Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1405
Sponsor: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD]
Introduced: 2017-06-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Advisory bodies
Aviation and airports
Child health
Congressional oversight
Consumer affairs
Department of Transportation
Disability and paralysis
Disaster relief and insurance
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Emergency planning and evacuation
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Federal officials
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Government trust funds
Health care coverage and access
Health facilities and institutions
Judicial review and appeals
Licensing and registrations
Natural disasters
Performance measurement
Public-private cooperation
Right of privacy
Rural conditions and development
Small towns
Telephone and wireless communication
Transportation costs
Transportation employees
Transportation programs funding
Transportation safety and security
User charges and fees
Women's health
Worker safety and health

Summary:
action_date: 2017-06-22
text: 

Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017

 
This bill reauthorizes through FY2021 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and specified FAA programs.
 
The bill revises requirements for the airport improvement program and pilot program for passenger facility charges at nonhub airports.
 

Forward Looking Investment in General Aviation, Hangars, and Tarmacs Act of 2017 or the FLIGHT Act of 2017

 
The Department of Transportation (DOT) shall implement an expedited and coordinated environmental review process for general aviation airport construction or improvement projects.
 
DOT shall establish a public-private partnership program for building or improving hangars, businesses, or other facilities at:
 
 
general aviation airports, and
 
privately owned airports for public use that do not have scheduled air service.
 
 
The Government Accountability Office shall review privacy issues and concerns associated with the operation of unmanned aircraft (drones) in the national airspace system. 
 
The FAA shall establish a process for the acceptance of risk-based, consensus safety standards for the safe integration of small drones into such system.
 
DOT shall issue guidance for the operation of public drones. 
 
The FAA shall develop a plan for the deployment of technologies to detect and mitigate potential airspace safety threats posed by drones.
 

Drone Operator Safety Act

 
The bill amends the federal criminal code to make it a crime to operate a drone that knowingly or recklessly interferes with or disrupts the operation of an aircraft carrying one or more occupants in U.S. airspace.
 
DOT shall establish a Safety Oversight and Certification Advisory Committee.
 
The FAA shall take specified actions to improve airline passenger safety.
 

Commercial Balloon Pilot Safety Act of 2017

 
The bill directs the FAA to revise federal regulations to apply medical certificate of physical fitness requirements that are applicable to pilot flight crewmembers to operators of air balloons. 
 

Fairness for Pilots Act

 
The bill amends the Pilot's Bill of Rights to revise the authorization for appeal to a federal court by a substantially affected individual from a decision of the National Transportation Safety Board to uphold an adverse FAA order or final decision. The bill specifies the suspension or revocation of an airman certificate as the punitive civil action which may be appealed.
 
A U.S. district court shall review de novo an FAA denial, suspension, or revocation of an airman certificate.
 
The bill prescribes certain requirements with respect to improving passenger air service. 
 

Transparency Improvements and Compensation to Keep Every Ticketholder Safe Act of 2017 or the TICKETS Act

 
The bill prescribes requirements to prohibit an air carrier from denying an air passenger from boarding a flight without the consent of the passenger cleared to board such flight unless such passenger presents a safety, security, or health risk, to oneself or others, or engages in obscene, disruptive, or unlawful behavior.
 
The bill reauthorizes through FY2021 the essential air service program and the small community air service development program.
 

NextGen Accountability Act

 
The bill amends the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to direct the FAA to establish annual NextGen (i.e., Next Generation Air Transportation System) performance goals for each of the national airspace system performance metrics to meet identified performance metric baselines with respect to NextGen projects. 
 

Saracini Aviation Safety Act of 2017

 
The FAA shall issue an order requiring the installation of a secondary cockpit barrier on each new aircraft that is manufactured for delivery to a U.S. passenger air carrier.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2018-05-09
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 407.
action_date: 2018-05-09
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Thune with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 115-243. Supplemental views filed.
action_date: 2018-05-09
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Thune with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 115-243. Supplemental views filed.
action_date: 2017-06-29
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
action_date: 2017-06-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2017-06-22
text: Introduced in Senate