Enrolled HR 8: Opposing a rule proposed by the Transportation Security Administration that would require certain security measures under a Large Aircraft Security Program for general aviation and commercial aircraft with a gross take-off weight of 12,500 pounds or more.
00Enrolled HR 8 01 Opposing a rule proposed by the Transportation Security Administration that would require 02 certain security measures under a Large Aircraft Security Program for general aviation and 03 commercial aircraft with a gross take-off weight of 12,500 pounds or more. 04 _______________ 05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 06 WHEREAS the federal Transportation Security Administration has proposed a new 07 rule that would establish a Large Aircraft Security Program for general aviation and 08 commercial aircraft larger than 12,500 pounds gross take-off weight, requiring aircraft owners 09 to implement the same security measures used on commercial passenger and air cargo aircraft 10 operating in the United States; and 11 WHEREAS the rule would require pilots and mechanics to undergo criminal 12 background checks; and 13 WHEREAS the rule would require pilots to check the passengers on a flight against 14 the federal "no fly" list before departure; and 15 WHEREAS, under the rule, some flights would, at the discretion of the 16 Transportation Security Administration, require a federal air marshal to fly with them; and
01 WHEREAS the rule would require flights using aircraft covered by the rule to be 02 approved by the Transportation Security Administration before departure; and 03 WHEREAS the rule assigns the same level of threat potential to business and 04 personal airplanes that are in the transport category as to airliners, although even small 05 airliners, such as the Boeing 737, weigh more than 100,000 pounds; and 06 WHEREAS the arbitrary threshold of 12,500 pounds would include a Beech King Air 07 turboprop, which has a gross take-off weight of 15,000 pounds, but not the King Air 200, 08 which has a maximum weight of 12,500 pounds, causing many aircraft owners and operators 09 to fear that the Transportation Security Administration would soon extend the rule to even 10 smaller aircraft; and 11 WHEREAS the proposed rule would impose a financial hardship on private and 12 commercial aircraft owners and pilots, as well as on airports that serve aircraft covered by the 13 rule; and 14 WHEREAS the cost of conforming to the rule would be exorbitant and would likely 15 cause many small air carriers and private aircraft owners to stop flying; and 16 WHEREAS the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities estimates it would 17 cost up to $400,000 to upgrade each affected airport, including Aniak, Dutch Harbor, Galena, 18 Merrill Field and Lake Hood in Anchorage, Palmer, Kenai, and Unalakleet, among others; 19 and 20 WHEREAS aircraft operators would not be able to use airports that require upgrading 21 until the changes are made, requiring them to move airplanes and operations to other airports 22 to continue operating; and 23 WHEREAS Alaskans are more reliant on air travel than any other state's population, 24 and the proposed rule would have an immediate negative effect on air travel; and 25 WHEREAS the Transportation Security Administration's own estimate is that the new 26 rule would cost $1,900,000,000 to secure 10,000 aircraft nationwide, more than 80 percent of 27 the cost of which would be borne directly by the aircraft owners; and 28 WHEREAS more than 100 aircraft in Alaska, operated by 25 separate owners, would 29 be immediately affected by the rule; and 30 WHEREAS the proposed rule is in direct conflict with AS 02.35.110, which requires 31 pilots in Alaska to fly with certain emergency and survival equipment on board that would be
01 prohibited by the Transportation Security Administration; and 02 WHEREAS the Transportation Security Administration is accepting public comments 03 on the proposed rule until February 27, 2009; 04 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives requests the Transportation 05 Security Administration to cease consideration of the proposed rule to require security 06 measures under a Large Aircraft Security Program for general aviation and commercial 07 aircraft having a gross take-off weight of at least 12,500 pounds. 08 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 09 the United States; the Honorable Janet A. Napolitano, United States Secretary of Homeland 10 Security; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, 11 and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in 12 Congress.