A bill to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to review certain decisions to grant categorical exclusions for Next Generation flight procedures and to consult with the airports at which such procedures will be implemented.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Dec 16, 2015
This bill amends the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to require the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), at least 90 days before applying a categorical exclusion to a new navigation procedure at an Operational Evolution Partnership (OEP) airport (a commercial U.S. airport with significant activity), to: (1) notify and consult with the operator of the airport, and (2) consider consultations or other engagement with the community in which the airport is located to inform the public of the procedure.
The FAA shall review a decision that it made on or after February 14, 2012, and before this Act's enactment to grant a categorical exclusion with respect to a procedure to be implemented at an OEP airport that was a material change from procedures previously in effect to determine if implementation of the procedure had a significant effect on the human environment in the community in which the airport is located, if the operator of that airport requests such a review and demonstrates that there is good cause to believe that the implementation had such effect. If, in conducting such a review, the FAA determines that implementing the procedure had such a significant effect, it shall: (1) consult with the operator of the airport to identify measures to mitigate the effect, and (2) consider the use of alternative flight paths.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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