Baldwin-Backed Bipartisan Aviation Bill to Increase Passenger Safety, Protect Consumers Signed into Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) celebrated President Biden signing the bipartisan 2024 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Authorization Act into law, including provisions championed by Senator Baldwin to increase access to flight training for veterans and grow our aviation workforce, strengthen protections for Americans with disabilities, and phase out the use of PFAS firefighting foam. Also included in the bipartisan legislation are provisions to ensure passengers are refunded for delayed and canceled flights, prevent “close calls” on runways, address air traffic controller shortages, and boost plane safety inspectors, among other items to support aviation efficiency and safety.

“In recent years, the aviation industry has faced significant challenges, from delays to safety lapses – and our bipartisan bill tackled these head-on to make sure that Wisconsinites can get where they need to go safely and efficiently,” said Senator Baldwin. “I’m proud that provisions I championed have now been signed into law - helping people land in-demand jobs in aviation, supporting our veterans to become commercial pilots, and keeping travelers and workers safe.”

Senator Baldwin’s Provisions Signed into Law

Connecting Veterans with Careers in Aviation – The FAA legislation includes Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan American Aviator Act to enable eligible flight training schools to recruit and train veterans, who are not already military aviators, to become commercial pilots and certified flight instructors. By covering costs beyond existing veteran education benefits, the measure will help grow the supply of qualified pilots to provide air service to more underserved areas, including rural communities.

Improving Passenger Safety for All Americans – Senator Baldwin worked to include key provisions from her Air Carrier Access Amendments Act to ensure airplanes are designed to accommodate people with disabilities and airlines meet accessibility standards, including individuals who use wheelchairs.

Senator Baldwin also included a key provision of her Emergency Vacating of Aircraft Cabin (EVAC) Act, legislation to ensure the FAA does more to prioritize passenger safety. The provision requires the FAA to study aircraft evacuation, evaluate gaps in current standards and procedures, and make recommendations. The FAA must initiate a rulemaking on the recommendations that the FAA Administrator deems appropriate.

Phasing Out PFAS Fire Fighting Foam – Senator Baldwin has fought to reduce the use of PFAS firefighting foam and in the FAA legislation, she successfully included a grant program to support airports’ transition away from firefighting foams containing PFAS.

Preventing Taxpayer Dollars from Supporting Trade Cheats – Senator Baldwin worked to protect Made in the USA businesses by including language that prevents airports from using taxpayer-funded grant money to purchase buses or shuttles manufactured by state-owned enterprises, like China.

Protecting Aircraft Maintenance from National Security Threats – Senator Baldwin included her Global Aircraft Maintenance Safety Improvement Act to ensure that foreign aviation repair stations are subject to the same safety standards as American aviation repair companies, helping bolster passenger safety and level the playing field for U.S. companies.

Other Highlights

Strengthening Consumer Protections – The legislation strengthens critical consumer protections, including by ensuring airline passengers will have the right to a refund if a flight is canceled or delayed three or more hours domestically and if an international flight is delayed six or more hours.

Reduces Runway “Close Calls” – This bill requires FAA to further deploy airport surface situational awareness technologies – technology such as Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE-X) – that track runway aircraft and vehicle movements to prevent collisions.

Addresses Air Traffic Controller Shortages – With a shortage of approximately 3,000 air traffic controllers nationwide, the bill requires that FAA implement improved staffing standards developed with the labor workforce to close staffing gaps. The bill also requires FAA to set maximum hiring targets to increase air traffic controller staffing.

Boosts Hiring of FAA Aviation Safety Inspectors – The bill requires FAA to update its aviation safety inspector staffing model for a more accurate assessment of the number needed to perform safety oversight, and to use it to boost hiring of manufacturing safety inspectors, engineers and technical specialists per year.

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