Senate Commerce, House Transportation Leaders File FAA Reauthorization Bills

Senate Commerce Committee leaders filed their long-anticipated Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill (S-1405) Thursday. Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., one of the bill's main sponsors, previously told us he planned to introduce the bill before the start of the August recess (see 1705110060). Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security Subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; and subcommittee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also led sponsorship of the bill. S-1405, as expected, includes drone regulatory language, including a Section 333 process for granting drone operator exemptions. The bill would grandfather drone operators who had existing Section 333 exemptions. The legislation would direct the FAA to conduct further drone regulatory efforts and restore rules for registering small drones. S-1405 would call for the development of a requirement for an aeronautical knowledge and safety exam for drone operators but would allow the FAA to exempt operators of drones less than 0.55 pounds. The legislation would authorize drones' spectrum use within FCC guidelines. The bill also contains language that makes it a crime to “knowingly or recklessly operate” a drone “near a manned aircraft or too close to a runway.” House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., filed a similar House FAA reauthorization bill (HR-2997). The bill represents “a strong and sustained commitment for the growth of commercial” drones in the U.S., said Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International President Brian Wynne in a statement. “The bill calls for UAS initiatives that would build upon the work that industry has already been engaged with NASA and the FAA, particularly the section that mandates rulemaking for a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system.”