Engaging with the government is not always easy, but persistence is key to aviation safety and business success. Contrary to what you may think, angry mobs with pitchforks don’t form over compliance issues. Even more importantly, anger, mobs, and pitchforks have very little impact on the highly regulated civil aviation industry. We have more modern and civilized tools for righting regulatory wrongs.
Two underutilized approaches to working with the agency are petitions for rulemaking and petitions for exemption. A petition for rulemaking asks the FAA to either create a new regulation or change or repeal an existing one. On the other hand, a petition for exemption simply asks the agency not to apply an existing rule.
Petitioning the government when dissatisfied is deeply rooted in law and history. The right to petition the government is so fundamental to the American political ideal that it was among the first individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Along with the better known guarantees of free speech, religion, and press, as well as the right to peaceably assemble, the First Amendment ensures Americans a right to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
While the FAA is no King George III – a man whose actions spurred many an angry mob – the people affected by its regulations have plenty of grievances to redress. Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 11 lays out the specific requirements for petitions for rulemaking and exemption. Each petition has its own criteria, including whether the proposed action serves the public interest or provides a comparable level of safety to current rules as well as supporting facts, circumstances, information, and arguments. The agency’s rules say it must notify the petitioner of a decision in writing, and if denied, a petition for reconsideration may be submitted within 60 days.
No matter the outcome, petitioning for rulemaking or exemption can be a meaningful way to implement change or call attention to a matter. When the existing regulatory framework doesn’t allow a particular action or inaction, consider asking for a change in the rule, or for exemption from it.
Have a problem with the FAA’s regulations? Leave your militias at home, but don’t suffer silently: pull out your pen and exercise the basic right to petition your government!
Laura Vlieg is an associate at the law firm of Obadal, Filler, MacLeod & Klein, where she also serves ARSA as a regulatory affairs manager.
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