[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 136 (Friday, October 4, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7212-S7213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SMALL AIRPLANE REVITALIZATION ACT OF 2013
Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Commerce Committee be
discharged from further action on H.R. 1848.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 1848) to ensure that the Federal Aviation
Administration advances the safety of small airplanes, and
the continued development of the general aviation industry,
and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. REID. I further ask that the substitute amendment, which is at
the desk and is the text of S. 1072, as reported by the Commerce
Committee, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and
passed; and that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with
no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 1999) was agreed to, as follows:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Small Airplane
Revitalization Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) A healthy small aircraft industry is integral to
economic growth and to maintaining an effective
transportation infrastructure for communities and countries
around the world.
(2) Small airplanes comprise nearly 90 percent of general
aviation aircraft certified by the Federal Aviation
Administration.
(3) General aviation provides for the cultivation of a
workforce of engineers, manufacturing and maintenance
professionals, and pilots who secure the economic success and
defense of the United States.
(4) General aviation contributes to well-paying jobs in the
manufacturing and technology sectors in the United States and
products produced by those sectors are exported in great
numbers.
(5) Technology developed and proven in general aviation
aids in the success and safety of all sectors of aviation and
scientific competence.
(6) The average small airplane in the United States is now
40 years old and the regulatory barriers to bringing new
designs to the market are resulting in a lack of innovation
and investment in small airplane design.
(7) Since 2003, the United States lost 10,000 active
private pilots per year on average, partially due to a lack
of cost-effective, new small airplanes.
(8) General aviation safety can be improved by modernizing
and revamping the regulations relating to small airplanes to
clear the path for technology adoption and cost-effective
means to retrofit the existing fleet with new safety
technologies.
SEC. 3. SAFETY AND REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS FOR GENERAL
AVIATION.
(a) In General.--Not later than December 15, 2015, the
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall
issue a final rule--
(1) to advance the safety and continued development of
small airplanes by reorganizing the certification
requirements for such airplanes under part 23 to streamline
the approval of safety advancements; and
(2) that meets the objectives described in subsection (b).
(b) Objectives Described.--The objectives described in this
subsection are based on the recommendations of the Part 23
Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee:
(1) The establishment of a regulatory regime for small
airplanes that will improve safety and reduce the regulatory
cost burden for the Federal Aviation Administration and the
aviation industry.
(2) The establishment of broad, outcome-driven safety
objectives that will spur innovation and technology adoption.
(3) The replacement of current, prescriptive requirements
under part 23 with performance-based regulations.
(4) The use of consensus standards accepted by the Federal
Aviation Administration to clarify how the safety objectives
of part 23 may be met using specific designs and
technologies.
(c) Consensus-Based Standards.--In prescribing regulations
under this section, the Administrator shall use consensus
standards, as described in section 12(d) of the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C.
272 note), to the extent practicable while continuing
traditional methods for meeting part 23.
(d) Safety Cooperation.--The Administrator shall lead the
effort to improve general aviation safety by working with
leading aviation regulators to assist them in adopting a
complementary regulatory approach for small airplanes.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
[[Page S7213]]
(1) Consensus standards.--
(A) In general.--The term ``consensus standards'' means
standards developed by an organization described in
subparagraph (B) that may include provisions requiring that
owners of relevant intellectual property have agreed to make
that intellectual property available on a nondiscriminatory,
royalty-free, or reasonable royalty basis to all interested
persons.
(B) Organizations described.--An organization described in
this subparagraph is a domestic or international organization
that--
(i) plans, develops, establishes, or coordinates, through a
process based on consensus and using agreed-upon procedures,
voluntary standards; and
(ii) operates in a transparent manner, considers a balanced
set of interests with respect to such standards, and provides
for due process and an appeals process with respect to such
standards.
(2) Part 23.--The term ``part 23'' means part 23 of title
14, Code of Federal Regulations.
(3) Part 23 reorganization aviation rulemaking committee.--
The term ``Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking
Committee'' means the aviation rulemaking committee
established by the Federal Aviation Administration in August
2011 to consider the reorganization of the regulations under
part 23.
(4) Small airplane.--The term ``small airplane'' means an
airplane which is certified to part 23 standards.
The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a
third time.
The bill was read the third time.
The bill (H.R. 1848), as amended, was passed.
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