Review - Fall 2023 Unified Agenda – FAA and UAS

Last week the Biden Administration published their Fall 2024 Unified Agenda. The Department of Transportation portion of that Agenda lists 35 rulemakings being considered by the Federal Aviation Administration. Four of those rulemakings address the operations of uncrewed aircraft systems. One additional rulemaking is listed under the FAA listings on the DOT long term agenda. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) also has one UAS related rulemaking listed in the Unified Agenda.

Each individual rulemaking listed in the Unified Agenda has a link to a file about that proposed rule. That file includes such information as:

An abstract describing rulemaking,

CFR and USC citations for the proposed regulations,

Legal deadlines (which are seldom if ever enforced),

The aspirational timeline for the next step in the regulatory process, and

Point of contact information at the agency.

Commentary

I do not see anything in any of these rulemakings that would specifically run afoul of the anti-regulatory aspirations of the incoming Trump Administration. I would expect that there would be some minor differences in some of the details from what we would have seen if Harris had been elected. The big difference will be the timing; I would not expect a big push to quickly move any of these regulations across the finish line even though various industrial partners (especially the chemical process industry) will be pushing for the facility registration rulemaking. Still, the people surrounding Trump have a natural mistrust of government regulations, so quick movement is not to be expected.

 

For more information on the Fall 2024 Unified Agenda and the UAS, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/fall-2023-unified-agenda-faa-and-e3c - subscription required.