April 19, 2018 – 4:15 p.m.

The House Rules Committee has now posted the text of 213 amendments to H.R. 4, the FAA reauthorization bill, that were filed before or shortly after the deadline of 2 p.m. today.

But what is hoped to be a bipartisan “manager’s amendment” of changes negotiated between House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and ranking minority member Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has not yet been released, and it may incorporate some of the amendments already filed by other members.

The list of amendments, with links to the text of each, is here and any reference to page and line numbers must be compared to those in this introduced print of H.R. 4.

The Rules Committee will meet early next week to determine which of the 213 amendments will be allowed to be offered on the House floor.

We haven’t done a full analysis of all 213 amendments, but here are the ones that were sponsored or cosponsored by some of the major movers and shakers on the T&I Committee (which makes those amendments more likely to be allowed than those from rank-and-file members).

HIGHLIGHTS OF AMENDMENTS TO H.R. 4 FILED SO FAR

Barletta-Graves (MO) AIP (#16)– increases the Airport Improvement Program contract authority provided by the bill from a flat $3.350 billion per year to $3.597 billion in FY 2018, rising slowly to $3.998 billion in FY 2023.

Massie-Defazio PFC (#53)– strikes the $4.50 cap on the maximum passenger facility charge in 49 U.S.C. §40117.

Graves (MO) proprietary exclusive rights (#54)– requires a new GAO study of instances of airport sponsors exercising proprietary exclusive rights of aeronautical services.

Graves (MO)-Bustos small airports (#88) – adds elements of the FLIGHT Act to add a 4 percent set-aside of AIP entitlements to disaster relief airports, to increase the federal share of AIP projects at general aviation airports to 95 percent, to give general aviation airport projects expedited environmental permitting, to establish a public-private partnership program at GA airports, and to designate disaster relief airports.

DeFazio lithium batteries (#89)– repeals section 828 of the 2012 FAA authorization law (which prevents the Secretary from enforcing any restrictions on lithium battery transport in aircraft that are more stringent than ICAO Technical Instructions) and makes conforming changes to section 509 of the bill to drop references to section 828.

DeFazio UAS (#136) – replaces the proposed new 49 U.S.C. §45509 created by section 332 of the bill with different language that: phrases recreational drone use as a positive right instead of as a negative right if the person adheres to the following limitations:

• recreational use only;
• in accordance with community-based safety guidelines;
• within visual line of sight of the operator or visual observer;
• in a way that does not interfere with manned aircraft;
• with permission of the FAA before using in Class B, C, or D airspace or in Class E airport boundaries;
• in Class G airspace with a ceiling of 400 feet;
• after the operators passes the FAA online safety test; and
• if the drone is registered and marked properly.

Denham-Cuellar-Costa F4A (#140)– prevents states from regulating meal the hours of service of truck and bus drivers subject to federal hours of service restrictions.

Denham UAS over critical infrastructure (#141)– sets a December 31, 2018 deadline for FAA to issue a NPRM for regulating UAS use over critical infrastructure and adds railroad facilities to the list of types of critical infrastructure.

Denham expedited permit review (#142)– amends 23 U.S.C. 330(3) to set the statute of limitations on filing lawsuits over permits issued under section 330 from the current 2 years to 150 days, consistent with permits in other parts of the federal government.

LoBiondo-Larsen C-UAS (#189)– Adds a new section directing the FAA to review interagency coordination and standards of counter-UAS (C-UAS) policies and procedures and report back to Congress. 

Lipinski-Graves (MO) workforce development (#212)– establishes a pilot program to provide grants for eligible projects to support the education and recruitment of aviation maintenance technical workers and the development of the aviation maintenance industry workforce.