[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1866 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1866

 To establish minimum dimensions for seats on passenger aircraft, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 7, 2023

Mr. Blumenthal introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish minimum dimensions for seats on passenger aircraft, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safe Seats for All Act''.

SEC. 2. PASSENGER SEAT SIZING.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 423 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 42304 the following:
``Sec. 42305. Passenger seat sizing
    ``(a) Minimum Dimensions of Passenger Seats.--Not later than 180 
days after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator of 
the Federal Aviation Administration shall issue regulations to 
establish minimum dimensions for seats on passenger aircraft (including 
dimensions for the size, width, length, and pitch of seats), to ensure 
the safety and health of passengers, including with respect to 
emergency evacuations, the ability of passengers to execute the brace 
position, and passengers with deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary 
embolism.
    ``(b) Interim Prohibition on Seat Reduction.--During the period 
beginning on the date of enactment of this section and ending on the 
effective date of the regulations issued under subsection (a), an air 
carrier or foreign air carrier (as such terms are defined in section 
40102) may not reduce the size, width, length, or pitch of the seats on 
any passenger aircraft of such carrier (including with respect to the 
dimensions of seat shoulder width, elbow width, the edge of the seat 
base to back of the seat in front, the edge of the seat base to the 
headrest of seat in front, foot clearance, and foot clearance 
envelope).
    ``(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to prohibit an air carrier or foreign air carrier from 
altering the seating configuration of an aircraft if such configuration 
does not reduce the number of passenger seats in the economy class of 
service.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The analysis for chapter 423 of title 49, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 42304 the following:

``42305. Passenger seat sizing.''.
    (c) Repeal of 2018 Minimum Dimension Provision.--Section 577 of the 
FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (49 U.S.C. 42301 note prec.) is 
repealed.
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