Review - HR 3935 Received in Senate – FAA Reauthorization

Last week, HR 3935, the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (informally the FAA reauthorization act) officially arrived in the Senate. The delay was due to incorporating amendments that were adopted during the debate on the bill the previous week. Several new provisions were added to the bill before it passed in the House by a strongly bipartisan vote of 351 to 69.

New Sections

There were a large number of new sections added, both during the debate and in the House Rules Committee which added language from H 3559, FAA Research and Development Act of 2023, and HR 3796, To provide for the extension of taxes funding the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and to require the designation of certain airports as ports of entry. Newly added sections of potential interest here include:

§635. Protection of public gatherings

§853. Sense of Congress encouraging the FAA to welcome the use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

§858. Assessment by Inspector General of the Department of Transportation of counter-UAS system operations.

§871. Prohibition on procurement of foreign-made unmanned aircraft systems

§1146. Report on aviation cybersecurity directives.

Moving Forward

This is one of the perennial, ‘must pass’ bills for Congress. The Senate’s Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will craft their own version of the legislation. They will typically then take up the House bill, with one of the first amendments being considered being substitute language taken from the Senate version of the bill. The House will then have a chance to take up the revised language, but generally, the House will demand their version of the language. To resolve the differences, a conference committee will be formed to develop a consensus version of the bill, which will then go back to the two bodies for a final vote in each house of Congress.

The bipartisan vote for HR 3935 in the House bodes well for its eventual passage.

 

For more details about the changes made in the bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-3935-received-in-senate - subscription required.