munity, and the Administrator shall recognize such com-
munity as a designated community upon request. 
(c) PORTIONS OF COMMUNITY.—The governing body 
of a designated community, representatives, or a group of 
representatives chosen by a community, shall select the 
portions of such community that shall be considered avia-
tion-impacted, including designating the community as a 
whole should they so choose. 
SEC. 3. COMMUNITY BOARDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date on which a community becomes a designated commu-
nity pursuant to section 1, such designated community 
shall— 
(1) select local airport operators, local elected 
leaders, and community representatives to serve on 
a community board; or 
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(2) in the case where such designated commu-
nity decides to maintain an existing group of pri-
marily elected local officials that has previously been 
constituted for purposes of working on aviation-re-
lated issues, designate such existing group as a com-
munity board pursuant to this section. 
(b) MEETINGS.—A community board shall meet at 
times and places chosen by the members of such board. 
(c) PURPOSES.—The purpose of a community board 
is to provide information to airport operators and the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration concerning disparate impacts 
and environmental justice related to the operation of com-
mercial or cargo jet routes. 
(d) COLLABORATION.—The Administrator shall— 
(1) designate an appropriate employee to work 
with each community board; and 
(2) ensure that representatives of and, when 
appropriate, relevant experts from the Federal Avia-
tion Administration attend each meeting of a com-
munity board. 
(e) COMMUNITY REPORTS.—A community board 
may, in collaboration with local airport operators and any 
employee designated pursuant to subsection (d)(1), draft 
a community report detailing the community’s concerns 
and issues related to disparate impacts. 
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(f) STUDY.—A community board may petition the 
Administrator to conduct a community study, which shall 
include— 
(1) the collection and consolidation of quantifi-
able, observational, experiential, anecdotal, or other 
data from— 
(A) the Federal Aviation Administration; 
(B) airport operators; 
(C) valid acoustic instrumentation on the 
ground; 
(D) testimonials and other evidence from 
community members; and 
(E) organizations in the community; 
(2) the Day-Night Average Sound Level; 
(3) any other existing noise metrics from indi-
vidual and cumulative takeoffs and landings; 
(4) emissions generated by individual and cu-
mulative takeoffs and landings; 
(5) any other data requested by the designated 
community in order to give a comprehensive under-
standing of the impacts on such community; and 
(6) recommendations on actions or mitigation 
that can be taken to alleviate— 
(A) concerns raised in a community report; 
and 
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(B) effects that are analyzed in the com-
munity study. 
(g) COLLABORATION.—The Administrator and each 
community board that petitions for a community study 
shall collaborate together on the scope and methodology 
of such community study. 
(h) FORMAT.—The Administrator shall ensure the 
community study is culturally and linguistically appro-
priate given the needs or requests of the community. 
SEC. 4. ACTION PLANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date of receipt of a community report or the date of com-
pletion of a community study, the Administrator shall, in 
collaboration with airport operators and affected commu-
nities, devise an action plan that alleviates or addresses 
the concerns brought up in the community report or com-
munity study. 
(b) CONTENT.—The action plan shall— 
(1) include a long-term regional plan that fo-
cuses on reducing and minimizing disparate impacts 
for the designated community; and 
(2) where effective, consider the implementation 
of changes to operations and flight paths if the com-
munity report or community study indicates that 
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such changes would decrease the impacts on the des-
ignated community. 
(c) STATEMENT CONCERNING CERTAIN CHANGES.— 
If the Administrator determines that changes to oper-
ations and flight paths that a community report or com-
munity study indicated would decrease the effects on the 
designated community would not be effective, the Adminis-
trator shall explain the rationale for this determination in 
the action plan. 
(d) DISSEMINATION.—The Administrator shall dis-
seminate the action plan— 
(1) to the public in a culturally and linguis-
tically appropriate fashion given the needs or re-
quests of the community at issue; 
(2) to the offices of the Members of Congress 
and Senators representing the community at issue; 
(3) to the relevant committees of the House of 
Representatives and the Senate; and 
(4) upon request, to any impacted government. 
SEC. 5. MITIGATION FUNDING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
release of an action plan pursuant to section 3, the Admin-
istrator may make grants for necessary noise mitigation 
in a designated community for— 
(1) residences; 
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(2) hospitals; 
(3) nursing homes; and 
(4) schools. 
(b) STANDARDS.—The Administrator shall develop 
standards to determine which of the structures in des-
ignated communities and that are listed in subsection (a) 
are eligible for mitigation funding. 
(c) MITIGATION DESCRIBED.—Funds for mitigation 
may be used for any form of mitigation that reduces the 
noise burden for communities, including— 
(1) sound insulation of noise-sensitive struc-
tures; and 
(2) construction of noise barriers or acoustic 
shielding to mitigate ground-level noise. 
(d) INSTRUMENTATION.—Upon request of a des-
ignated community, and in addition to the annualized av-
erage measurement, the Administrator shall provide addi-
tional noise measurement instrumentation to measure air-
plane noise. 
(e) SOUND INSULATION
FOR AVIATION-IMPACTED 
COMMUNITIES.—The Administrator of the Federal Avia-
tion Administration and airport operators may provide 
sound insulation for aviation-impacted communities that 
are subjected to substantial increases in flight frequency 
or from the adoption of new flight procedures that create 
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noise impacts in neighborhoods that did not previously ex-
perience significant impacts from commercial aircraft op-
erations. 
(f) SOUND INSULATION FOR NEIGHBORHOODS.—The 
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and 
airport operators may provide sound insulation for neigh-
borhoods within a 55 DNL contour in which an airport 
operator or the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad-
ministration determines significant numbers of flight oper-
ations are conducted between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act such sums as may be necessary. 
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad-
ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. 
(2) The term ‘‘aviation-impacted community’’ 
means a community that is located not greater than 
1 mile from any point at which a commercial or 
cargo jet route is 3,000 feet or less above ground 
level. 
(3) The term ‘‘community’’ means any residen-
tial neighborhood, locality, municipality, town, or 
city. 
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(4) The term ‘‘designated community’’ means 
an aviation-impacted community that has chosen to 
be designated pursuant to section 1. 
(5) The term ‘‘disparate impact’’ means noise, 
air pollution emissions, or any other aviation-related 
impact identified by a community coming from a 
commercial or cargo jet route and that is affecting 
a community or its residents. 
Æ 
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