I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6038 
To require the Federal Aviation Administration to provide funding for noise 
mitigation, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 28, 2020 
Mr. SMITH of Washington (for himself, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. 
GOMEZ, Ms. NORTON, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mrs. TORRES 
of California, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. MENG, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. BEYER, Mr. 
CASE, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To require the Federal Aviation Administration to provide 
funding for noise mitigation, 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’’. 
SEC. 2. NOISE MITIGATION FOR VERTICAL FENCELINE 
COMMUNITIES. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, aviation- 
impacted communities that are not currently within the 
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65 DNL standard as measured by the Federal Aviation 
Administration shall be eligible for the Airport Improve-
ment Program noise mitigation program funds and for 
grants under section 7, and shall also be granted status 
under section 5 to establish community boards to address 
airport noise in their communities. 
SEC. 3. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES STUDY, FRAME-
WORK, AND DIAGNOSTIC TOOL. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall enter 
into a contract with the National Academy of Sciences to 
conduct a study that— 
(1) summarizes the relevant literature and 
studies done on aviation impacts worldwide; 
(2) focuses on large hub commercial airports 
and surrounding communities, including commu-
nities currently outside of the 65 DNL contour in— 
(A) King County, WA; 
(B) Boston; 
(C) Chicago; 
(D) New York City; 
(E) the Northern California Metroplex; 
(F) Phoenix; 
(G) the Southern California Metroplex; 
(H) the District of Columbia; 
(I) Atlanta; and 
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(J) any other metropolitan large hub air-
port identified by the Administrator. 
(b) CONTENTS.—The study described in subsection 
(a) shall examine— 
(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, using 
measured data or modeled data (or other noise 
metrics, as applicable); 
(3) any other existing or supplemental noise 
metrics from data collected by noise monitor sta-
tions; 
(4) emissions generated by individual and cu-
mulative takeoffs and landings, including emissions 
that impact the ground level; 
(5) lateral trajectory and altitude of flight 
paths as demonstrated by actual and comprehensive 
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radar flight track data in addition to published 
routes; 
(6) how aviation impacts communities sur-
rounded by multiple airports; 
(7) how aviation impacts communities with 
unique geography, including communities situated at 
higher elevation or near large bodies of water; 
(8) any other data requested by the impacted 
community in order to give a comprehensive under-
standing of the impacts on such community, includ-
ing comparative data for equity analysis; 
(9) recommendations on actions or mitigation 
that can be taken to alleviate— 
(A) concerns raised during community out-
reach; and 
(B) effects that are determined in the 
study; and 
(10) any other data or information determined 
to be relevant by the National Academies in ana-
lyzing aviation impacts. 
(c) FRAMEWORK AND DIAGNOSTIC TOOL.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Using findings from the 
study, the National Academy of Sciences shall pro-
vide the FAA with a framework and diagnostic tool 
for— 
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(A) conducting appropriate community as-
sessments upon request of community boards 
(including as described in section 5(f)); 
(B) measuring the impact on communities 
of— 
(i) high frequency of overhead flights; 
(ii) an increase or change in flight op-
erations due to adoption of new flight pro-
cedures; 
(iii) high frequency or an increase in 
night time aircraft noise; and 
(iv) decreased dispersion of flight path 
utilization; and 
(C) developing a scientifically based strat-
egy for evaluating structures subject to in-
creases described in subparagraph (A)(ii) that 
should be eligible for noise mitigation. 
(2) REQUIREMENT.—In developing the frame-
work and diagnostic tool under paragraph (1), the 
National Academy of Sciences shall— 
(A) seek appropriate community input and 
feedback from community boards as well as 
open community meetings; and 
(B) ensure, to the extent practicable, that 
such framework and diagnostic tool is under-
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standable to, and useable by, the community 
boards and the general public. 
SEC. 4. DESIGNATING OF COMMUNITIES. 
(a) OUTREACH.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
shall conduct outreach to State, regional, and local 
elected officials of aviation-impacted communities to 
inform them of the opportunity to be a designated 
community. 
(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The outreach described 
in paragraph (1) shall— 
(A) be conducted in local print and elec-
tronic media (including social media, local for-
eign language media, ethnic radio, newspapers, 
and television); and 
(B) reflect languages regularly encountered 
in the aviation-impacted community in any 
signs, materials, and multimedia resources. 
(b) REQUEST.—The State, regional, or local elected 
officials (or designee thereof) of an aviation impacted com-
munity may request to be a designated community, and 
the Administrator shall— 
(1) recognize such community as a designated 
community upon request; and 
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(2) acknowledge each community requesting 
designation on the website of the Federal Aviation 
Administration. 
(c) PORTIONS OF COMMUNITY.—The State or local 
elected officials (or designee thereof) of a designated com-
munity, representatives, or a group of representatives cho-
sen by a community, shall select the portions or the en-
tirety of such community considered aviation-impacted, in-
cluding designating the community as a whole should such 
community so choose. 
SEC. 5. COMMUNITY BOARDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date on which an aviation-impacted community becomes 
a designated community pursuant to section 4, such des-
ignated community shall— 
(1) select a community board comprised of indi-
viduals that equally represent— 
(A) State, regional, or local elected officials 
or city managers (or designees thereof); 
(B) local airport operators; 
(C) impacted community residents; and 
(D) the public health and environment; 
(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 
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constituted for purposes of working on aviation-re-
lated issues, designate such existing group as a com-
munity board pursuant to this section, so long as— 
(A) affected community members who are 
not airport employees or elected officials have 
representation on the board; and 
(B) health and environmental representa-
tives are added as needed. 
(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 aviation impacts. 
(d) COLLABORATION.—The Administrator shall— 
(1) designate an FAA designee; and 
(2) ensure that representatives of and, when 
appropriate and upon request of a community board, 
relevant experts from the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration participate in meetings of a community 
board. 
(e) COMMUNITY REPORTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—A community board may 
draft a community report detailing the community’s 
concerns and issues related to aviation impacts. 
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(2) CONTENTS.—A community report may be 
comprised of, or include, community information, 
documents, or locally conducted assessments. 
(f) COMMUNITY ASSESSMENTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—A community board may pe-
tition the Administrator to conduct a community as-
sessment, which shall be conducted based on the 
framework and diagnostic tool established by the 
National Academy of Sciences under section 3 and 
the community reports described in subsection (e). 
(2) LIMITATION.—A community board may pe-
tition the Administrator to conduct not more than 1 
community assessment under paragraph (1) every 3 
years. 
(3) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 
(2), a community board may petition the Adminis-
trator to conduct an additional community assess-
ment during the 3-year period described in para-
graph (2) if— 
(A) a study described in part 150 of title 
14, Code of Federal Regulations, is commis-
sioned by an airport with flight paths that af-
fect the community represented by the commu-
nity board; or 
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(B) if airport operations increase substan-
tially above of projected increases. 
(g) INSTRUMENTATION.—Upon request of a commu-
nity board, the Administrator shall provide additional 
noise measurement instrumentation to measure aircraft 
noise. 
(h) COLLABORATION.—The Administrator and each 
community board that petitions for a community assess-
ment shall collaborate on the scope of such community as-
sessment. 
(i) REGIONAL ASSESSMENT.—Upon the request and 
approval of not less than 2 community boards located in 
the same region, the FAA may conduct a regional assess-
ment based on the framework and diagnostic tool estab-
lished by the National Academy of Sciences under section 
3. 
(j) ACCESSIBLE FORMAT.—The Administrator shall 
ensure the community assessment is culturally and lin-
guistically accessible given the needs or requests of the 
community. 
SEC. 6. ACTION PLANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date of completion of a community assessment described 
in section 5(f), the Administrator shall, in collaboration 
with community boards, devise an action plan that seeks 
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to alleviate or address the concerns raised in such commu-
nity reports or such community assessments. 
(b) CONTENT.—An action plan shall— 
(1) include a long-term regional plan that fo-
cuses on reducing and minimizing aviation impacts 
for the designated community or communities, in-
cluding sound insulation or other noise mitigation 
infrastructure, air filtration systems, and changes in 
flight paths or procedures; and 
(2) require the appropriate district office of the 
Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic con-
trol facility to consider the implementation of 
changes to flight operations, flight paths, and 
vertical guidance if the community assessment de-
scribed in section 5(f) indicates that such changes 
would decrease the impacts on the designated com-
munity, including examining the population density 
in the communities described in such report and as-
sessment in considering such implementation. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—In implementing the action 
plan, the Administrator will consider the implementation 
of changes to flight operations, flight paths, and vertical 
guidance if the community assessment described in section 
5(f) indicates that such changes would decrease the im-
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pacts of flights on a designated community (or commu-
nities). 
(d) STATEMENT CONCERNING CERTAIN CHANGES.— 
If the Administrator determines that changes to oper-
ations, flight paths, and vertical guidance that a commu-
nity study indicated would decrease the effects on the des-
ignated community would not be effective in decreasing 
community impacts, the Administrator shall explain the 
rationale for this determination in the action plan. 
(e) APPEALS PROCESS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es-
tablish an appeals process, through which a commu-
nity board may appeal the determination by the 
Federal Aviation Administration not to implement a 
change under subsection (c) to an independent panel 
comprised equally of independent public health ex-
perts, environmental experts, and aviation experts. 
(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—In carrying out para-
graph (1), the Administrator shall seek rec-
ommendations from the National Academy of 
Sciences for panel experts described in such para-
graph. 
(3) REQUIREMENT
TO
CONVENE.—An inde-
pendent panel convened pursuant to paragraph (1) 
shall convene not later than 6 months after the re-
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ceipt of an appeal pursuant to such paragraph and 
shall respond to such appeal not later than 3 months 
after the date on which such panel convenes. 
(f) DISSEMINATION.—The panel described in sub-
section (e)(1) shall submit any findings for an appeal de-
scribed in such subsection— 
(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 appropriate State, regional, 
and local elected officials. 
SEC. 7. MITIGATION FUNDING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
release of an action plan pursuant to section 3, the Admin-
istrator shall make grants for necessary noise mitigation 
in a designated community for— 
(1) residences; 
(2) hospitals; 
(3) nursing homes and adult or child day care 
centers; 
(4) schools; 
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(5) places of worship; and 
(6) other impacted facilities indicated by a com-
munity assessment under section 5(f). 
(b) STANDARDS.—Using the framework and diag-
nostic tool developed by the National Academy of Sciences 
under section 3, the Administrator shall develop standards 
to determine which of the structures in designated commu-
nities described in subsection (a) are eligible for mitigation 
funding. 
(c) MITIGATION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 
‘‘noise mitigation’’ means any form of mitigation that re-
duces the noise burden for communities, including— 
(1) sound insulation of structures; 
(2) construction of noise barriers or acoustic 
shielding to mitigate ground-level noise; and 
(3) other mitigation as indicated by a commu-
nity assessment under section 5(f) or an action plan 
under section 6 using the diagnostic tool developed 
by the National Academy of Sciences under section 
3. 
(d) SOUND INSULATION FOR COMMUNITIES SUBJECT 
TO HIGH FLIGHT FREQUENCY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Using the framework and di-
agnostic tool developed by the National Academy of 
Sciences under section 3, in carrying out an action 
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plan described in section 6, the Administrator shall 
develop standards for determining which commu-
nities are subject to significant frequency of over-
head flights, which shall be eligible for noise mitiga-
tion funding. 
(2) NOISE MITIGATION.—In carrying out an ac-
tion plan described in section 6, the Administrator 
and airport operators shall provide grants for noise 
mitigation for aviation-impacted communities that 
are subjected to a high frequency of flight operations 
or from the adoption of new flight procedures (as 
determined by the Administrator through the use of 
the framework and diagnostic tool developed by the 
National Academy of Sciences under section 3). 
(e) SOUND INSULATION FOR RESIDENCES IMPACTED 
BY SIGNIFICANT NIGHT TIME AIRCRAFT NOISE.—In car-
rying out an action plan described in section 6, the Admin-
istrator and airport operators shall provide noise mitiga-
tion for a neighborhood within a 55 or higher DNL con-
tour (or a community that has quality-assured noise meas-
urement data that demonstrate 55 DNL impacts occur-
ring outside the model contour of the aviation environ-
mental design tool of the FAA) in which an airport oper-
ator or the Administrator determines, through the use of 
the framework and diagnostic tool developed by the Na-
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tional Academy of Sciences under section 3, that signifi-
cant numbers of flight operations are conducted between 
10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. 
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated out of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (estab-
lished under section 9502 of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986) to carry out this Act— 
(1) a total of $750,000,000 for fiscal years 
2021 through 2030; and 
(2) such sums as necessary, but not to exceed 
0.25 percent of the annual change in uncommitted 
balance of such Trust Fund in a fiscal year, for fis-
cal years after fiscal year 2030. 
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Of any amounts appropriated 
for a fiscal year to carry out this Act, the Administrator 
shall use such funds— 
(1) to make grants under section 7; 
(2) in an amount of not more than 5 percent, 
to support FAA expenditures required for the ad-
ministration this Act; and 
(3) any amounts not expended under para-
graphs (1) or (2), to make grants described in sec-
tion 47117(e)(1)(A) of title 49, United States Code. 
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SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration. 
(2) AIRCRAFT OPERATION.—The term ‘‘aircraft 
operation’’ means a landing or take-off of an aircraft 
flight. 
(3) 
AVIATION-IMPACTED
COMMUNITY.—The 
term ‘‘aviation-impacted community’’ means a com-
munity 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. 
(4) COMMERCIAL OR CARGO JET ROUTE.—The 
term ‘‘commercial or cargo jet route’’ means a route 
that is departing or arriving at a large hub or 
metroplex airport, as such terms are defined by the 
Administrator. 
(5) 
COMMUNITY.—The 
term 
‘‘community’’ 
means any residential neighborhood, locality, munici-
pality, town, or city. 
(6) DESIGNATED COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘des-
ignated community’’ means an aviation- impacted 
community that has chosen to be designated pursu-
ant to section 4. 
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(7) FAA.—The term ‘‘FAA’’ means the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration. 
(8) FAA DESIGNEE.—The term ‘‘FAA Des-
ignee’’ means a community engagement manager or 
Regional Ombudsman (as described in section 180 
of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018) that— 
(A) works with each community board; 
(B) engages in meaningful, solution-driven 
dialogue with the community board; and 
(C) serves as the liaison between the FAA 
and the community board. 
(9) IMPACT.—The term ‘‘impact’’ means noise, 
air pollution emissions, or any other aviation-related 
impact identified by a community coming from an 
aircraft and that is affecting a community or its 
residents. 
(10) ROUTE.—The term ‘‘route’’ includes both 
the lateral trajectory and altitude of flight paths as 
demonstrated by actual and comprehensive radar 
flight track data in addition to published routes. 
Æ 
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