For the second time this year, the House has passed a comprehensive long-term FAA reauthorization bill, this time a five-year measure that was jointly developed and unveiled with Senate leaders on Saturday. House passage yesterday sends the bill, the Aviation, Transportation Safety, and Disaster Recovery Reforms and Reauthorization (H.R.302), to the Senate, which is expected to act on it shortly. But with a September 30 deadline before the FAA’s current authorization is set to expire, the House also approved a one-week extension (through October 7) to provide the Senate a little more time to consider H.R.302.

Announced in the early hours of September 22, H.R.302 culminates several weeks of negotiations between the two chambers, providing long-term funding for the FAA—up to $96.7 billion through 2023—addressing numerous aviation issues, and including reauthorizations for the National Transportation Safety Board and Transportation Security Administration. The bill further encompasses other issues such as sports medicine licensing and disaster relief.

The House last spring had passed a separate FAA reauthorization measure, but the Senate had yet to act on its own version of the bill. The compromise package includes many of the provisions included in both the House-passed bill and the Senate-introduced bill.

“I am proud of the Transportation and Infrastructure [T&I] Committee’s bipartisan work on this legislation,” said T&I chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania). “Not only does it provide FAA programs with stability and certainty for the next five years, its numerous reforms will allow America’s aviation industry to continue to safely innovate, thrive, and lead.”

Pete DeFazio (D-Oregon), the ranking Democrat on the T&I committee, agreed, saying, “This important legislation provides the FAA with the long-term funding it needs to carry out its safety mission and guarantees that the United States will continue to lead the world in all things aviation.”

In addition, yesterday’s passage has drawn strong support from many corners of the industry. “We are thrilled to see a long-term FAA reauthorization bill that will strengthen the general aviation industry, mandate needed reforms, and provide certainty for the entire aviation sector,” said Pete Bunce, president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, urging the Senate to act on the bill quickly.

“While the journey to consideration and passage has been long, the collaboration and hard work between Capitol Hill and industry is reflected in this comprehensive bill,” added Gary Dempsey, president of the National Air Transportation Association.

GAMA emphasized the bill would improve safety, streamline regulatory burdens, strengthen job creation, encourage competitiveness and innovation, and stimulate exports.

The association highlighted measures that include the establishment of a Safety Oversight and Certification Advisory Committee; improvements in the Organizational Designation Authorization (ODA) process; an emphasis on the FAA's cooperation with international partners; a directive for a comprehensive regulatory database and a Regulatory Communications Consistency Board; a call for a task force on Flight Standards Reform; a review of the Part 23 implementation; protections for the  FAA Aircraft Registry Office in Oklahoma City; and measures addressing the aviation workforce shortage.

Dempsey further praised language seeking a review of NATA's Illegal Charter Hotline tips and added, “The legislation contains many provisions that support the needs of the aviation business community, including regulatory consistency, safety provisions that improve the quality of Part 135 incident reporting data and call for a review of permissible flight sharing, and programs to promote the aviation workforce by supporting the next generation of aviation maintenance technicians."