PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jan 6, 2009
Amends Rule XXXV (Gifts) of the Standing Rules of the Senate to require a Member, officer, or employee of the Senate to: (1) disclose a flight taken in connection with official duties on an aircraft that is not licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate for compensation or hire (unless it is owned, operated, or leased by a governmental entity); (2) reimburse the aircraft's owner or lessee for the pro rata share of the flight's fair market value; and (3) report to the Secretary of the Senate specified information about the trip, including its purpose and the persons on it (other than the pilot).
Declares that the fair market value of noncommercial air travel is the fair market value of the normal and usual charter fare or rental charge for a comparable plane of appropriate size.
Amends Rule XXXVIII (Prohibition of Unofficial Office Accounts) to prescribe the value for reimbursement purposes of the use of an aircraft that is not licensed by the FAA to operate for compensation or hire.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) to require a principal campaign committee disclosure report of such a flight by a federal office candidate (other than one for President or Vice President).
Excludes from the FECA definition of "contribution" any travel expense for such a flight if within seven days the candidate (or the candidate's authorize committee) pays the owner, lessee, or other individual providing the airplane the pro rata share of the flight's fair market value.
People & committees
Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA] · R–LA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jan 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.103 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.103 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.103 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.103 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.