Washington, DC, October 2, 2009 –The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) today welcomed the introduction of legislation, H.R. 3678, sponsored by Rep. John Mica (R-7-FL), to strengthen industry input on proposed regulations from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and bring consistency to their process for issuing security directives.
“An emphasis on security has long been at the heart of business aviation operations,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “This legislation will allow us to work with the TSA to respond quickly to imminent security threats, while at the same time providing a review process that properly balances risk with potential industry impacts. We thank Representative Mica and his colleagues for introducing this important and necessary legislation.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Allen Boyd (D-2-FL), Vernon J. Ehlers (R-3-MI), Sam Graves (R-6-MO) and Thomas Petri (R-6-WI). All are members of the House of Representatives’ General Aviation Caucus.
Earlier this year, similar legislative language was offered by Rep. Mica as an amendment to H.R. 2200, The Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act. That bill passed the House and is awaiting Senate consideration. The amendment would require the TSA to issue security directives only in response to imminent threats, but to otherwise operate within the framework of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) when issuing new proposals.
NBAA sent a joint letter with several other aviation industry groups in support of that proposal, and the Association’s statement about the amendment is available at www.nbaa.org/news/pr/2009/20090604-045.php.
