Notes:
H. R. 6168
To assist aviation-impacted communities in mitigating the noise burden that they face and to increase Federal Aviation Administration engagement and responsiveness to communities, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 20, 2018
Mr. Smith of Washington (for himself, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Speier, Ms. Norton, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Jayapal, and Mr. Khanna) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To assist aviation-impacted communities in mitigating the noise burden that they face and to increase Federal Aviation Administration engagement and responsiveness to communities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. Short title.
This Act may be cited as the “Aviation-Impacted Communities Act”.
SEC. 2. Designated communities.
(a) Outreach.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall conduct outreach to community leaders of aviation-impacted communities to inform them of the opportunity to be a designated community.
(b) Request.—The governing body or the designated representative or representatives of an aviation-impacted community may request to be a designated community, and the Administrator shall recognize such community as a designated community upon request.
(c) Portions of community.—The governing body of a designated community, representatives, or a group of representatives chosen by a community, shall select the portions of such community that shall be considered aviation-impacted, including designating the community as a whole should they so choose.
SEC. 3. Community boards.
(a) In general.—Not later than 6 months after the date on which a community becomes a designated community pursuant to section 1, such designated community shall—
(1) select local airport operators, local elected leaders, and community representatives to serve on a community board; or
(2) in the case where such designated community decides to maintain an existing group of primarily elected local officials that has previously been constituted for purposes of working on aviation-related issues, designate such existing group as a community board pursuant to this section.
(b) Meetings.—A community board shall meet at times and places chosen by the members of such board.
(c) Purposes.—The purpose of a community board is to provide information to airport operators and the Federal Aviation Administration concerning disparate impacts and environmental justice related to the operation of commercial or cargo jet routes.
(d) Collaboration.—The Administrator shall—
(1) designate an appropriate employee to work with each community board; and
(2) ensure that representatives of and, when appropriate, relevant experts from the Federal Aviation Administration attend each meeting of a community board.
(e) Community reports.—A community board may, in collaboration with local airport operators and any employee designated pursuant to subsection (d)(1), draft a community report detailing the community’s concerns and issues related to disparate impacts.
(f) Study.—A community board may petition the Administrator to conduct a community study, which shall include—
(1) the collection and consolidation of quantifiable, observational, experiential, anecdotal, or other data from—
(A) the Federal Aviation Administration;
(B) airport operators;
(C) valid acoustic instrumentation on the ground;
(D) testimonials and other evidence from community members; and
(E) organizations in the community;
(2) the Day-Night Average Sound Level;
(3) any other existing noise metrics from individual and cumulative takeoffs and landings;
(4) emissions generated by individual and cumulative takeoffs and landings;
(5) any other data requested by the designated community in order to give a comprehensive understanding of the impacts on such community; and
(6) recommendations on actions or mitigation that can be taken to alleviate—
(A) concerns raised in a community report; and
(B) effects that are analyzed in the community study.
(g) Collaboration.—The Administrator and each community board that petitions for a community study shall collaborate together on the scope and methodology of such community study.
(h) Format.—The Administrator shall ensure the community study is culturally and linguistically appropriate given the needs or requests of the community.
SEC. 4. Action plans.
(a) In general.—Not later than 6 months after the date of receipt of a community report or the date of completion of a community study, the Administrator shall, in collaboration with airport operators and affected communities, devise an action plan that alleviates or addresses the concerns brought up in the community report or community study.
(b) Content.—The action plan shall—
(1) include a long-term regional plan that focuses on reducing and minimizing disparate impacts for the designated community; and
(2) where effective, consider the implementation of changes to operations and flight paths if the community report or community study indicates that such changes would decrease the impacts on the designated community.
(c) Statement concerning certain changes.—If the Administrator determines that changes to operations and flight paths that a community report or community study indicated would decrease the effects on the designated community would not be effective, the Administrator shall explain the rationale for this determination in the action plan.
(d) Dissemination.—The Administrator shall disseminate the action plan—
(1) to the public in a culturally and linguistically appropriate fashion given the needs or requests of the community at issue;
(2) to the offices of the Members of Congress and Senators representing the community at issue;
(3) to the relevant committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate; and
(4) upon request, to any impacted government.
SEC. 5. Mitigation funding.
(a) In general.—Not later than 180 days after the release of an action plan pursuant to section 3, the Administrator may make grants for necessary noise mitigation in a designated community for—
(1) residences;
(2) hospitals;
(3) nursing homes; and
(4) schools.
(b) Standards.—The Administrator shall develop standards to determine which of the structures in designated communities and that are listed in subsection (a) are eligible for mitigation funding.
(c) Mitigation described.—Funds for mitigation may be used for any form of mitigation that reduces the noise burden for communities, including—
(1) sound insulation of noise-sensitive structures; and
(2) construction of noise barriers or acoustic shielding to mitigate ground-level noise.
(d) Instrumentation.—Upon request of a designated community, and in addition to the annualized average measurement, the Administrator shall provide additional noise measurement instrumentation to measure airplane noise.
(e) Sound insulation for aviation-Impacted communities.—The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and airport operators may provide sound insulation for aviation-impacted communities that are subjected to substantial increases in flight frequency or from the adoption of new flight procedures that create noise impacts in neighborhoods that did not previously experience significant impacts from commercial aircraft operations.
(f) Sound insulation for neighborhoods.—The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and airport operators may provide sound insulation for neighborhoods within a 55 DNL contour in which an airport operator or the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration determines significant numbers of flight operations are conducted between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
SEC. 6. Authorization of appropriations.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act such sums as may be necessary.
SEC. 7. Definitions.
In this Act:
(1) The term “Administrator” means the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
(2) The term “aviation-impacted community” means a community that is located not greater than 1 mile from any point at which a commercial or cargo jet route is 3,000 feet or less above ground level.
(3) The term “community” means any residential neighborhood, locality, municipality, town, or city.
(4) The term “designated community” means an aviation-impacted community that has chosen to be designated pursuant to section 1.
(5) The term “disparate impact” means noise, air pollution emissions, or any other aviation-related impact identified by a community coming from a commercial or cargo jet route and that is affecting a community or its residents.
