R47608 — Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Issues for the 118th Congress

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization refers to a periodic process through which Congress develops legislation to renew authorizing statutes as well as revise and update relevant laws governing civil aviation programs and functions primarily carried out by the FAA. In addition to funding and operations of the FAA, some aviation programs administered by other components of the Department of Transportation (DOT) are also considered in the context of FAA reauthorization. The last multiyear FAA reauthorization measure, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-254), was enacted in October 2018. It extended civil aviation taxes and fees and FAA program funding authorities through the end of FY2023. Key civil aviation authorizations, including Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) revenue collections and certain FAA expenditure authorities, will thus expire at the end of FY2023, prompting an FAA reauthorization process to develop and debate authorizing legislation, which has begun during the first session of the 118th Congress. Congress established the AATF in the Airport and Airway Revenue Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-258) to provide a dedicated source of federal funding for the aviation system in the United States. Since then, the AATF has been the primary funding source for all FAA major accounts that fund federal aviation programs, with the remainder coming from general fund appropriations. Both the authority to collect aviation excise taxes and the authority to spend from the trust fund must be reauthorized periodically by Congress. Besides AATF revenue collections, which cannot continue without reauthorization, grant expenditure authority for federal support of airport improvement projects must also be reauthorized to prevent a halt in airport infrastructure projects. In addition to authorizing revenue collections and setting spending levels, FAA reauthorization acts typically set policy and establish various statutory requirements pertaining to a broad array of pertinent civil aviation issues, including airport development and financing; FAA management and organizational issues, including FAA workforce hiring, retention, and training; air navigation services and air traffic control modernization; the integration of drones, commercial space activities, and new technologies into the national airspace system; aviation safety, including potential expansion of requirements to implement safety management across the aviation industry; airline industry issues, including air service to small communities and airline consumer service; the commercial aviation workforce, including the future supply of airline pilots and aviation maintenance workers; and aviation and the environment, including initiatives to reduce aircraft noise and emissions and dependence on fossil fuels.

Curated by CRS — every bill listed in this report's relatedMaterials. Edge type cited_in_report, gold confidence.

• HR 2613 — Communities Before Air Tourism Act · 118th Cong
• HR 2394 — Protection from Abusive Passengers Act · 118th Cong
• HR 1761 — Let Experienced Pilots Fly Act of 2023 · 118th Cong
• HR 1071 — Safe and Quiet Skies Act of 2023 · 118th Cong
• S 1058 — Protection from Abusive Passengers Act · 118th Cong
• S 905 — Drone Integration and Zoning Act · 118th Cong
• S 902 — Supersonic and Hypersonic Aircraft Testing Corridor Act · 118th Cong
• S 893 — Let Experienced Pilots Fly Act · 118th Cong