I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 926
To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize the Secretary
of Transportation to reduce under certain circumstances the percentage
of voting interests of air carriers which are required to be owned or
controlled by persons who are citizens of the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 17, 1993
Mr. CLINGER (for himself and Mr. SHUSTER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Public Works and Transportation
A BILL
To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize
the Secretary of Transportation to reduce under certain
circumstances the percentage of voting interests of air
carriers which are required to be owned or controlled
by persons who are citizens of the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REDUCTION OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP VOTING IN-
TEREST OWNERSHIP REQUIREMENT.
Title IV of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49
U.S.C. App. 1371–1389) is amended by adding at the end
the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 420. REDUCTION OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP VOTING INTER-
EST OWNERSHIP REQUIREMENT.
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—Notwithstanding the require-
ment of section 101(16) of this Act that at least 75 per-
cent of the voting interests of an air carrier be owned or
controlled by persons who are citizens of the United States
or of one of its possessions, a person who is not a citizen
of the United States may purchase voting interests of a
corporation or association which is, or owns or controls,
an air carrier without regard to whether or not such pur-
chase would result in the corporation or association failing
to meet such voting interest requirement of section
101(16) if the Secretary of Transportation finds that—
‘‘(1) after the purchase—
‘‘(A) the president, chairman of the board
of directors, chief operating officer, and two-
thirds or more of the board of directors of the
corporation or association which is, or owns or
controls, the air carrier would be citizens of the
United States or one of its possessions; and
‘‘(B) at least 51 percent of the voting in-
terests of the air carrier would be owned or
controlled by persons who are citizens of the
United States or one of its possessions; and
‘‘(2) the purchase is in the public interest.
‘‘(b) FACTORS TO CONSIDER FOR PUBLIC INTEREST
FINDING.—The Secretary, in making the finding required
by subsection (a)(2), shall consider the following:
‘‘(1) The financial condition of the air carrier
and the importance of the purchase to the carrier’s
ability to survive and effectively compete.
‘‘(2) The effect of the purchase on the employ-
ees of the air carrier.
‘‘(3) The effect of the purchase on competition
in interstate, overseas, and foreign air transpor-
tation.
‘‘(4) Whether the laws and regulations of the
foreign country of which the purchaser is a citizen
would permit a citizen of the United States to ac-
quire, under similar terms and conditions, the same
percentage of stock of a person who provides in such
foreign country transportation by aircraft of persons
or property as a common carrier as the percentage
of stock which the person making the purchase
would have in the air carrier after the purchase.
‘‘(5) The extent to which the purchaser is
owned, controlled, or subsidized by a government of
a foreign country.
‘‘(6) The extent to which a person who is not
a citizen of the United States or one of its posses-
sions would, after the purchase, have the power to
exercise control over the air carrier.
‘‘(7) The extent to which the foreign country of
which the purchaser is a citizen permits air carriers
to have access to its aviation markets equivalent to
the access that the foreign citizen would have to the
aviation markets of the United States after the pur-
chase.
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—
‘‘(1) SUBMISSION.—A person interested in
making a purchase with respect to which subsection
(a) applies must submit an application with respect
to such purchase to the Secretary. The application
must be in such form and contain such information
as the Secretary may, by regulation, require.
‘‘(2) APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL.—Within 90
days after an application meeting the requirements
of paragraph (1) and any regulations issued there-
under is submitted to the Secretary, the Secretary
shall approve the application, approve the applica-
tion subject to such conditions or modifications as
the Secretary determines appropriate to carry out
the objectives of this section, or disapprove the ap-
plication.
‘‘(3) PRESIDENTIAL REVIEW.—
‘‘(A) PRESENTATION.—The approval, with
or without conditions or modifications, of any
application under this section shall be presented
to the President for review.
‘‘(B) 
DISAPPROVAL; 
CONDITIONS.—The
President shall have the right to disapprove or
impose conditions on the application solely on
the basis of national defense considerations in-
cluding the effect of the purchase on the Civil
Reserve Air Fleet program. Any such dis-
approval or conditions shall be issued in a pub-
lic document, setting forth the reasons for the
disapproval or conditions to the extent national
security permits, within 30 days after submis-
sion of the Secretary’s action to the President.
‘‘(C) EFFECT OF DISAPPROVAL.—Any ac-
tion of the Secretary disapproved by the Presi-
dent under this paragraph shall be null and
void.
‘‘(D) EFFECT
OF
EXPIRATION
OF
TIME
LIMIT; JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any action of the
Secretary not disapproved within the 30-day pe-
riod referred to in subparagraph (B) shall take
effect as an action of the Secretary, not the
President, and as such shall be subject to judi-
cial review as provided in section 1006 of this
Act.’’.
SEC. 2. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.
The table of contents contained in the first section
of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 is amended by adding
at the end of the matter relating to title IV of such Act
the following:
‘‘Sec. 420. Reduction of U.S. citizenship voting interest ownership requirement.
‘‘(a) General rule.
‘‘(b) Factors to consider for public interest finding.
‘‘(c) Application.’’.
Æ